USA > New Hampshire > Hillsborough County > Antrim > History of the town of Antrim, New Hampshire, from its earliest settlement to June 27, 1877, with a brief genealogical record of all the Antrim families > Part 15
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In the round of events since the war, little has occurred requiring notice in this connection. On return of peace, the town found itself fearfully in debt. Taxes had been very high through the war, large sums being raised at the time to meet the new obligations of the town. But above all this, the debt reached the great sum of $32,341.17, as by report of 1865-66, or about $33 for every man, woman, and child of our population. With this debt the town has been struggling ever since. In addition to ordinary expenses something has been paid on the debt every year. Town bonds were issued to the amount of $17,800, in the year 1870, bearing interest at six per cent, and covering most of
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CLOSING.
the then existing debt. These bonds have from time to time been called in, as they could be paid. The debt of the town, March 1, 1879, was $7,388.47.
The question, Is it expedient to call a convention to revise the Constitution of this State ? having often been submitted to the people and decided in the negative, it was in March, 1876 (I think), decided in the affirmative, many thinking to diminish expenses by biennial elections, and other changes being demanded. Consequently, at the meeting for the presidential election, Nov. 7, 1876, Leander Smith moderator, the town elected Nathan C. Jameson, delegate to the convention. This body convened at Concord, soon after, and prudently and rapidly performed its work, so that the new constitution was printed and submitted to the people at the next March meeting. Every article was approved by the people of Antrim, though not all by a two-thirds vote. Being adopted by the whole State, it is now the supreme law of our Commonwealth.
The Baldwin road, so called, was raised about five feet in the spring of 1878. This is later than the proposed limit of our History (June 27, 1877) ; but as this had been long talked over, and measures previously taken to accomplish it, it may be proper to say, that it was brought about at the above date, at a cost of about twelve hundred dollars, the opening of the railroad making it an immediate necessity.
Thus I have gone over the events for one hundred years from the incorporation of the town. The narrative of the centennial celebration of that event will follow ; and then chapters of eccle- siastical and military history, and miscellaneous matters. I venture the hope that some abler hand may touch these threads in the future, and weave them into fabrics fair. Probably the facts here brought together will be of greater interest then than now. The only record of some of them is on these pages. God grant that those who may live here then, be worthy of the fathers of the town! In Dr. Whiton's words, may " Antrim be inhabited by an industrious, well-educated, Christian population ; fearing God, honoring religion, seeking truth and righteousness. Long ere that day come's, time will have leveled the graves and obliterated the memory of the present actors on the stage of life ! "
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PREPARATIONS FOR THE CENTENNIAL.
CHAPTER IV.
PROCEEDINGS IN CONNECTION WITH THE CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION, JUNE 27, 1877.
AT the annual March meeting, 1875, an article having been put in the warrant by George A. Cochran, Esq., authorizing such action, the town voted to celebrate its centennial anniversary, voted to raise one thousand dollars to defray the expenses of said celebration, and chose a committee to take the whole charge and execution of it, and see that the will of the town be properly carried out. This committee was as follows : -
Dr. Morris Christie, George A. Cochran, Esq., Rev. W. R. Cochrane, Capt. Moody B. McIlvaine, David H. Goodell, Esq., and Reed P. Whittemore, Esq.
The committee held their first meeting soon after, and chose Dr. Morris Christie, president ; D. H. Goodell, Esq., secretary, and George A. Cochran, treasurer. March 22, the day of incor- poration, being an unfavorable time for a celebration, the com- mittee fixed on June 27 following, as the most convenient. Met as often as occasion required - selected Prof. James E. Vose as the orator of the day - appointed sub-committees, and with untiring labor and care made ready for the day.
One thousand invitations, in form as follows, were sent out by mail : -
ANTRIM, N. H., Dec. 14, 1876.
DEAR, SIR, - The town of Antrim was incorporated about one hun- dred years ago, and it is proposed to celebrate its CENTENNIAL ANNI- VERSARY in an appropriate manner.
