USA > New Hampshire > Hillsborough County > Nashua > History of the city of Nashua, N.H. > Part 101
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The number of votes by which the early representatives of the town were elected to office are not recorded. An idea of the number of freemen who were qualified to take part in public deliberations, however, may be gathered from the following, among the first with figures attached, for presidential electors, Dec. 15, 1785, when Gen. Benjamin Bellows, Gen. Moses Dow, John Dudley and Eben Thomp- son had twenty-nine each, Timothy Farrar, twenty-eight, and Timothy Taylor, one, the last presuma- bly the voter's error in writing his ballot. At the second presidential election, Aug. 27, 1792, but twen- ty-two votes were cast, the small number probably being due to busy season with farmers. Six years later, March, 1800, the total vote of the town as recorded for governor was seventy-six, of which John Taylor Gilman had seventy-three and Timothy Walker, three. Further than this, to the close of the century, the records show but little of interest. The people met annually in March and at other times when town affairs demanded their attention. They elected officers kept a watchful eye on the schools (which is a reminder that the first mention of a school on the territory now the city proper was at "Indian Head," and that this designation of locality occurs but once in the records), paid the minis- ter's salary, made appropriations, laid out highways, ordered roads and bridges repaired, sold the poor by auction, lived in peace among themselves and in ostensible friendship with Hollis and other neighboring towns. That they built upon substantial foundations, and that their virtues far out- shone their faults, is in evidence in the benificent civil government-not alone of Nashua, but of all the cities and towns of the state-which blesses mankind to-day and is pledged for the future.
INDIAN HEAD VILLAGE-NASHUA VILLAGE.
At the beginning of the present century the settlement on the territory now embraced in the thickly settled portion of the city proper was called Indian Head village. The buildings were mostly on land contiguous to what is now known as Railroad square, and north and south of this point was practically a barren wilderness .* Public affairs, however, were still conducted under the charter of Dunstable and so continued until 1837. The population of the whole town was 862 persons. Thomas French was town clerk, and Thomas French, Theodore French and David Fiske selectmen, and so far as anything appears in the records the people were at peace among themselves and all the world besides. The business transacted at the annual town meeting in 1800 and for many years afterwards was mostly of a routine character. It was voted that the town be defaulted in an action brought by Rev. Joseph Kidder, and also to sell for thirteen shillings the oak tree near the meeting-house. In November, 1802, it was voted to hire William Patrick to preach during the ensuing winter. In 1803 one hundred and twenty-nine votes were cast for governor, a post office was established at the Harbor and the place began to take on the enterprise that has characterized it to this day. The same year the town voted a call to Mr. Patrick at four hundred dollars for a settlement and three hundred dollars a year salary, the conditions being that he should withdraw at any time when two-thirds of the voters became dissatisfied and that he should return the amount granted as a settlement if he left without the consent of the town. In 1804 the Middlesex canal was opened. In 1805 Daniel Abbot was to carry on a lawsuit against the town of Acworth, and sold the town pew to Francis Davidson for one year for five dollars and fifty cents. In 1806 on Independence day, at the suggestion of Daniel Abbot in an oration at the celebration of the opening of the canal, the village took on the name of Nashua village. Jan. 29, 1807, voted to settle Joseph Briggs at two hundred and fifty dollars for a settlement and five hundred dollars salary. In 1808 voted twenty-five cents bounty for old crows and
*A more complete description is given in the revised edition of Fox's history, which is incorporated in this work.
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nine cents for young crows. It will thus be seen that so far as the civil government is concerned an era of good feeling, enterprise and prosperity began with the century.
