USA > New Hampshire > Merrimack County > Canterbury > History of the town of Canterbury, New Hampshire, 1727-1912, v. 1 > Part 10
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Mr. Cutler was born in 1722 and graduated at Harvard Col- lege in 1744. He was ordained at Epping, N. H., December 9, 1747, and dismissed December 23, 1755, probably just before he came to Canterbury to preach as a candidate with a view to settlement. After leaving Canterbury, he was installed at Greenwich, Mass., and died there in 1786 at the age of sixty- four.1
The town was without preaching from December, 1758, until after August, 1759, when it was "Voted that some young gentle- man be sought to preach to the inhabitants of Canterbury on probation in order for settlement." As the result of this vote, the services of Timothy Walker, Jr., only son of Concord's first settled minister, were secured. He proved so acceptable that a call to settle was given to him January 22, 1760. This call was not accepted and Mr. Walker's ministrations ceased before the following June. He was never settled as a pastor over any church but continued to preach occasionally for about six years, when he left the ministry to engage in trade. The Revolutionary War called him to very important positions of public trust, which he filled with credit to himself and the state.
In December, 1760, a unanimous call was given to the Rev. Abiel Foster, a call that was speedily accepted. He was voted a salary of £700 old tenor for two years with an increase of £50 per year after that date until his compensation should reach £1,000. In addition, he was to have the use of the parsonage and thirty cords of wood cut and delivered for his use annually.
1 Historical Sermon, Rev. William Patrick, October 27, 1833. Farmer and Moore's Historical Coll., Vol. II, page 363.
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SETTLING A MINISTER.
For thirteen years Mr. Foster performed his duties as minister of Canterbury without any apparent dissent on the part of his parishioners. 'If there was dissatisfaction with his methods or with his teachings, it did not take form until 1773. That year a special town meeting was called upon the petition of twenty of the inhabitants "to see if the town will agree with Rev. Abiel Foster to lay down preaching amongst us in order that we may get another minister that may give better satisfaction to the town, lest we be entirely broken in pieces; and if not, then to see if they will clear as many as are dissatisfied with his preaching, from paying him any more salary."
The town voted, however, to keep Mr. Foster and not to excuse those who were dissatisfied from contributing to his salary. The cause of this dissatisfaction is not apparent from the records, but whatever it was, the discontent grew instead of subsiding. Two years later a special meeting was called in May "to see if Rev. Mr. Foster will ask a dismission, provided the town will unite in supporting the gospel together." Although two adjournments of this meeting were taken, no decision was reached. In this situation, the parish continued until 1779. Two attempts in town meeting, in 1776 and 1777, to provide for Mr. Foster's salary, which had fallen in arrears, failed. Finally, in town meeting held December 31, 1778, Mr. Foster made certain proposals which were accepted by the town, and at an ecclesiastical council which convened at Canterbury, January 27, 1779, he was formally dismissed.
The same day the town voted to Mr. Foster, his heirs and assigns "the use and improvement of the parsonage lot No. 65 for the term of 999 years in consideration of the sum of $1000, the receipt whereof the town hereby acknowledges themselves satisfied and contented." The selectmen were "Em- powered to give security to Mr. Foster to fulfil the conditions of the proposals made by Mr. Foster on his asking and taking a dis- mission from his ministerial office in Canterbury agreeable to the proposals by him made and accepted by the town on the 31 of December1 last past, exclusive of the parsonage lot."
Diaries kept by the Rev. Timothy Walker and his son, Timothy Walker, Jr., of Concord, show that they both exchanged pulpits 1 The record of this meeting is lost.
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HISTORY OF CANTERBURY.
with Mr. Foster and that the families visited during these exchanges. Parson Walker, the father, appears to have had business relations with people of Canterbury prior to the settle- ment of Mr. Foster, and, as has already been seen, his son was invited to settle there early in the year 1760. The latter was a classmate of Mr. Foster at Harvard, both graduating in the year 1756, and he may have recommended Mr. Foster for the pul- pit he himself declined. The following are extracts from the diaries of Parson Walker and his son.
DIARY OF REV. TIMOTHY WALKER.
1746.
(June) 11 Day. . Benj'n Blanchard, of Canterbury, was scalped by ye indians.1
(Dec.) 31 Day. Went to Canterbury. Bought a negro wench of Capt. Clough, for w'c I am to give him £140.