You are hereby invited, by the resident citizens of Antrim, to meet them " at home, " on Wednesday, June 27, 1877. All natives of this town and their descendants are cordially invited to be present with us.
Prof. JAMES E. VOSE, of Cushing Academy, Ashburnham, Mass., is expected to deliver an address, and such other exercises will be held as will be suitable to the occasion.
Respectfully yours, MORRIS CHRISTIE, REED P. WHITTEMORE, M. B. MCILVAINE,
W. R. COCHRANE, GEO. A. COCHRAN, D. H. GOODELL, Executive Committee.
The celebration was held at the Center of the town. The large brick church was elegantly decorated for the occasion ; a large
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THE DAY OF CELEBRATION.
platform was erected on the west side of the church ; and a large tent, white as the snow, was located still farther west, and amply filled with provision of every kind.
The vestry on the opposite side of the church was used as an antiquarian room, under the charge of Mrs. Anna Woodbury. It is simply just to say that she managed this department with admirable good taste, to say nothing of patience and work. Here the implements, keepsakes, weapons, and innumerable treasures of our fathers and mothers, were on exhibition, and this was one of the most attractive features of the occasion.
Preparations were made, partly by food contributed, chiefly by purchase, to feed three thousand people. But the audience largely outnumbered this estimate, so that, though a considerable amount of provision was hastily purchased on that day, not over a bushel was left in good order, after the vast company were filled.
Not a bite of poor meat or poor provision was on the ground ! Antrim had the honor of giving a dinner, excellent, bountiful, and free !
The choirs of the town, under lead of Prof. Sylvester Little, rendered several pieces most powerfully and happily, so as to win praise from all hearers.
Two brass bands, the New Boston Cornet Band and the Hills- borough Cornet Band, having been engaged for the day, music of that kind was abundant from sunrise far into the night, and of a quality not easily surpassed.
The committee selected, as president of the day, Reed P. Whit- temore, Esq., of Antrim, with vice-presidents, Dr. Morris Chris- tie, Chandler B. Boutwell, James Boyd, George F. Parmenter, Samuel Dinsmore, James Wood, N. W. C. Jameson, John M. Duncan, George A. Cochran, John B. Woodbury, Clark Hopkins, and William N. Tuttle.
The weather was all that could be desired. In the early morn- ing it threatened rain, but soon broke away into a day of singular beauty. Soon after sunrise, people began to gather. The farm- er's humble turnout - the dainty phaeton -the princely four- in-hand - pedestrians - young and old - the gaily decorated - the modest poor, - came pouring in from all the neighboring towns.
In the morning at half-past seven a flag was presented to the Antrim Cadets. This ceremony was in South Village, the con-
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EXERCISES IN THE CHURCH.
course was large, and the presentation was beautifully done in an address from the balcony of Waverly Hall, by Miss Bessie, daughter of N. W. C. Jameson. Then the march was taken up for the Center, the multitude, especially at Clinton, falling in on the way. This division was led by the New Boston band, under direction of Capt. Moody B. McIlvaine, chief marshal, and Col. S. I. Vose, assistant marshal.
A procession also came in from the Branch, led by Hillsborough Band, under direction of Col. Silas Dinsmore, assistant marshal. These met on the common at nine o'clock, marched to the field on the north, - and then re-forming, in the order on the programme, marched into the church. The spacious edifice was filled to its utmost capacity in every part, and every standing-spot, even to vestibule and outside platform, was full; more than eleven hundred were thus accommodated ; and yet twice as many at the same time covered the common outside, and thronged the antiquarian room. Those outside were busy and happy as chil- dren let loose from school, talking over old matters, and laugh- ing or weeping at the recall of the past, so that they did not seem to miss the literary exercises within.