At a meeting of the town, held April 17, 1807, it was stated that the old meeting-house was out of repair and it was proposed to vote to see if the town would rebuild "on such a place as a disinter- ested committee from out of town should say was convenient for the town, provided free of expense to the town or that the pew ground should build it." The vote stood thirty-one in favor of the proposi- tion and forty-nine against it. It is evident, from the fact that two or three other votes are recorded relative to the subject, that considerable discussion followed. The outcome was a vote to choose a committee of three to "see where a meeting-house should be built and to hire preaching." The meeting was adjourned to May 10, when it was voted to "set the meeting-house on Cummings Pol- lard's field, west of the place where it now stands, provided it can be done free of expense," and a committee of three was appointed to draw plans. Mr. Pollard offered the land as a gift. Another meeting was held May 29, when it was voted to accept the plans presented by the committee and request Willard Marshall to give a piece of land adjoining the land accepted from Mr. Pollard, for a common. Mr. Marshall gracefully acceded to the request. It was then voted to sell pews according to numbers on the plan and close a contract with anybody who could be found who would build for the sum thus pledged, the builders to have the rest of the pew ground. Willard Marshall, Thomas French and Daniel Abbot were chosen building committee. It is probable that no one desired to make such a contract, for, Aug. 28, the town reconsidered all votes relative to a meeting-house and dropped the subject.
The only item of interest in town affairs in 1810 was a vote to pay fifty dollars for a singing school. The old subject came up again, however, at a special meeting on Jan. 12, 1811, when the question, "Will you build a meeting-house in this town?" was decided in the affirmative by a vote of forty-two to eight, and two committees-one to locate the same and the other to receive proposals-were chosen. These committees reported May II, and it was voted that the site be near the pound place on land of Willard Marshall and that five acres of land, on both sides of the road, be secured for a common *. John Lund, Thomas French, Daniel Abbot, Samuel Preston and Willard Marshall were chosen to plan the building. It was then voted to pay pew owners five dollars each for the right to dispose of the old meeting-house, and to appropriate one hundred dollars to hire Rev. Joseph Kidder to preach such length of time as he thought proper for that amount. At an adjourned meeting James T. Lund proposed to build "a town meeting-house for five hundred dollars and the old house and to complete the same one year from September." His proposal was accepted and Thomas French, Thomas Lund, Jr., William F. Boynton, Daniel Abbot and Israel Hunt were appointed building committee. Aug. II, a meeting was held at Jesse Estey's stable when it was voted to build fifty-two feet wide, sixty feet in length and leave it to the committee which will be best, to have pillars or portico or to have it boarded up and clapboarded." John Epes and John Whittle were added to the committee. Aug. 2, 1812, the town voted one hundred and twenty dollars for a bell, provided the same amount was sub- scribed by the people, and fifteen dollars for lightning rods. Oct. 2, voted twenty-two dollars and fifty cents towards paying for the bell, to purchase pew number two for the minister, to hire a man to ring the bell, to accept the report of the building committee and to make arrangements for a dedica- tion. The dedication occurred Nov. 4, the sermon being preached by Rev. Humphrey Moore, D. D., of Milford. It will thus be seen that the second public building in Old Dunstable was located and built without the usual friction that accompanies such undertakings.
During the twenty-five years that followed nothing occurred to disturb the peace and quiet of the people. Prosperity attended them. The Nashua and Jackson companies' canals and mills, two or three important bridges, several church edifices and many dwelling-houses were built, newspapers were established, the poor sold annually at auction, and many resources of wealth developed. A brief summary, however, of a few of the transactions of the town will not be found uninteresting. In 1813 Rev. Ebenezer Peck Sperry was settled at three hundred dollars for a settlement and five hundred dollars salary, and it was voted to pay five dollars a month to men in the army, in addition to the gov- ernment pay. In 1815 it was voted to make up the pay of all volunteers to fifteen dollars per month :
*The meeting-house was built on this site, which is occupied at this time by Hiland A. Holt's dwelling-house, his carriage-house standing over the old foundation.
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to appropriate $1,000 for schools and have the bell rung at twelve, noon, nine in the evening and on all public days. The first hearse was purchased by the town in 1822 and a house built for the same. In 1824 the town voted on the question, " Whether the shire town should be Amherst or Mont Ver- non," one hundred and ninety to four in favor of the former ; also voted to pay ten cents an hour for labor on the highways. In 1826 the first firewards were appointed, and it was voted " not to pay Not- tingham twelve dollars for burying William Phillips." Under date of April 27, 1827, the selectmen, Stephen Kendrick, Eleazer F. Ingalls and Caleb Pearson, complained to Clifton Claggett, judge of probate, "that Simon L. Phelps, by excessive drinking, idleness and vicious habits doth waste, spend and lessen his estate and so neglect his business as to expose himself and family to want and suffering ; " therefore they desired a guardian appointed. This was the usual method of dealing for many years afterward with those who drank to excess. It is mentioned here from the fact that it is the first case of the kind upon the town records. The first town report ordered spread upon the records was for the year 1829. The first printed report was by the selectmen of Nashua in 1837, the same being a summary of the affairs of 1836, the last year the town was known as Dunstable. It is interesting to note in this connection that the legal existence of Old Dunstable covered a period of ninety-one years ; that in the beginning the total amount of money raised by taxation was about two hundred and fifty dollars, and at the end $12,903.63 ; that the debt-and overdraft the last year by reason of rebuilding the Main street bridge, which was necessitated by the construction of the Jackson company's dam-was $3,282.32. It is also an interesting fact that the inhabitants had increased from about sixty families of rising three hundred persons to 2, 105 males, 2,960 females, a total of 5,056; total number of scholars from sixty, approximately, to 1,256.
