USA > New Hampshire > Hillsborough County > Nashua > History of the city of Nashua, N.H. > Part 42
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ALBERT HARVEY SAUNDERS.
Mr. Saunders has been twice married: first with Abby W. Hatch of China, Me., who died in Nashua ; and second, with Caroline E. Parks of Stowe, Mass. Eleven children have been born to him, of whom seven are living: William Edwin, Alfred Whitin, Benjamin Perry, Charles Henry, Arthur Lamb, Gertrude May, and Caroline E. P. Saunders.
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HISTORY OF NASHIUA, N. H.
JOHN N. BARR.
John N. Barr was born at Bedford, Sept. 22, 1819. Hc is a son of John and Sophia ( Richardson ) Barr. His immigrant ancestor was born 1704, at Ballymony, county Ireland, and married Ann McPherson. He came to America in 1740 and settled at Londonderry. Later the family settled at Goffstown. The descent is James, born 1704; Samuel, born 1754, married Margaret Boies, and settled at Henniker, whence he removed to Bedford ; Thomas, 1784, married Abigail Palmer; John, father of the sub- ject of this sketch, born 1789, married first, Nancy Dun- lap, second, So- phia Richardson, third, Clarissa Eaton. He was one of the most prominent and in- fluential citizens of Bedford, serving the town several years as select- man, treasurer, and in other offices. He was also a worthy member of the Presbyterian church at that place.
Mr. Barr was educated in the schools of his native place and was graduated at its high school. At the age of twenty years he came to Nashua and entered the employ of Merrill & Kimball, dry goods dealers, where he was employed five years as a clerk. He then formed a co-partnership, in the same business, with Mark W. Merrill, one of his former employers, under the firm name of Merrill & Barr. Ten years later the partnership was dissolved and he went into the hardware business with his brother, the firm being J. N. & M. Barr. He remained in this business four years, after which he formed a new partnership with his former partner under the firm name of Merrill & Barr, and engaged in the flour and grain business. This partnership was continued until Mr. Merrill retired from trade and then a new partnership was entered into with E. F. Knight, under the firm of J. N. Barr & Company, and the business continued until the
JOIIN N. BARR.
present time. During all the years of Mr. Barr's residence in Nashua, he has been an active man in the Olive street church and its successor, the Pilgrim church, doing everything in his power to promote the welfare of his fellow-men, giving liberally of his means for its support and for the advancement of its missions and holding for many years the office of deacon. Mr. Barr represented Ward One in the board of aldermen in 1861 and 1862, and has held other positions of honor and trust, having served as administrator of several large estates. Few men are better known in Nashua and its im- mediate vicinity than Mr. Barr and none are more highly regarded and respected.
Mr. Barr has been twice mar- ried, first, June 18, 1844, with Mary Annis French, daughter of Eben- ezer and Rhoda (Coburn) French of Bedford, who died June 15, 1883 : second, with Sarah E. Dodge, daugh- ter of Ira and Sarah (Fitch) Dodge of Groton, Mass. Four children were born by his first marriage; Henrietta, born Feb. II, 1847, died July 30, 1848 ; John Henri, born Aug. 10, 1848, married Jennie Frazier, o f Weare, who died March 28, 1875; second, Abby Isa- belle Batchelder of Milford; Frank, born Dec. 2, 1851, married Alice Cooper of Nashua, Etta M., born July 19, 1853, married Edwin F. Knight of Nashua.
SOLON S. WHITHED.
Solon S. Whithed was born at Northfield, Mass., Nov. 22, 1837. He is a son of Darius and Mercy (Johnson) Whithed. His immigrant ancestor, Gad Whithed, came to this country from England in the eighteenth century and settled at Phillipston, Mass., where Darius, the father of the subject of this sketch was born, March 12, 1809: died in Lowell, Mass., Dec. 7, 1877. On the maternal side he is a descendant of Luther and Grata Johnson of Lancaster, Mass., where his mother was born Jan. 6, 1815; died at
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Lowell, Mass., Feb. 5, 1854. Mr. Whithed attended the schools at Great Falls, N. H., to which place his parents removed when he was a child, and, becoming
SOLON S. WHITHED.
