USA > New Hampshire > Grafton County > Bristol > History of the town of Bristol, Grafton County, New Hampshire, Volume I > Part 18
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In 1826, Col. John S. Bryant came from Hill, and kept tavern for two or three years in a building that stood on the site of the-Bank block.
The first building on the site of Hotel Bristol was a dwell- ing-house erected by Edmond Brown some years previous to 1800. In 1836, this dwelling, then owned and occupied by Capt. James Minot, was sold to Joseph Malvern, who removed the house and erected a hotel, two stories high with a piazza on the east end and south side. Mr. Malvern kept a public house here a short time, and was succeeded by Luther Robinson, who was keeping tavern here in May, 1837. Dudley Merrill Cass, Ira P. Ballou, and Joseph F. Rollins appear to have been land- lords here between this date and 1846. Later, Henry F. Kid- der and Sherburn S. Merrill, who afterward became the great railroad magnate of Milwaukee, were landlords, and continued till about 1848. Jonathan L. Prescott was landlord here for a time, and Josiah D. Prescott was landlord for many years pre- vious to his death in 1866. He was succeeded by his son, J. Everett Prescott, who, after a brief stay, retired. The house was then closed for some months and later sold at auction, Otis K. Bucklin being the purchaser.
Mr. Bucklin removed the old buildings and erected the
I Statement of Mrs. Jeremiah Prescott.
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HISTORY OF BRISTOL
present structure, the work being done by Charles Forrest. The main building is four stories and basement, 60 x 45 feet ; ell two stories and basement, 42 x 27 ; hall with shed under- neath 50 x 30 feet. The house contains forty-one sleeping rooms. One-half of the old building now stands on the west side of South Main street a half mile south of Central square, and the other half is a tenement house on the east side of South Main street, north of the street or road to Calley & Currier's crutch factory, Mr. Bucklin kept hotel in the new house till October, 1882, it being known as the Bristol house. He sold to George G. Brown, who was landlord here till Aug. 16, 1883, when he in turn sold to Mr. Bucklin and George H. Fowler. Mr. Fowler was landlord till March, 1884, when Mr. Bucklin bought Mr. Fowler's interest and again took charge of the house. Mr. Bucklin was succeeded by F. D. Gilson, who, after serving about two years, sold to Capt. William A. Beckford in August, 1888. Capt. Beckford was succeeded, after a few months, by Frank H. Lovejoy, who after a like service was succeeded by Moses F. Wilbur, in February, 1889. Mr. Wilbur continued as landlord till 1898, when he sold to Charles L. Follansbee. Mr. Wilbur again purchased this property Apr. 10, 1899, and continued as landlord till the spring of 1901, when Charles H. Prescott be- came its owner, and assumed the duties of landlord. For some years past, this hostelry has been designated as Hotel Bristol.
A public house called Boar's Head was operated a few years in the late sixties at the junction of Willow and Lake streets by William Jewett Sanborn.
In the spring of 1879, George G. Brown remodeled the block at the corner of Central square and Spring street. He raised the block, put a story under it, and added a French roof, making it four stories when completed. Here he opened a hotel in July, and operated it till he purchased Hotel Bristol. When he sold Hotel Bristol to Bucklin & Fowler, he sold this block also, the compensation for both hotels being $16,000. Mr. Buck- lin resided here while Mr. Fowler was landlord of the Bristol House.
For six years past Albion A. Veasey has kept a hotel, called the Riverside House, on the south side of Pleasant street and the east bank of Newfound river. The older part of the buildings was the curry shop of Brown's tannery eighty years ago. Large additions have been made, affording in all about twenty sleeping rooms.
CHAPTER XV
TEMPERANCE
Oh, that men should put an enemy in Their mouths, to steal away their brains ! that we Should, with joy, pleasure, revel and applause,
Transform ourselves to beasts.
-Shakespeare.
For forty or fifty years after the organization of New Ches- ter, the use of ardent spirits was well-nigh universal. The staple drink was West India or New England rum. Everybody kept it on hand the entire year as a beverage, or as a treat for occasional guests. During the haying season, rum was con- sidered indispensable in the field, and was partaken of whenever desired.