As soon as the house was packed full, the chief marshal announced the president of the day, Reed P. Whittemore, Esq., who, on taking the chair, made an able address of welcome, and called on Rev. James M. Whiton (in absence of Rev. J L. Felt) to invoke the divine blessing. Then, after reading of Scripture, and singing by the choir, prayer was offered by Rev. William Clark, D. D., of Amherst (in absence of Rev. E. M. Shaw); which was followed by reading of the town charter by Charles B. Dodge, Esq., town clerk.
Then, after music by the band, Prof. James E. Vose pronounced his admirable oration, which the audience followed intently to the close. It is herein subjoined entire.
Again the choir sung, charmingly, one of the grand old pieces of the fathers ; and then came the poem, which will be found below, by Prof. J. W. Barker, of Buffalo, N. Y. It was impos- sible for Mr. Barker to get here, and hence the poem, which he had taken the precaution to send on beforehand, was read by Henry D. Chapin, Esq. The exercises in the church were now closed with singing, and music by the band, after which all marched out to dinner.
For three-quarters of an hour, forty persons worked with all
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THE DINNER.
their might in distributing provisions and ice-water to the multi- tude. One cord solid of bread, one-half a ton of meat, cakes and et cæteras innumerable, vanished like a dream. But there was enough and to spare ! And after all were filled, and a half-hour of buzzing conversation stirred occasionally by martial music, the audience was called to order, and speaking commenced on the platform outside.
These responses for the most part will be found below. They were given with vigor and life, and received with cheers and laughs, all of which is utterly beyond a description of the pen.
₱
And the bursts of music by either band were frequent, and of the most able and enjoyable kind.
Some of the addresses and letters here given, it was impossi- ble then to hear for lack of time. The programme of the day, three thousand copies of which were printed and scattered in the assembly, is reproduced below. The hymn was written by the author of this book.
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PROGRAMME OF THE CELEBRATION.
CELEBRATION
- OF - NTRIM
WEDNESDAY, JUNE 27, 1877.
PROGRAMME. Ringing of bells, &c., at Sunrise.
South Procession, with Military and New Boston Band, form at Clinton, at 8 1-2 A. M. North Procession, with Hillsborough Band, will form on the Branch road, at the same hour. Both arrive on the Field at 9 A. M. There form in the following order for march to the Church :
Chief Marshal and Aids ; Band ; Granite State Cadets ; Band ; Odd-Fellows ; President of the Day and Vice Presidents ; Orator, Poet, Speakers, Town Clerk, Clergymen, Choirs, Town Officers, Aged People ; Guests from other Towns and Citizens generally. Chief Marshal will announce President of the Day, REED P. WHITTEMORE, Esq.
PRESIDENT'S ADDRESS OF WELCOME.
Invocation of Divine Blessing, REV. J. L. FELT.
Scripture Reading,- REV. W. R. COCHRANE.
Singing,
CHOIR.
Prayer, - REV. E. M. SHAW. Reading Town Charter by Town Clerk, - C. B. DODGE, EsQ. Music, - - HILLSBOROUGH BAND.
Oration by
PROF. MES
Singing,
of Ashburnham, Mass. CHOIR.
Poem by PROF. J. W. BARKER, of Buffalo, N. Y. Singing, - CHOIR. Music, NEW BOSTON BAND.
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PROGRAMME OF THE CELEBRATION.
DINNER.
Social half hour, enlivened by Music by the Bands.
RESPONSES TO SENTIMENTS:
" Scotch Character - still marked by grit and grace."
HON. CHARLES ADAMS, JR., North Brookfield, Mass.
"Bonny Doon " - New Boston Band. " The Physicians of Antrim." DR. JAMES STICKNEY,
Pepperell, Mass.
" Past of Antrim contrasted with the Present." REV. S. G. ABBOTT. Music - Hillsborough Band.
. " The Clergy of Antrim - may their power always be Felt."
REV. J. L. FELT, Antrim. "Hardihood and toil of the Fathers and Mothers of Antrim."
ISAAC BALDWIN, EsQ., Clinton, Ia. Music - New Boston Band.
"Influence of the Hill-Towns on the Destiny of our Country."