a resident of Lowell, Mass., in 1846, was graduated at the high school in that city, class of 1855. Soon after his graduation he was employed for a few years in the hydraulic engineering department of the Locks and Canals company. In the summer of 1857 or 1858 he was one of the assistant engineers under Uriah A. Boyden, the most celebrated hydraulic engineer of that time, in a series of experiments on the horizontal turbine wheels at the Nashua Manufacturing company's mills to determine the ratio of loss or gain of power at different heights, veloci- ties and quantities of water striking on the floats or buckets of various sizes and curves of the turbine system. In November, 1858, he entered the employ of J. C. Ayer & Company of Lowell, where he remained until May, 1866, when he came to Nashua as correspondent for R. P. Hall & Company, and in 1878 he became manager of the same business, a position which he stills fills. During his residence in Lowell he was a member of various local organizations, and since his resideuce here he has been prominently identified with several institutions, being a trustee and on the investing board of the New Hampshire Banking company, and Guaranty Savings bank, and a director in the First National bank. He is also one of the executors and trustees of the Nutt estate. Mr. Whithed has served the city six years as a member of the board of education, and has several times declined to be a candi- date for the mayoralty. He is a republican in politics and was president of the Blaine and Logan club in 1880. He is a member of the Universalist church, the Fort- nightly and City Guards clubs, and a citizen who is earnest in his advocacy of whatever his judgment commends for the advancement of the interests of Nashua.
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Mr. Whithed has been twice married : first, Sept. 4, 1862, with Almira R. Fisher, daughter of Samuel S. and Almira (Adams) Fisher of Lowell, who died June 18, 1878 ; second, April 14, 1880, with Ellen H. Gates, daughter of Josiah and Harriet N. (Coburn) Gates of Lowell. One daughter was born of his first marriage: Almira M., born Dec. 15, 1870, married Fred W. Norton of Nashua, Oct. 24, 1894.
WILLIAM PROCTOR DANE.
William P. Dane, son of Timothy and Rhoda B. (Proc- tor) Dane, was born at Merrimack, Feb. 12, 1840. His immigrant ancestor, on the paternal side, Rev. Francis Dane, came to America from England in the eighteenth century and settled at Danvers, Mass. His descendants, like most of those of the early settlers, scattered in many directions, the branch to which Mr. Dane belongs being among the pioneers of New Hampshire. On the maternal side he is a descendant of William and Rhoda (Bagley) Proctor, who were born at Salisbury, Mass., and in early life settled in Andover when it was almost a wilderness. His grandfather, James Proctor, was a Revolutionary soldier. The Proctors were of English origin and the Bagleys were Scotch. Proctor academy at Andover was named in honor of the family.
Mr. Dane became a resident of Nashua in his youth, and was educated at the Mount Pleasant school, gradu- ating there when it was a high school. In 1857 he entered the employ of Gage, Murray & Co., local manufacturers of card board, with whom, and their successors, he remained until 1868, when he established himself in New York City as a jobber in foreign and domestic paper and card board, in which business he is still engaged. Mr. Dane's home is in East Orange, N. J., but he has always maintained a lively interest in everything that pertains to Nashua and has written for The Telegraph many valuable articles of a historical character. Mr. Dane was united in mar- riage March II, 1876, with Arabelle Louise Osborne, daughter of Alexander and Susan (Deming) Osborne of Brooklyn, N. Y. Five children have been born of their
WILLIAM P. DANE.
marriage : Elizabeth Proctor, Feb. 10, 1877; Edith Louise, March 17, 1879; Rhoda Proctor, Aug. 8, 1880; Gertrude Walmarth, June 20, 1882 ; William Proctor, Jr., Jan. 4, 1886.
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HISTORY OF NASHUA, N. H.
CHARLES JAMES FOX.
Charles J. Fox was born in Hancock, Oct. 28, 1811, died in Nashua, Feb, 17, 18.16. He was a son of Jediah and Sarah ( Wheeler ) Fox and of the sixth generation in descent from Thomas and Rebecca Fox, who came to Concord, Mass., from England as early as 1640.