The liquors were pure in those days, and contained less alcohol than now. This fact, together with the hard labor of the farmers in the open air, probably prevented some of the evils of the drink habit of the present day. Delerium tremens was unknown, and yet the drink habit was not without its direful results. Then as now, drink begat idleness, deprived a man of his reason, and led its victims to spend their time and money with convivial companions at the taverns or elsewhere. Many a man lost his farm because the fruit of his labor went for strong drink. Intoxicating drink was responsible for the loss of several lives in Bristol. Two men were drowned in Newfound river while intoxicated ; several were drowned in the Pemigewasset from the same cause ; while rum, bought at a tavern in Bristol, caused the death of a bright boy living on the New Hampton side of the Pemigewasset, who was compelled by an intoxicated father to drink.
Among the first settlers in New Chester, cider was almost unknown, but, as apple orchards appeared, vast quantities of it were made, and it became an every-day beverage. In extreme cases, as many as forty barrels have been placed in the cellar for the year's use of a single family. For many years, cider was hardly considered an intoxicating beverage, although its use has always been a great curse to the people. In later years, its use has largely decreased. It is now almost entirely confined to a few cider topers.
Not only did all the taverns in town keep spirituous liquors for sale, but every store kept them, and vast quantities were
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HISTORY OF BRISTOL
sold. ' There was no question as to the propriety of this course. When the evils of the traffic were first agitated, even the pulpit were divided on the subject, and those who had the courage of their convictions were denounced for advocating strange doc- trines. In 1823, when Solomon Cavis opened his store in Bristol, he had painted on his window shutters, "Rum, Gin, Brandy, Wine, etc." Later, Mr. Cavis attended a lecture in which the evils of the drink habit were portrayed in vivid colors. At the close, the speaker asked all who agreed with him to rise. Mr. Cavis was the first to respond. The next morning, a coating of paint was spread over the lettering on his shutters, and no more intoxicating drinks were sold at his store. Other traders fol- lowed his example, till finally the traffic disappeared from the stores. 2
Gov. Berry told this story: There was one member of the Methodist church, Richard Wentworth, who used to be seen daily at Bartlett's store drinking and treating his friends. One day, Mr. Berry expostulated with him on the sin he was com- mitting. "Well!" said the brother, "If you think it is your duty to talk to me, you do just right, but I shall keep on drink- ing just the same. " He did, and became a confirmed drunkard; he was expelled from the church, but he afterward reformed.
Organized work in the temperance cause in Bristol dates from 1830. Sept. 15, of that year, "some of the inhabitants of Bristol, beholding with pain and grief the deadly effects and ravages of intemperance, met agreeable to notice ยท at the Methodist Episcopal meeting-house and organized them- selves into a society called The Bristol Temperance Society. " Rev. J. B. H. Norris was chosen president ; Dr. Samuel Smith, vice-president; Col. N. S. Berry, William L. Chase, and Jacob N. Darling, committee. The declaration of principles was em- bodied in these words :
The members of this society, believing that the use of intoxicating liquors is, for persons in health, not only unnecessary, but even hurtful, and that the practice is the cause of forming intemperate appetites and habits, and that while it is continued the evils of intemperance can never be prevented, do, therefore, agree that we will abstain from the use of distilled spirits except as a medicine in case of bodily infirmity ; that we will not allow the use of them in our families nor provide them for the entertainment of our friends or for persons in our employment and that in all suitable ways we will discountenance the use of them in the com- munity.
' The author once heard Levi Bartlett tell this story : "On one occa- sion, when I was a boy, my father had been without rum in his store for a week or more, and jugs were left to be filled. When a hogshead of rum had been received, I sat down at the faucet and did not rise till I had drawn the whole out at retail. "
2 Gov. N. S. Berry used to say that sixty hogheads of rum were sold at Bartlett's store in one year.
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TEMPERANCE
Any one subscribing to the constitution became a mem- ber, and during the next four years over three hundred affixed their names. This, like all subsequent movements along this line, swept in many who had not sufficient moral stamina to keep their good resolutions, and opposite some names were written the words "expelled," or "violated his oath," while in one case the record reads "drowned himself while drunk."
The work of this society evidently resulted in improving public sentiment concerning the evils of intemperance. Lec- tures were given and conventions held. A Grafton County con- vention was held at Plymouth Sept. 27, 1836. The delegates from the Bristol society were Rev. John Winter, Dr. Jacob S. Eaton, Col. O. F. Fowler, Col. N. S. Berry, Rev. Matthew New- hall, S. H. Stevens, Esq., Col. John S. Bryant, Joseph Moore, Samuel T. W. Sleeper, Esq., and Richard H. Sawyer. After a few years of prosperity and usefulness, this society ceased to exist.