1747.
(Jan.) 1 Day. Gave Capt. Clough note for my Negro to be paid ye first day of June next.
1764.
(Jan.) Sat. 21. Went to Canterbury in order to change with Mr. Foster. P. M. News came of Reuben Morrill's being killed by the fall of a tree.
Sun. 22. Preached at Canterbury. Mr. Foster preached for me.
(Aug.) Sat. 18. Set out with daughter Molly for Canterbury. Dined there.
Sun. 19. Preached at Canterbury. Mr. Foster preached here.
DIARY OF JUDGE WALKER.
1763.
(Jan.) 1 Rode to Canterbury. Lodged at Mr. Foster's.
2 Preached all day at Cant'y by exchange.
(May) 7 Rode to Canterbury. Dined with Mr. Foster & re- turned with him to Rumford.
22 Preached all day at Canterbury. Mr. Foster at Rumford. Rainy.
23 A. M. Returned.
(Oct.) ' 14 Mr. Foster of Canterbury visited me. 1 See note, Chapter II.
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THE REV. ABIEL FOSTER.
15 Salla & Polly sat out with Mr. Foster for Canterbury.
17 Sat out for Canterbury. Drank tea with C't Brown & I'd at Mr. Foster's.
1764.
(Jan.)
21 Mr. Foster arrived from Canterbury.
22 Mr. Foster preached all day & returned.
(April)
7 Messrs. Foster & Scales visited me.
8 Rode to Canterbury. Preached all day. Mr. Foster preached at Rumford. Returned at night.
9 Dined with Mr. Foster at Col. Rolfe's. Mr. Foster went home.
25 Rode to Canterbury. Dined with Mr. Foster. Visited Capt. Gerrish, Mr. Varney, Mr. Morril & returned.
(Sept.) 23 Rode to Canterbury. Lodg'd at Mr. Foster's. Mr. Foster preached at Rumford. Returned at night.
(Oct.) 14 Preached all day at Do. (Bakerstown). After meet- ing returned to Mr. Foster's.
(Nov.)
9 Mr. Foster came here & lodg'd.
10 P. M. Rode to Canterbury & Lodg'd.
11 Preached all day at Canterbury.
12 A.M. Returned.
1765.
(Feb.) 17 Preached all day at Canterbury. Mr. Foster preached at Rumford.
(April) 7 Preached at Canterbury.
1766.
(July) 13 Preached all day for Mr. Foster.1
The Rev. Abiel Foster, son of Capt. Asa Foster, was born in Andover, Mass., August 24, 1735 and graduated from Harvard College in 1756. Studying for the ministry, he was called to Canterbury soon after his ordination. After his dismissal, he took no other pastorate. He was an ardent patriot through the Revolution, being chosen a deputy to the Provincial Congress called to meet at Exeter in 1775. For the years 1779, 1781 and 1782, he represented the town in the General Court, and in 1783, 1784 and 1785 he was chosen to the Continental Congress. After the adoption of the federal constitution, he was elected to the national House of Representatives in the first, fourth, fifth, sixth
1 These extracts were furnished by Joseph B. Walker of Concord, lineal descendant of Parson Walker.
8
98
HISTORY OF CANTERBURY.
and seventh congresses, retiring from the last in 1803 on account of ill health. Mr Foster served several terms in the state Senate from 1791 to 1794, and he was president of that body in 1793. He was also a member of one of the conventions called to form a constitution for New Hampshire. For four years he was judge of the Court of Common Pleas.
He was present at Annapolis when Washington resigned his commission to Congress in December, 1783, the only member from New Hampshire, and he is shown in Trumbull's picture of this event, which is seen in the rotunda of the capitol, sitting directly in front of Washington with his arm on the back of a chair. As a token of friendship, Washington presented him with a miniature portrait of himself which was probably painted by a foreign artist entertained at Mt. Vernon. This miniature is now in possession of his great-grandson, Alfred H. Foster of Union, S. C. Abiel Foster died at Canterbury, February 6, 1806, in the seventy-first year of his age.