REV. J. M. WHITON, East Hampton, Mass.
Music - Hillsborough Band.
"Lawyers of Antrim."
FRANK H. PIERCE, EsQ., Concord.
"Rev. J. M. Whiton, D. D. - his life a Gospel of Peace." PROF. CYRUS BALDWIN, Meriden. Music - New Boston Band.
" Antrim forty years ago." COL. S. I. VOSE, Peterborough.
Reading. MRS. E. M. HUNTLEY, Milford. Music - Hillsborough Band.
"Men and Women of 1777 who laid the foundation of the Church in Antrim." A. H. DUNLAP, EsQ., Nashua.
" The State of Maine - of our best she has taken and of our best she has given back." REV. E. M. SHAW, Antrim. Music - New Boston Band.
Volunteer Responses.
Form in procession and march to old Parade Ground on Meeting House Hill.
Historic Statement, - REV. W. R. COCHRANE.
Dirge over Old Century, NEW BOSTON BAND.
HYMN.
AULD LANG SYNE.
We bring thee here, our fathers' God, * Our tribute warm and deep, Where once our sires in vigor trod, Where now in death they sleep.
CHORUS.
Of Auld Lang Syne we sing, Of Auld Lang Syne ; We'll drop a tear in memory here Of Auld Lang Syne.
Hard by their graves the altar grew, A temple large and free; And here in joys and sorrows true' They paid their vow to thee. - CHO.
And this till death their only fold, Thy praise their only aim;
March down and re-form.
Through summer's heat or winter's cold The long procession came. - CHO.
But now, O Lord, not here thy call, Nor throng, nor sacred fane; To-day these graves alone of all That busy scene remain. - CHO.
But o'er their dust we pray that we May touch thy garment hem; And the same voice acknowledge thee That bids farewell to them. - CHO.
And since our sires through all the past Were safe to rest or roam, We trust our fathers' God at last Will bring their children home ! - CHO.
Closing words by President.
Benediction.
Antrim, N. H., June, 1877.
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ADDRESS OF WELCOME.
ADDRESS OF WELCOME BY THE PRESIDENT, REED P. WHITTEMORE, ESQ.
LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, -Through the kindness of my fel- low-townsmen, I have been called to preside over your delibera- tions to-day. I need not say to you, fellow-citizens of Antrim, nor to you, her sons and daughters gathered from near and from far, that this is a duty to which I am not accustomed, as century celebrations do not occur often to the same man in his own town. We at home are mostly a farming community, living in scattered dwellings, and having a hard though productive soil. We have, indeed, some pleasant villages and thriving manufactories, but as a people we look to mother earth, in humble dependence on the blessing of God, to earn with our own hands our daily bread from the soil. We have kept the old farms. And it becomes my pleasure, as well as duty, to welcome you, the returning sons and daughters of Antrim, to your ancestral ground. I am not a public speaker ; nor have I been chosen to fill that place. You. will in due time listen to the orator of the day, - a gentleman and a scholar and a self-made man. I shall not intentionally step into the work assigned to him.
But, while I make no pretensions to the graces of oratory, or to the learning of schools, I am proud to say that I have a heart to feel a deep interest in this anniversary. My memory goes more than half-way back to the beginning of Antrim as a corporate town. I know in my boyhood the Londonderry stock gave char- acter to this place. The early settlers were warm-hearted, whole- souled, impulsive, generous men ; quick, indeed, to resent an insult with a blow, and as quick to acknowledge a favor and double it in return. A mean man among them was rare to find, and, when found, was the object of general dislike.
There was among them a deep religious feeling, but they scorned to make a show of it, and hated all sham. They were a church-going people, as yonder hill, crowded with willing feet going up to worship, can testify.
While we, their sons and daughters, perhaps to the third and fourth generation, may have made great advance in arts and im- provements in implements of agriculture, I fear we may have lost some of their straightforward, stern integrity of purpose. And if we have more contrivance, we may have less heroic endurance.