In 1842, the Washingtonian movement reached Bristol, and a total abstinence society was organized in the Congregational church Feb. 22, of that year. This society was called the Bristol Washingtonian society, and its members subscribed to the following
PLEDGE
We agree to abstain from all intoxicating liquors as a drink and promise that we will not manufacture them or traffic in them; that we will not furnish them as a drink to friends or to persons in our employ- ment ; and that in all suitable ways we will endeavor to promote the total abstinence from them as a beverage, as, in our opinion, the only sure way to reclaim the fallen ; to remove temptation, and to hand down the bless- ing of temperance to generations to come.
This pledge was signed by one hundred and fifteen persons, and more names were added later. The first officers of the society were : President, Samuel H. Stevens ; vice-president, Moody C. Sawyer ; secretary, Josiah Minot; executive com- mittee, Jacob S. Eaton, William L. Chase, and S. S. Worthing.
The Washingtonian society worked along the same lines as did its predecessor, striving to cultivate public sentiment. All its meetings were public, and at each the subject of intemper- ance was discussed, sometimes with a formal subject with speakers assigned on both sides, and frequently with lectures by clergymen and others. Among the participants were nearly all the strong men of the town, including Dr. J. S. Eaton, Dr. M. C. Sawyer, Josiah Minot, Esq., Samuel H. Stevens, Esq., Richard H. Sawyer, William L. Chase, Rev. Reuben Dear- born, Rev. H. H. Hartwell, S. S. Worthing, Robert Smith, Esq., Jacob N. Darling, Warren White, Levi Bartlett, William F. Lewis, Rev. Daniel O. Morton, Daniel S. Smith. Ichabod C.
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HISTORY OF BRISTOL
Bartlett, Reuben C. Bean, Solomon Cavis, Col. Oscar F. Fow- ler, N. C. Greenough, Henry Wells, Rev. Walter Sleeper, Dea. William Green, and Frederick Bartlett, Esq. The subject of dis- cussion Feb. 22, 1848, was, "Resolved, That rumsellers should be held legally responsible for the damage their traffic brings upon society." This was discussed by Frederick Bartlett, Jeremiah Johnson, and Dr. M. C. Hoyt, on the affirmative, and by Dr. Eaton, Dea. Green, and Rev. Caleb S. Beede, on the negative. Other speakers followed, including Rev. L. C. McCurdy, and and N. B. Bryant, Esq.
In May, 1843, a paper was passed through the community to receive the signatures of those favoring the enforcement of the law, and two hundred and fifty signatures were obtained. Francis Kidder, Dr. Eaton, Solomon Cavis, James Minot, and Warren White were elected a committee to take such measures as they thought best to suppress the traffic in Bristol.
The following is a record made of one meeting :
Dr. Eaton, O. F. Fowler, N. B. Bryant, Dr. Hoyt, and many others made remarks and so pointed that every one present could not help knowing that "a man in the wall" should be made to know what estima- tion the people of this place hold of him, and the following resolution was made :
Resolved, That the members of a temperance society assembled on the 22nd of February, 1851, in Bristol, look upon the business and place of William Chase' as a public nuisance deserving and receiving the condemnation of the honest citizens of this place.
The resolution was adopted ; and N. B. Bryant, Dr. Eaton and J. T. Kendall were chosen a committee to investigate the "hole in the wall" 2 and report at the next meeting.
The women were early active workers in the temperance cause in Bristol. In March, 1842, the "Ladies' Appeal" was circulated through the community, and Oct. 22, 1843, "Miss Parker" gave a lecture that was attended by a large audience. "This lecture," says the record. "was one of the most powerful ever delivered in our hall." In 1848, a Woman's Union was organized.
Oct. 4, 1848, a division of the Sons of Temperance, a secret organization, was formed in Bristol. It had a vigorous exist- ence that lasted several years and accomplished much good. Its meetings were held in a hall in the attic of White's block. The Temperance Banner had one hundred and twenty sub- scribers in town. In 1866, this organization was succeeded by the Good Templars, who continued the work. About 1878, came the Reform Club, which was more of a citizen's movement.
" This name should not be mistaken for that of William L. Chase.
2 This "hole in the wall" was a low saloon kept by William Chase in the basement of a building that stood near the west side drug store. The entrance was by stairs on north side.