That the people of Old Dunstable were patriots who gave freely of their blood and treasure to establish American independence there is abundant evidence. Their country was their pride and they celebrated its natal day in an enthusiastic manner. The last general celebration in the old town took place July 4, 1835. The Declaration of Independence was read by Benjamin F. French, and an oration delivered by John Louis Clark. The civic procession, marshalled by Col. Thomas G. Banks, and escorted by the Nashua Guards, Capt. Charles T. Gill, must have been a brilliant sight, for in line were the female operatives of the mills, clothed in white, and thirty-four of the survivors of the War of the Revolution. The venerable patriots, supported by staves and crutches, joined the pro- cession at the Indian Head coffee house and marched through the route to the oval, (then a shady grove in Factory street), where the literary exercises were held. The list is as follows :
Jonathan Woodward, Dunstable, Mass., 96; James Crossman, Mason, 92; Isaac Wright, Dun- stable, Mass., 81 ; Joshua Pierce, Hudson, 71; Joshua Palmer, Dunstable, 73; Thaddeus Wilson, Dunstable, 70; Eleazer Fisk, Dunstable, 75; Nathaniel Merrill, Medford, 72 ; John Odall, Merri- mack, 73 ; Daniel Bailey, Hollis, 80; Seth Cutter, Pelham, 77; Isaac Marshall, Dunstable, 76; Jacob March, Londonderry, 75; Daniel Anderson, Londonderry, 78; Jacob Nutting, Londonderry, 88 ; Phinehas Holden, Brookline, 70; Silas Howard, Milford, 78; Ephraim Goss, Amherst, 69 ; Robert- son Lakin, Amherst, 72 ; Timothy Randall, Amherst, 72; Nathan Fisk, Dunstable, 71 ; Israel Hunt, Dunstable, 77; Joseph Greeley, Hollis, 78; Benjamin Sprague, Bedford, 83; Jonas Woods, Dun- stable, 76; William French, Dunstable, Mass., 83 ; Jonas French, Dunstable, Mass., 77; Edmund Tenney, Pelham, 79 ; Hugh Moone, Amherst, 69 ; Col. Solomon White, Roxbury, 81 ; John Field, Merrimack, 80; Joseph Crosby, Amherst, 82 ; Lot Spalding, Hollis, 73; Thomas Cheney, Derry, 80.
The committee of arrangements for this crowning event in the history of Old Dunstable-for it was then foreshadowed that the name was to be changed to Nashua-were David Gillis, Albert McKean, William P. Abbot, Mark W. Merrill and William P. Newell; the assistant marshals, Har- vey F. Courser and John Flagg ; the committee to prepare toasts, John M. Hunt, George Y. Sawyer and John Eayrs. Dinner was served at the Washington house and the survivors of the Revolution were the only guests. It was a great event.
Old Dunstable was represented in the legislature in 1801, 1803 and 1804 (the names of those prior to this date being given, in this chapter, in closing the eighteenth century) by Theodore French ; 1802, Noah Lovewell; 1807, Zaccheus Lovewell; 1810, 1811, 1812 and 1821, Daniel Abbot ; 1815, Timothy Taylor ; 1816 to 1824, Jesse Bowers ; 1825 to 1829, Benjamin F. French ; 1826, Benja- min F. French and Eleazer F. Ingalls ; 1827, Eleazer F. Ingalls and William Boardman; 1828, Israel Hunt, Jr. and Moody D. Lovewell; 1829, Benjamin F. French and James Osgood; 1830, Moody D.