Mr. Fox attended school at Amherst and at Appleton academy, now McCollom institute, Mont Vernon, and was graduated at Dartmouth college in 1831. He studied law at Yale college and afterwards with Daniel Abbot at Nashua, with whom he was afterwards asso- ciated in practice. In 1837 he repre- sented Nashua in the legislature. His ability and learning was quickly recog- nized and in 1840 he was appointed by Gov. John Page commis- sioner to revise, codify and amend the statute law of New Hampshire. His associates were Joel Par- ker and Samuel D. Bell. Owing to official duties Judge Parker took no part in the revision. The re- port of the com- mission was adopt- ed by the legisla- ture Dec. 23, 1842, and Mr. Fox and his associates were highly compli- mented by that body. Mr. Fox began collecting material for the history of the old township of Dun- stable in 1840 and wrote the greater part of it in that year, although he resumed work on his manuscript from time to time as he had opportunity, and so continued until his death. It was completed and pub- lished following his death in 1846, and from that day to the present time has been conidered a standard work. Mr. Fox was a member of the Unitarian church and a teacher in its Sunday-school. Mr. Fox was united in marriage June 30, 1840, with Catherine Pickman Abbot of Nashua. (For ancestors see sketch of her father). One son was born of their marriage: E. W. Fox, M. D., a resident of Philadelphia.
JAMES H. FASSETT.
James II. Fassett is a son of James B. and Ellen ( Mor- rill) Fassett; he was born at Nashua, January II, 1869. (For ancestors see sketch of his father, James B. Fassett. ) Mr. Fassett was educated in the public schools of his na- tive place and graduated in the high school in 1886. The same year he entered Dartmouth college as a freshman. During Mr. Fassett's college course he ranked high as a scholar in one of the largest and brightest classes gradu- ated at that fa- mous seat of learn- ing for many years. He was also very popular with his fellow- students both for his geniality and, also, for his prow- ess as an athlete ; his fame in the latter respect still surviving there, as is evinced by his being lately called upon to address the college, on "Dartmouth night," upon ath- letic matters at Hanover. He graduated at Dart- .mouth after a ""four years' course, in the class of 1890. Upon his graduation he re- turned to Nashua, and, after a short period of inac- tivity, was elected principal of the Mount Pleasant grammar school, a position which he filled with marked ability and success for two years and until he resigned to accept the office of superintendent of the public schools of Nashua in the spring of 1893, a position to which he was elected by the board of education, and which he still holds, November, 1896.
JAMES H. FASSETT.
He has made an able and efficient superintendent, and, by attending closely to the details of his work, and the general wants of the schools, and keeping in line with the trench of advancement and improvement in methods of management, performed his duties to the entire accept- ance of the public. Mr. Fassett is a member of the Uni- tarian church and a member of its choir. He is a thir- ty-second degree Mason and a Knight Templar. He is unmarried.
HISTORY OF NASHUA, N. H.
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EDUCATIONAL.
BY JAMES H. FASSETT.
I T IS almost impossible to obtain any exact data of the early schools of Nashua. The records, in most cases, are entirely wanting, and where they exist they are extremely vague and indefinite. The first accurate account is hardly to the credit of the town. In 1730 Dunstable, under indictment of the superior court, was compelled to open school. The following is the law under which the indictment was made: "That each town in the province having the number of fifty householders, shall be constantly provided of a schoolmaster to teach children to read and write, and when any town has one hundred families or householders, there shall also be a grammar school set up and kept. And some discreet person of good conversation, well instructed in the tongues, shall be procured to be master thereof. Every such schoolmaster to be suitably encour- aged and paid by the inhabitants; and the selectmen of towns are hereby empowered to agree
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with such schoolmaster for salary and to raise money by way of rate upon the inhabitants to pay the same. If any such town shall neglect the due observance of the law for the space of six months it shall pay a penalty of twenty pounds."
In 1721 this law was so amended that instead of the town being subject to the fine of twenty pounds, the selectmen were held responsible should the town be without a school for one month.
In the year 1730 the town, then consisting of more than fifty householders, was indicted under the above. The town then voted that "it be left with the selectmen to provide and agree with a person to keep a writing school in the town directly, and that the sum of ten pounds be granted and raised for defraying the charges in the last mentioned concern and other town charges." History is silent as to just what part of this ten pounds went to swell the pocketbook of the schoolmaster.