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TEMPERANCE
It held its meetings in public and aroused much public zeal. Vast numbers of drinking men were influenced by the enthu- siasm of the hour to take the pledge. At one meeting, held at the town hall, when speakers from abroad were present, as many as fifty habitual drinkers affixed their names to the pledge. This, like all other movements, served its time and accomplished good, though most of the habitual drinkers drifted back to their old habits.
The Reform Club movement was succeeded by the Christian Temperance Union which was continued for several years. One Sunday evening in each month, union temperance services were held in the town hall at which addresses were given by the resident clergymen and others. Like the work of all its prede- cessors, the work of the union was along the line of moral suasion, serving to keep the liquor traffic under the ban of pub- lic condemnation and helping to deter the young from con- tracting the drink habit. The enforcement of the law, which has been effected from time to time, has served to check the traffic and thus accomplish some good ; but this step has been the exception rather than the rule.
The town early took a stand against licensing the sale of intoxicating drinks. In 1843, the vote was fifty-one for license and one hundred and forty-five against. In 1847, and for many years later, there was a vote each year to instruct the selectmen to prosecute all violations of the liquor law, and each year the selectmen licensed some one to sell spirituous liquors for medi- cinal, mechanical, and chemical purposes, and for the com- memoration of the Lord's Supper. In 1848, on the question, "Is it expedient that a law be enacted by the General Court prohibiting the sale of wines and other spirituous liquors except for chemical, medicinal and mechanical purposes ?" the vote stood, affirmative, one hundred and forty-two; negative, thirty- two.
At the annual town meeting in 1871, Rev. Silas Ketchum presented the following resolutions, which were unanimously adopted :
Whereas, We, the citizens of Bristol, have had ample opportunity to know that the promiscuous and illegal sale of intoxicating liquors is always detrimental to the peace, good order and moral reputation of our town ; and
Whereas, We are anxious that our citizens should be prevented and our young men restrained from intemperance and its destructive conse- quences ; therefore,
Resolved, That it is the opinion and moral sentiment of this town expressed in a kind and courteous manner, that every citizen should abstain from the illegal sale of intoxicating liquors under any and all circumstances, after the town has provided for the legal sale thereof.
It was also voted that the enforcement of the liquor law be left
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HISTORY OF BRISTOL
with the selectmen, and that the selectmen appoint one or more liquor agents, if it cost $1,000.
In 1873, the town instructed its representatives to use their influence for the passage of a law prohibiting the sale of ale, beer, and cider.
At the annual meeting in March, 1889, the voters of the town were to vote for or against seven amendments proposed by the constitutional convention of January, 1889, one of which prohibited the manufacture or sale of intoxicating liquors. At this meeting, a delegation of ladies, consisting of Mrs. G. W. Patterson, Mrs. W. A. Nealy, Mrs. W. A. Berry, Mrs. R. W. Musgrove, Mrs. G. H. White, and Mrs. A. M. Draper, asked to be admitted to the hall and present a petition. They were ad- mitted, and they occupied a place on the platform, when Mrs. Patterson read the following petition :
To the voters of Bristol :
We, the undersigned, three hundred and five women of Bristol, to whom the welfare of our homes is dear, and whose interests are bound up in them, believing strong drink to be the direct enemy of the home in New Hampshire, bringing poverty, wretchedness, and crime into it, do beseech you, who hold the power of franchise, to protect our homes by voting "yes" on the great temperance question this day presented to you.
This movement of the ladies did not have the desired effect. sixty-six voting in the affirmative, and one hundred and fifty- five in the negative. The vote in Bristol was a representative one, the amendment not being approved by the voters of the state.
During the first quarter of the nineteenth century, the freedom with which liquors were sold and used caused Bristol to be called "Sodom" and "Hell's Half Acre." Then came a change in the character of the place. Public sentiment drove the traffic into obscurity, stripped it of its respectability, and greatly lessened the amount used. For fifty years, there has not been an open bar in the place, and although the blighting curse of strong drink has been seen all the time, but few, if any, towns in the state have suffered less than Bristol, and few to-day occupy a more advanced position on the question of temperance.
CHAPTER XVI THE TOWN'S POOR
What is the use of heapin' on me a pauper's shame ? Am I lazy or crazy ? am I blind or lame ?
-Carleton.