The public career of Abiel Foster was the longest and most distinguished that any citizen of Canterbury ever attained. The Rev. William Patrick, who came to Canterbury three years before Mr. Foster's death, says of him: "Notwithstanding his dismission, so strong was his hold upon the esteem and affections of his people that they soon chose him as their representative to the General Court. This event gave a cast to his future life and, happening at the time when able and honest men were prized and sought after, he immediately entered upon public busi- ness and sustained afterwards till near the close of his life various offices of trust and honor with reputation to himself and useful- ness to the community. Possessing enlightened views and sound judgment, correct principles and liberal sentiments, inflexible integrity and gentlemanly deportment, Judge Foster was deservedly popular and his death was considered a public loss."
In the state at large Mr. Foster had the confidence of his fellow citizens from the time of his first appearance in the Provincial Congress at Exeter as a deputy from Canterbury until he volun- tarily retired from public life in 1803. For over a quarter of a century he was continually in the service of the state. Of this time he was three years a member of the Continental Congress and ten years a member of the national House of Representatives
99
THE REV. ABIEL FOSTER.
after the adoption of the federal constitution. The number of terms he served as a congressman exceeded those of any of his contemporaries from New Hampshire, this, too, in spite of the fact that the seat of political power in the state at that time was centered at Portsmouth and Exeter. For the first twenty years after 1789 there were but three representatives in Congress whose residence was north of Canterbury.
It was during his service in the Continental Congress that Mr. Foster was appointed a judge of the Court of Common Pleas. At that time there were few trained lawyers and appointments to the trial courts were not confined to the legal profession. The selections were usually of men of education, recognized integrity and good judgment who would deal justly by litigants, regardless of technicalities. This appointment indicates that Mr. Foster was a man of judicial temperament.
He was undoubtedly one of the best educated men of the state. This tribute was paid him by his contemporaries. His knowledge of public affairs enabled him to step from the pulpit to the forum and take his place as a leader of the people. The ministers of his generation were secular as well as spiritual guides, but Mr. Foster, unlike most clergymen of his day, having entered public life, did not return to his profession. Service for the state and the nation appears to have been congenial to him and the uninterrupted period of his public labors testifies to the confidence reposed in him by his constituents.1
After Mr. Foster was dismissed, three attempts were made to secure a settled minister without success. It was not until 1790 that a call was accepted. Three ministers, whom the town was satisfied to invite to take charge of the parish, after visiting Canterbury and supplying the pulpit for a time, declined to settle. That the field was uninviting there is little doubt. There was an indifference on the part of the people, promoted in part by the demands upon them from 1775 to 1783, the period of the Revolutionary War, for the support of the contest the country was making with Great Britain to secure the acknowledgment of its independence. In addition, there were dissensions, of which there is evidence as early as 1773 and again in 1776. In the latter
1 The home of the Rev. Abiel Foster was at the Center where James F. French now resides. The original buildings occupied by Mr. Foster and his son for many years were replaced by those now used by Mr. French.
100
HISTORY OF CANTERBURY.
year a committee of the most prominent citizens was appointed "to take under consideration the state of the town with respect to the support of the gospel, to agree upon a plan for the purpose of uniting the inhabitants of the town and to consult with Rev. Mr. Foster upon any matter or thing they may suppose will have a tendency to forward the plan." The committee was unable to devise a solution of the difficulties.
The committee was also instructed to inquire what should be done with reference to the arrearages due Mr. Foster. That the trouble was not wholly on account of the straightened circum- stances of the people is shown by a vote of the town at a still earlier date. At the time of his settlement, Mr. Foster was voted thirty cords of wood annually, to be cut and delivered by the inhabitants. Yet five years afterwards, the town was obliged to vote "that all delinquents who have not hauled their wood for two years past shall haul it by first of June next, or the select- men are to haul it and such delinquents are to pay the money."
Wood at that time was the cheapest and most abundant crop in Canterbury and there was no valid reason why this part of the contract with the minister should not have been faithfully kept. It was certainly small encouragement to a minister, with his salary constantly in arrears, to find his parishioners neglecting to furnish him with an adequate supply of fire wood. Therefore, it is easy to imagine a man of Mr. Foster's positive convictions and plainness of speech reprimanding the people from the pulpit for their indifference and thereby producing dissatisfaction with his preaching. Unfortunately, the first book of records of the church is lost. This might have thrown further light upon the peculiar condition of religious affairs which prevailed in Canter- bury from the early settlements until late in the century.