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For many years following no record can be found of any vote to raise money for school pur- poses. In 1746 two schools were kept, one at the house of John Searles, near Salmon brook, and the other at the Gordon house near Reed's pond. As there were no school houses at that time, it was necessary that the school be kept in private dwellings. The branches taught were reading, writing, arithmetic and spelling. The materials used in school work were most primitive. Paper was unknown and when slates were needed, as they frequently were, strips of birch bark were used, with a leaden bullet hammered out for a pencil. They had no arithmetics, the master "setting the sums" on each slate for the pupil. The New Testament was used almost exclusively as a reading- book and spelling book as well.
In 1749 we find the first mention of the school committee, and that the town was divided into districts. There were five of these, two on the north side of the river and three on the south. It may be of interest to know that the first committee consisted of John Snow, Ephraim Butterfield and Ephraim Adams. One hundred and forty pounds were raised to support the schools under these committees. The next mention we have of any school in the town is in 1761, when one hundred pounds were raised for "schooling and houses." From this date on, there was raised every year more or less money for the support of schools; some years only twenty pounds and in others two hundred pounds.
In 1772 the town refused to appropriate money for school houses, but, in 1775, a motion was carried and eighty pounds was raised for that purpose. The first schoolhouse was erected near the old burying ground on the Lowell road in the south part of the town, but upon the opposite side of the brook from the spot where the present schoolhouse stands. A schoolhouse of this time was usually a small unpainted building. Along three sides of the schoolroom were placed slabs upon which the older pupils wrote and worked their sums. These slabs were fastened upon one side to the walls of the building, the other being supported by legs driven securely into auger holes in the floor.
For seats, hewn planks were used into which stakes were driven for legs. Inside of this outer circle were slab seats for the younger children. This arrangement made it necessary for the children to sit facing the walls with their backs towards the teacher. In the center of the room was placed the "master's" desk, and from his throne he watched with "eagle eye" the work of the youths under his charge.
One may easily appreciate the feelings of the mischievous boys who, with their backs toward the teacher, were never certain when he was not looking at them. This feeling of insecurity must have been heightened by the knowledge that there lay on the master's desk a hickory switch long enough to reach every boy in the room, and that too without moving from his chair.
On the third side of the school room was a huge fire place, with large flat stones used for andirons. Inasmuch as the chimney was never very high, and green wood was usually burned, the first part of the morning exercises was conducted in a cloud of smoke. The building of the fire was allotted to the older boys who took turns in attending to this duty as well as to the splitting of the wood. The older girls kept the room swept and cleaned. The windows were small and placed high so that the attention of the children should not be distracted by outside affairs.
To schools of this description our ancestors trudged, fortunate if they lived near the school. Many, however, were compelled to walk several miles, and that too after having helped their fathers with the chores or their mothers with the household duties.
Certainly the lives of the children were filled with hard work. This was an advantage to the schools of that time in one great particular. The children looked upon their school duties not as hard work, as do the children of to-day, but as a relief from the drudgery which they had at home. For this reason the amount of "schooling" which the children obtained in their single term of sixteen weeks was remarkable.
It is found by the records that the pay of the school mistress at that time was about one dollar a week. In 1796 the town voted to raise two hundred pounds for the purpose of building school- houses and, as a preventive against any disputes which might arise as to the location of these buildings, a special committee was chosen to fix the location of the schoolhouses should the district disagree upon the same. That the people of Dunstable early appreciated the importance of
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singing in the schools is evidenced by the fact that in 1810 the town voted to raise fifty dollars for the purpose of hiring a teacher of singing.
In the early part of the century, there seems to have been no schoolhouse north of the Nashua river. The schools were held in private houses. In 1816 a schoolhouse was built at the junction of the Concord and Manchester roads, where General Stark's residence now stands. In 1833 the schoolhouse was found inadequate and was moved back upon the north side of Rural street where it was enlarged and served for school purposes many years. It is now used as a dwelling house.
The recorded history of our schools begins to be complete about the year 1840. Then the school officials published a more or less elaborate report of the schools under their charge. At that time there were eleven districts, No. I being situated near the old burying ground on the Lowell road.