In the support of the poor, the same customs prevailed in New Chester and Bridgewater as in other towns of the state dur- ing the same period. There may have been, formerly, the same kindly sympathy for those dependent upon the town for support, and the same generous treatment, according to the means of the people, as now; but some of the customs of the past seem harsh and unfeeling, compared with more modern usage. It should be remembered, however, that during the first fifty years after the settlement of New Chester the people were extremely poor. Very many of the settlers brought with them no means except a few household goods, and such, in case of misfortune or indolence, were liable to become public burdens. This state of affairs existed in all the new settlements of the state, and was responsible for the passage of the law allowing the selectmen to prevent any person gaining a legal residence, by a process called "warning out of town," in which the selectmen issued a warrant commanding the person named to leave town forthwith, which warrant was placed in the hands of a constable, who served it. In some towns it was the custom to serve this notice upon all new comers, lest, by chance, some might become public charges. Even well-to-do people were not exempt from this strange greeting-a legal warning to leave town. The cus- tom of serving this notice upon all was never in vogue in New Chester or Bridgewater.
The first authentic record of this "warning out of town" process being served in New Chester was on "Col." Tom Fuller, soon after he came to town, in 1780. "Col." Tom had made an honorable record in the Revolutionary war, serving several years as a private ; but when he came here, he was poor and was, therefore, warned out of town. He continued to re- side here, however, until 1819, when he died, without having once called on the town for aid. In 1853, the town erected a marble tablet to mark his last resting-place.
Not only was it the custom to warn all the poor who had not gained a residence, to depart from the town, but sometimes the poor were carried bodily beyond the limits of the town and
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HISTORY OF BRISTOL
left either in the town where they were supposed to belong, or somewhere else. In 1787, New Chester paid Thomas Rowell twenty shillings for carrying a poor family to Andover; and, in 1790, Bridgewater voted to allow Chase Fuller three shillings for carrying Dorothy Clifford from the town.
Among the charges of Carr Huse, as one of the selectmen in 1792, was an item for traveling to the western part of the town "to see if Molly Clark had been legally warned out of town." The case of this poor woman was peculiarly sad. She had come from Hampstead, but whether as a widow or the wife of a poor settler, is not known. She may have been a relative of John Clark, or the widow of John Clark, Jr., two Revolutionary sol- diers from New Chester, both of whom came from Hampstead. We simply know that she and her two children had become paupers. The warrant for a town meeting held Aug. 7, 1793, included the following articles :
2d To see What Method the Town will take with Molly Clark and her two Children, which have been Sent to the Town of Hampstead by a Warrant for Support which they Refuse to do.
3d to See what Sum of Money the Town will Vote to Raise this year to Defray town Charges as there is likely to be a Dispute with the town of Hampstead and the town of New Chester of which town shall Support the said Molly Clark
At this town meeting it was voted to raise nine pounds to meet the current expenses of the town the ensuing year, but there was evidently a feeling that the town might be legally holden for the support of Molly Clark, as is seen by the following action of the town :
A vote was put to see if the town of New Chester Woould Bring Molly Clark back from Hampstead to New Chester and support her if she stood in need and Voted not to Bring her back.
Voted to pay all the costs that should arise against New Chester if Hampstead should get the case and should beat New Chester on the ac- count of Molly Clark.
Upon investigation, it probably appeared that this family had a legal residence in New Chester, as the selectmen paid the board of one of the children, Jonathan, while in Hampstead, and made a contract with Jacob Rowell, of New Chester, to take this boy as an apprentice. The agreement was ratified by the town at a meeting held Nov. 3, 1794, in the following vote :
Voted to give Jacob Rowell thirty Dollars to Take Jonathan Clark, son of Molly Clark, a poor Boy, which the Town of New Chester is Charged with the maintainance of which is to be bound to the Said Rowell and the said Rowell is to give Said Boy a Chance to learn the Blacksmith's Trade if he is Capable of Learning it & he is to give Sd Boy two suits of Clothes when he arrives at the age of twenty one years and
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THE TOWN'S POOR
to learn him to Read write & Cypher Sufficient to keep a Tradesman Book if Capable of learning.
This boy worked for his master fourteen years or more, after which we learn of him as a runaway, and the following adver- tisement appeared in the New Hampshire Patriot :
ONE DOLLAR REWARD.
Run away from the subscriber, an apprentice boy by the name of Jonathan Clark, aged 18. He had on when he went away a dark colored spencer and pantaloons-of a light complexion, -about 5 feet, 2 inch high. Whoever will return the above named boy shall receive the above reward. This is to forbid all persons harboring him or trusting him on my account.
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