The Rev. William Patrick in his historical sermon, referring to the setting off of Loudon and Northfield from Canterbury as separate townships in 1773 and 1780 respectively, says: "It does not appear that any member of the church then resided in the limits of those places. During this long period (until the settlement of Rev. Frederick Parker in 1791) we must conclude the state of religion was low. A few doubtless mourned over the desolation of Zion and prayed for a time of refreshing from the presence of the Lord."
101
THE POUND.
At the annual meeting in 1757 the necessity for a pound in which to confine stray cattle was apparent. It was, therefore, voted to build one and locate it on the land of John Dolloff "at the most convenient place between his house and Mr. James Scales' house." The pound was to be thirty feet square "with good riles and posts or slight work" and to be completed by the first of June. For the next four years it is probable that Mr. Dolloff did the impounding as a public-spirited citizen. Whether he had difficulty in collecting of the owners of stray cattle for his trouble in notifying them of their loss and for the expense of caring for the animals until they were claimed does not appear, but, in 1761, he was fortified with the authority of the town by an election as pound keeper, a position he held until 1764. The office then lapsed for three years, when Jeremiah Clough was chosen. After this the position was regularly filled at the annual meetings.
The first pound did duty for twenty-three years. In 1780 the town voted to build another on the parsonage lot and to give Ephraim Carter £90 for building it. In twenty years more the second inclosure reached a state of decay requiring action. So at the annual meeting in 1800 it was "Voted to build a pound in some convenient place near the South Meeting House and that said pound be built with timber in the manner the pound at Concord is built, to be 30 feet square, that the selectmen be a committee to build said pound or cause it to be built the cheap- est way it can be done." In June following the building of the pound was bid off for twenty dollars.
The average life of these wooden enclosures for stray cattle appears to have been about twenty years. Accordingly the town decided in 1821 to build something more permanent. It was therefore "Voted that a new pound be built of stone of the following dimensions, thirty feet square within the walls, 612 feet high, 412 feet thick at the bottom, 172 feet thick at the top, and to have timbers on the top, hewn ten to twelve inches square free from sap, the timber to be yellow or white pine or chestnut. There is to be a good gate hung with iron hinges."
The selectmen were authorized to build it and to locate it "where the old one stands or near." This was the pound which the older inhabitants can recall and which did duty so long as it was necessary to impound cattle. It was situated west of the
102
HISTORY OF CANTERBURY.
northwest corner of the present cemetery at the Center while the location of the earlier ones was probably nearer the old fort.
The pound served the purpose of confining stray cattle, horses, sheep and swine found upon the highways until they were identi- fied and called for by their owners. This stock when at large frequently wandered a long distance from home. It was not alone the stray cattle that proved an annoyance to the thrifty farmer. Some of his improvident neighbors allowed their animals to feed beside the road or upon the commons, while the creatures of others, breaking through the fences which inclosed pastures, did damage in fields of grain, or getting into the highways, were destructive of lawns and flower gardens about the houses.
Before the pioneers had opportunity to build stone walls for the protection of their possessions, they divided their tillage and grazing lands and protected their fields from the highway by fences made of the brush of small trees and of rails. The drifting snow and the frosts of winter broke down these fences, and it was necessary to repair them every spring before turning stock out to pasture. It was no small undertaking to keep these inclo- sures intact. Unless the work was well done every year, the farmer had frequent occasion to search for his cattle. Then in the early days swine were allowed to roam the highways adjacent to the homes of their owners. To impound the stray stock of a neighbor was likely to give offence and so both town and state attempted to abate the nuisance by law.
In Canterbury it was well towards the middle of the nineteenth century before the annoyance of animals wandering upon the highway was ended. In 1825 a special town meeting was called, and among the articles in the warrant was one "to see if the town will adopt bylaws agreeably to an act to authorize towns to make bylaws to prevent horses, mules, jacks, neat cattle, sheep and swine from going at large."1 The regulations adopted, following the statute, imposed penalties on the owners of such animals if the latter were found in "any highway or common or any public place between the first day of April and the last day of October" through the knowledge or negligence of such owners. The penalties were not fines to be enforced by officers of the law but were to accrue through suit by the aggrieved party in an action of debt. These by-laws do not appear to have been very
1 Session laws of 1811 and 1822.
103
AUTHENTICATING THE TOWN RECORDS.
effective, as the subject continued to be one for consideration at town meetings for a number of years afterwards.