In the report for 1839 the following complaint was made of a lack of funds: "The sum of money which the town is by law compelled to appropriate for the support of schools has heretofore been extremely limited, the whole amount of money being so inadequate that it has accomplished little more than to commence the schools and get them into successful operation."
A meeting was held in January, 1840, at which a resolution was passed appointing a committee to devise means for placing a bell on the schoolhouse in district No. 3, "in order to prevent all mistakes regarding the time of commencing school." Whether or not the bell was purchased we have not been able to ascertain, but doubtless the steps of the laggard were hastened by its tones. It is rather interesting to note that the committee, in the report for 1841, recommended the purchase of thermometers, in order that the temperature might be duly recorded. It must have been some- what of a debatable question in those days where the thermometers should be placed. For if the report of the committtee in regard to the structure of the buildings at that time is to be believed, the temperature would be anything but uniform in different parts of the schoolrooms and the teacher must have used considerable ingenuity in locating the exact point in the room where the temperature would be considered normal. There is one recommendation which one of the committee made at this time which should be recorded, as commendable now as well as then, "that reading and reciting in concert be abolished and that more individual work be done by the teacher among the pupils."
The greatest fault that seems to have existed in the Nashua schools at this time was the lack . of interest taken in them by the parents, and the consequent irregularity of attendance by the pupils. In every report this is found to be the case and the fact was much lamented by the commit- tees. Many methods to correct this evil were devised; the schoolhouse doors were closed at the beginning of the session, excuses were abolished, and many other schemes were tried, but all seemed to have failed.
The true reason for this lack of interest is very evident to one connected with school affairs at the present day. In one of the reports comment is made upon the inadvisability of the habit which many of the children had of aiding pupils reciting.
All teachers at this time were elected by the prudential committee of the town, but were subject to an examination by the superintending committee of the schools. It happened in many cases that the prudential committee, for prudential or economical reasons, brought forward candi- dates whom the superintending committee found wanting in all the requirements necessary in a teacher. When this happened the prudential committee was obliged to find a more acceptable candidate.
The lack of suitable schoolhouses was felt in the past, as well as in the present. The following is quoted from the report of 1842: "The prosperity of school depends, in a greater degree than we are apt to realize, upon the condition of the schoolhouse. No one enjoys public worship to the full extent when the meeting-house is cold, filthy, or improperly ventilated, and the same principle is equally applicable to schoolhouses. Even our horses and cattle are housed or sheltered according to the season and their natural wants, but the comfort of our children is often most unwisely and inhumanely neglected."
The following sentence in lieu of the above is easily understood: "Considering the state of their schoolhouse and the means of the district, it would have suffered no loss could the wind which
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HISTORY OF NASHUA, N. H.
unroofed the building last year have paid the visit at an hour when the house was empty and made its work of dilapidation more complete."
In speaking of the condition of the schoolhouse then known as district No. 3, on the site of the present Mount Pleasant, the committee made the following comment: "And should the citizens erect an elegant town house (Nashville) for the men to occupy one day in the year, it should be left without windows until a new schoolhouse is built, in order to equalize the comfort of the rising and the risen generations."
In Nashville the districts, during the year 1843, were renumbered. The schoolhouse at Belvidere was called No. 1, Mount Pleasant No. 2, the house on Amherst road No. 3, and the one on Hollis road No. 4. In 1845 there was a primary school built in the eastern part of district No. 2, on North Central street. The scholars passed from this school to the higher grades in Mount Pleasant.
At this time there was held a summer school for writing, lasting two or three weeks. It would appear from comments made upon this school by the committee, that during these four weeks the scholars received their only drill in writing, and they, thinking this inadequate, recommended that a regular writing period be taken each day in school.
In 1846 the committee advised the use of slates by the smaller children, to whom, evidently, their use had previously been forbidden, "Serving if for no other purpose," as they said, "to enable them to bear the difficult task of sitting still." The light which this throws upon the method of teaching children at this time needs no comment.
The holding of teachers' institutes was spoken of with great interest by the school managers, and all teachers were advised to attend. The committee also recommended in 1847 the establishing of a high school. In 1848-9 regular lessons in writing were given in all the schools, and this was found to be more efficient than to have two or three weeks devoted entirely to writing.
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