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Lovewell and Charles G. Atherton; 1831, James Osgood and Josiah Fletcher (died before taking his seat) ; 1832, Eleazer F. Ingalls and Robert Anderson; 1833, Charles G. Atherton and Moody D. Lovewell; 1834 and 1835, Moody D. Lovewell, Charles G. Atherton and Zebediah Shattuck; 1836, Charles G. Atherton, Benjamin L. Jones and Zebediah Shattuck.
THE TOWNSHIP OF NASHUA.
The reader will have noted that in the thirty years preceding affairs now under consideration Nashua village had grown from a sparse settlement to the central point of business and population. For more than twenty years of this period merchants and the public generally had suffered inconven- ience by reason of two Dunstables side by side. Travelers were confused, and mail matter and merchandise often went astray. Under these conditions it seemed a necessity for one of the towns to seek a change of name. The people both sides of the line were unwilling to make the change. Those residing in New Hampshire felt that they had the best claim. The first settlement was here. Its honorable history in peace and war, its traditions and associations were mostly theirs, and they were loth to give them up. The people of "t'other Dunstable" entertained the same view, and although often requested to take another name-its leading citizens tacitly agreeing at one time to be known as Massapoag-they steadily procrastinated. The situation became annoying, and finally, at a town meeting held in the early autumn of 1836, the selectmen were instructed to apply to the legislature for relief. The selectmen-John Eayrs, Perley Foster and Eleazer Barrett-carried out the instructions of the town in good faith by obtaining the following enactment :
Be it enacted by the senate and house of representatives in general court convened: That the town of Dunstable in the county of Hillsborough shall, from and after the thirty-first day of December in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and thirty-six, be called and known in law by the name of Nashua.
Approved Dec. 8, 1836.
ISAAC HILL, Governor.
The new town started off with a debt of $3,819.19. Its annual appropriation, including $3,000 for schools, was about $13,000. The meetings of the town were held in churches, and, as was unan- imously agreed, the crying need of the town was a town house. The matter was talked up among the citizens in an informal way, and, at a meeting held Oct. 29, 1838, discussed for determined action. Finally, on motion of Aaron F. Sawyer, it was voted expedient to remove the old South meeting- house-the house which was dedicated in 1812-to some convenient site in Nashua village, and Jesse Bowers, Jacob Hall, Elijah Colburn, George Y. Sawyer and James Patterson were chosen a committee to see about the expense and a location. At the same meeting the selectmen were instructed to confer with owners of the pews, take into consideration ownership of the bell, ascertain probable amount of damages and report back. At a subsequent meeting the selectmen reported that they had conferred with the pew holders and that thirty-four could be equitably settled with, three refused to assent and two wanted further time; that the bell belonged to the house and the house belonged to the town. George Y. Sawyer reported for the special committee. He stated-the report being here condensed-that several citizens had made propositions to sell lots to the town and that the commitee had thought it expedient to give the proprietor of the lot selected ownership of the basement of the building for stores-owner of land to lay the foundation, set underpining and place stone steps at the doors. Thomas Chase made the most liberal terms for his lot, corner of Main and Pearl streets, and the committee had made a contract with him subject to the approval of the town.
The report of the committee-mild as it appears on the records-proved the entering wedge of a controversy that lasted fifteen years, and to some extent handicapped for many years more the growth and prosperity of the city. In fact it was the history of the old Dunstable meeting-house quarrel repeated and intensified. The residents of the north side of the river declared that they were not represented on the committee. They averred that the location was unjust, called attention to the fact that Railroad square was the hub, and inasmuch as they were the heaviest taxpayers, and for many other reasons, including the convenience of the public, their wish to have the town house located among them should be respected. The residents on the south side of the river were equally emphatic in expressing their views. They claimed that they were actuated by the purest of motives; they were looking to the future, and, finally, when goaded to extravagance of language, they informed
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their dissatisfied fellow-citizens that "they would not only locate the building to suit their own convenience, but that they would compel them to help pay for it." No further action was taken at this time. The meeting adjourned and the subject became a town topic, engendering ill feeling to the extent that there was very little social intercourse between the people on the north and south sides of the river during the winter that followed.