The evil, however, was corrected in another way. People refused to fence against animals in the highway, there being no law to compel them to do this. Owners being responsible for any damage done by their stock found it expensive to allow them to run at large and gradually the practice ceased.1
It was largely through the efforts of the Rev. Abiel Foster that some of the early records of the proprietors of Canterbury were preserved. In a petition to the Provincial Government dated January 14, 1774, for the authentication of the town records he states, "that a vast number of papers containing the votes and proceedings of said proprietors touching their most important concerns as proprietors and by which many estates in Canterbury have been conveyed and are now held, by some neglect or omis- sion of the clerk of said proprietors have not been recorded."2
The proprietors had appointed a committee in the spring of 1773 to collect and inspect these papers. They reported that they found them among the files of the proprietors and decided that they were in the handwriting of the proprietor's clerk and that they had "all the marks of original, fair and genuine minutes and entries, some made thirty years ago, which papers the com- mittee have within six months past caused to be recorded in the books of said proprietors, the record of which papers contains eighty pages in folio or more." October 6, 1773, the town "Voted to accept the books of record as they now stand and confirm and establish all entries therein made by the committee." The prayer of Mr. Foster's petition was granted and the town records were duly authenticated by the Provincial Government.
That the constable should have a proper insignia of office was recognized in 1756, when a staff made and presented to the town by John Dolloff was accepted, for which he was voted one pound. The position of constable for many years in Canterbury united the duties usually pertaining to that office with those of collector of taxes. "From the establishment of the Province," says Maurice H. Robinson, "until 1758, the constable was recognized in the laws as collector of the provincial as well as the local taxes.
1 See Brown's History of Hampton Falls, which contains valuable informa- tion on old-time customs in New Hampshire.
: Bouton's Town Papers, Vol. IX, page 95.
104
HISTORY OF CANTERBURY.
Although the custom of employing collectors seems to have been gradually increased, it was not until this latter year that this method was legally sanctioned."1 The act of 1758 authorized towns to choose any number of persons to collect the public taxes and the selectmen to choose and agree with such persons to be collectors of taxes.
Until 1794 there is no reference to a collector of taxes in Canterbury. A constable was chosen every year, and, while the Provincial Government lasted, to this official was committed the tax levy without specific vote. Soon after the state government. was formed in New Hampshire, the town records not only show the election of a constable but the percentage allowed him for his collection of taxes. In 1794 William Hazelton was elected "constable and collector," and this designation continued until 1819.
The duties of the constable in the early provincial days were disagreeable and there was a disinclination on the part of citizens to accept the office. Hence, there was a penalty of five pounds for refusing to serve. This officer was held directly responsible for the amount committed to him for collection. If he failed to clear up his rates within his year, his estate was liable to dis- traint upon a warrant of the treasurer. If a person failed to pay his rates, the constable could seize his person and commit him to prison. The practice of moving to avoid taxation was not. unknown as early as 1693. "Lack of a stable and convenient. currency," says Maurice H. Robinson, "led to payments in kind, or, as the legislature phrased it, 'specie agreeable to the prices. fixed and set.' A more inconvenient and wasteful method could hardly have been devised, and yet it is difficult to see how it. could have been improved with the system of currency then in use. In the first place the collections of beans of one farmer, beef or pork of another and tanned shoe leather, cod fish, turpen- tine or white pine boards of those whose business rendered it convenient for them to pay in such articles was not only expensive but demanded business qualities not likely to be found in one whose chief duties were those of a police officer. Again, the cost. of transportation of such articles as bar iron and lumber and the loss likely to ensue upon the gathering of such perishable articles as corn, wheat or pork constituted a direct tax upon the Province.
1 History of Taxation in N. H., American Economic Association, August, 1902.
105
DUTIES OF CONSTABLE AND COLLECTOR.
Finally the practice of forcing such a quantity of goods and pro- duce upon the market at times when there was likely to be little demand depressed prices and caused an economic loss to the Province."1
The cost of collecting taxes in New England under Andros was approximately seventeen per cent.2
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