It is pleasant for us, friends and neighbors, to meet to-day and look into each other's faces, and take each other by the hand, in
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CENTENNIAL ADDRESS.
token of the fraternal union and harmony in which, as citizens, we dwell. It is pleasant to see those who have sought to better their fortunes by leaving the old town, come back again to visit the remembered retreats of their boyhood.
We recognize you as the same young men that went from us. 'You find us the same you left behind. The same, did I say ? Yes, - but not wholly the same; in some things changed. Some of us and some of you have had our days of sorrow. Loved ones have faded from our sight. Many here have been borne with sad hearts to their long resting-place.
Yet we are glad to meet you ; glad to have you know, that we who have stayed at the old homestead have hearts to feel, and can weep with those that weep, as well as rejoice with them that rejoice.
We welcome home again the school-boys and the school-girls of the olden times ! We will forget for the day that so many years have flown ! We ask you all to lay aside for now the cares of business ! Do not trouble yourselves whether stocks are rising or falling; whether the debt or credit side of your paper or your company's account be the greater ; throw off care, and enter fully into the festivities of the day !
In the name of ANTRIM, now one hundred years old as a town, and at her request, I bid you all a cordial welcome !
CENTENNIAL ADDRESS BY PROF. JAMES E. VOSE.
Three hundred years ago ! This continent was a wilderness ; not a Protestant settlement in all its length and breadth. But the clay was in the hands of the potter. God was slowly shaping those bodies of men, who, during the next two centuries, were to transform the wilderness into an empire. It is remarkable through what furnace fires the founders or reformers of nations have had to pass. The dross of ordinary men has to be burned out of them. Muscle, and mind, and heart, and soul, have to be laid on the anvil, and the ponderous blows rain down till every spark of baser alloy is driven out, and nothing but the clear, tough, ringing iron remains.
" Hot burns the fire Where wrongs expire, Nor spares the hand That from the land
Uproots the ancient evil.".
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CENTENNIAL ADDRESS.
So it was that three centuries ago the massacre of St. Barthol- omew, destroying forty thousand Protestants at a single blow, sent six hundred thousand of the best blood of France out into the stern discipline of homeless exile to prepare the Huguenots for their great work upon this continent. So it was that three hundred and twenty years ago the Bloody Queen lighted in Eng- land those fires of persecution, that, through intervals, for more than a century, drove men to the stake and sent them wandering through caves and dens of the earth, till twenty thousand of them, "the foremost men of all this world, " had been driven to take refuge in the woods of New England. So it was with that small but remarkable body of men, a few of whose descendants meet here to-day. The peerages of America, thank Providence, were not bestowed by royal favor. Manhood is peer, and you and I have blood in our veins that ought to tell in the world.
Three centuries ago Queen Elizabeth was crushing out a long series of Irish rebellions with blood and fire, and so relentlessly did she do it that the six northern counties of Ireland, a terri- tory half as large as New Hampshire, became a waste of ruin. Partly to repair this devastation and partly to hold the Irish in check, about 1612 King James drew over some thousands of Scotchmen to settle on the lands. They gained rapid headway and laid the foundation of a good share of all the prosperity poor Ireland has ever since enjoyed. But they had to stand for their lives. The native Catholics turned upon them like wild beasts invaded in their dens, and for sixty years there was one continued conflict for the mastery. On one dark October day in 1641, in a second St. Bartholomew, thousands of them were butchered in cold blood, and the rest were driven to take refuge in protected places. Ten years later the iron hand of Cromwell released them for a moment's breathing-space, but in ten years more the merciless grip of Charles II. was upon them in the most terrific persecution of all. Over in Scotland, too, Graham of Claverhouse was hunting and murdering the Covenanters in every fen and fastness where they with their Bibles were hidden away ; and so hundreds of the first men of the country took refuge with their brethren in Ireland. Out of such materials, and through two generations of such stern work, the SCOTCH-IRISH race had its beginning.