At the annual town meeting March 25, 1839, it was resolved that "a committee be appointed to inquire into the subject of removing the old South meeting-house and remodeling it so as to make a convenient town house, and also the subject of building a new town house, estimate the expense of each subject separately and all other matters connected therewith." Charles F. Gove, George Y. Sawyer, Israel Hunt, Jr., George Tuttle, Aaron C. Bagley and John Crombie were reported as a committee. This action precipitated another heated discussion in which former arguments were repeated and "fuel added to the fire." The south-siders, however, hesitated about carrying out their programme. They were ably led by Mr. Sawyer and had the requisite number of votes to accomplish their scheme, but the belligerent opposition of Daniel Abbot, Charles F. Gove, Charles J. Fox and a score of other north-siders deterred them from action. The records of the town for the next two years make no mention of a report from the committee. They are silent on the subject, and the newspapers of that day throw no light on the controversy. It is certain though that both sides were active and quarrelsome and determined that overtures of peace should not be entertained or concessions made. Thus matters stood for two years, the enmity increasing in bitterness; families becoming divided and the outside world looking and wondering what next. In fact the situation, as recited by an old resident, was a constant discomfort to the mind, a disturbance to mercantile affairs, an affliction to the churches and a bar to social good fellowship. But few people would cross the river to attend places of public worship or for any other purpose when not absolutely necessary, they would not dance on each others territory and it was next door to treason to trade with each other.
This phase of the wrangle lasted two years, the north-siders meantime subscribing about $4,700 for the purchase of the site on which Greeley block now stands, and offering to deed it as a gift to the town, or, if more acceptable, they would purchase and deed free of expense the lot on which Whiting block now stands. The offer was spurned and they were again informed that the house would be built on the south side of the river and they would be compelled to help pay for it. Thus matters stood on March 5, 1842, when the opponents met in town meeting, in the Olive Street church edifice, and precipitated a fight for the supremacy. Of that battle royal there is no abstract report in existence. George Y. Sawyer, then in the beginning of his career, one of the ablest debaters in New Hampshire, led the south-siders. Israel Hunt, Jr., and Leonard W. Noyes gave him prompt and efficient support, while less conspicuous citizens contributed their views. The gist of their arguments was that the tendency of growth in villages and cities was southward, that the great mills were on the south side of the river and in time the plain (heretofore mentioned as Watanenock neck) would be thickly populated, hence the desirability of selecting a site that would become central in the near future. The north-siders were led by Charles F. Gove, Daniel Abbot and Charles J. Fox, three able men, assisted by William Boardman, Josiah G. Graves and others. These gentlemen repeated arguments heretofore indicated and affirmed that if they must cross the river to attend town meeting, the old South meeting-house was as satisfactory as any place south of the bridge. More- over, they would present the town with the lot at the head of Main street or at the corner of Franklin street, and Rev. Andrew E. Thayer, a substantial north-sider who had taken an active part in the discussion, offered to give a lot eighty-three feet front and one hundred feet deep on Main street, seventeen rods north of the bridge. "The discussion," says one of the newspapers of that day, "lasted nearly a day and a half, and it was decided by a vote of five hundred and eighty-two to three hundred and ninety-six that it should be on the south side of the river, between Pearl street and the bridge." (The outcome of this discussion and decision is given under the head: The Township of Nashville).
The official records of this exciting meeting are very brief. On the first day the town voted "to build a town house and appropriate $10,000 for that purpose," no mention being made of the site. The resolution that was discussed on the two subsequent days, and which, being passed, divided the town, was: "that a committee be appointed to negotiate for and purchase a lot of land for a town house, which lot shall be situated in the village between the Nashua river on the north and Pearl
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HISTORY OF NASHUA, N. H.
street on the south," and following its passage Mr. Sawyer was authorized to carry out the will of the town, and Leonard W. Noyes, Thomas Chase, Israel Hunt, Jr., Samuel Shepherd, who was the architect of the building, and Franklin Fletcher were chosen as a building committee. The records show that these gentlemen were selected because their sympathies and residences were on the south side, the first committee named being rejected because one or two north-siders were named upon it. The meeting adjourned in bad temper, the hostility of the north-siders being of the most uncom- promising character.
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