Two hundred years ago! Fifty years of this schooling of sword and blood, and now to see what stuff these men were
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CENTENNIAL ADDRESS.
made of. In 1688 occurred the greatest of England's rebellions. . James II., the bigoted Catholic, had been driven from the coun- : try, and the Protestant William was struggling against the greatest odds to hold the throne. By French aid James was making desperate efforts to regain his kingdom. His plan embraced a descent upon Ireland, thence upon Scotland, thence upon England. The first part of the programme was speedily carried out. Ireland was subdued, the victorious armies were preparing to descend upon Scotland, everything was favorable, and a few months more, apparently, would see this great rebel- lion ended and the tyrant in his throne again, when a sudden obstacle arose. A little handful of these same Scotch-Irishmen stood up across the pathway and disputed the passage into Scot- land. They could not stand in the open field, for the flower of the king's army was against them. But they knew their foes. Their fathers had told them of the old-time butcheries. They themselves, some of them, had but lately escaped from the slaughter of the Covenanters. They resolved that only over their dead bodies should the new-found liberties of their country be struck down again. So seven thousand five hundred of them shut themselves up in Londonderry, right athwart the path of the king, and for nine months endured one of the most memora- ble sieges on record. Four times their number, French, English, Irish, aided by a powerful fleet, raged and stormed against them in vain. With only a clergyman for their general, without arms, or munitions, or discipline, or food, by incessant fighting, by sorties day and night, by hand-to-hand encounter, they repulsed every attack and hield their foes at bay. Every second man of them fell by sword or famine ; they were reduced to feeding on horse-flesh, dogs, and cats. A rat, fattened on human flesh, sold for a shilling, and a mouse for a sixpence. In grim, terrible resolution they were preparing to feed upon their own dead, when, at the last extremity, a fleet from William relieved them. The besiegers retired, the great rebellion triumphed, and English liberties and our liberties were saved.
These were the men to found a state. As they could brook no tyranny in politics, so they could endure no intolerance in religion. The established Episcopacy was insufferable to them, and they resolved to find here in the wilderness that liberty which the world offered nowhere else. Five ship-loads of them came over in 1718, part settling in Boston, Worcester, Lunen-
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CENTENNIAL ADDRESS.
burg, and other towns in Massachusetts, and part going to Casco Bay. We can well picture this latter party as they stepped for the first time upon the desolate shore in the late autumn, gath- ering to sing that saddest of all the old psalms, -
" By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat down, Yea, we wept when we remembered Zion."
In the spring they settled in Londonderry. It may be added here that some fifty years later a very much larger emigration occurred, making in all some one hundred and twenty ship-loads of the Scotch-Irish race that came to America, settling in every State from Maine to Georgia. Small leaven, it may seem, for so great a lump, but we shall see.
The Londonderry company prospered. They brought over with them their great energy and industry. Their spinning- wheel, which makes Irish linen famous even to-day, brought them wealth. They introduced into New England what has been known as the " Irish potato " ever since. They wrung for- tunes from those hillsides where now their descendants cannot subsist. With their restless activity they moved out to make wider settlements; Bedford, New Boston, Antrim, and other towns had their planting from this stock. Of the well-known peculiarities of this people, I need not speak. Their unculti- vated manners, keen wit, unconquerable will and perseverance, sterling common sense, firm, deep-rooted religious convictions, have made them a marked people wherever they have been found from that day to this. We read that Dea. Aiken, sec- ond settler of this town, gave his note to his neighbor Smith, and, at the request of the latter, kept it safely locked in his own desk till he was ready to pay it, and did pay it. The smile with which we to-day receive the story shows how much we have gained on their grand integrity in the hundred years. Their Bible, their Sabbath, their religion, -for these they had endured the tortures of the Covenanters, the starvation of Londonderry, the privations of exile and the wilderness ; they clung to them as the sheet-anchor of their hope, they made them the corner- stone of their foundation. Had these things anything to do with the prosperity of these old towns during the first half of the century, compared with the depopulation since ?
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