USA > New Hampshire > Merrimack County > Canterbury > History of the town of Canterbury, New Hampshire, 1727-1912, v. 1 > Part 19
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November 19, 1825, the selectmen gave to Joseph Gerrish "full power and license to exercise the business of a retailer at his house where he resides and also at his other house at Canterbury Bridge and to sell wine, rum, gin, brandy and other spirits by retail, that is in less quantity than one quart and to sell mixed liquors part of which are spiritous." Mr. Gerrish may have kept a tavern at his dwelling house, but the other house referred to was probably the toll house near the bridge, for De- cember 31, 1827, Ebenezer French receives a license "to sell all kinds of liquors by the quantity not less than one pint at his toll house in said Canterbury near Boscawen Bridge." As every- body had to stop to pay toll when crossing the river, the toll house was a most convenient place at which to renew supplies for a journey. Later, Mr. French may have found it for his advan- tage to be prepared to supply travelers with both food and drink,
1 The warrants for town meetings show Amos Cogswell as innkeeper as late as 1842, one being posted at his tavern that year.
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for February 2, 1829, he is granted a license to keep a tavern at his dwelling house.
January 17, 1825, is the date of the first license granted to Dud- ley Hill to keep a tavern. This was probably the date of his coming to Hill's Corner. Whether Thomas Butters was still running his hotel is not known, but the Cogswell place continued a tavern for several years after Mr. Hill's arrival. The last record of a license issued to Mr. Hill was in 1838, but he kept a hotel for many years after, except during the years 1845 and 1846 when he leased his premises to Orville Messer. From 1890 for sixteen years Joseph K. Hancock was the proprietor of this hostelry, being succeeded by Henry W. Johnson the present proprietor.
August 29, 1825, is the first record of a license to Jacob Blanch- ard as an innholder. The renewals occur several times for twelve years after this date.
March 7, 1826, Samuel A. Morrill was granted a license to keep "an open house" and he was authorized to sell all kinds of liquors in less quantity than one quart "to travelers and townsmen."
March 7, 1826, Frederick Chase was licensed to keep a tavern at his dwelling house. The license was renewed several times until 1839. This house was near the church at the Center.
January 21, 1827, John J. Bryant receives authority to keep "an open tavern at his dwelling house." His license was renewed the two subsequent years. Mr. Bryant's hotel was the "Master" Henry Parkinson place.
September 26, 1828, John Kimball was granted a license "to exercise the business of a retailer at his house." A license issued to Mr. Kimball the next year describes him as a "taverner." The location was at Hill's Corner opposite the Cogswell tavern.
September 6, 1831, John Peverly is authorized to keep a tavern at his dwelling house. December 18, 1841, Hannibal Haines receives a license to make of his dwelling house a tavern.
From the foregoing it appears that there have been at least sixteen different places in Canterbury which at some time have served as hotels, not including the summer boarding houses of a more recent period. The coming of the railroads changed the method and lines of travel, and soon after there was but little occasion for taverns in Canterbury.
The dwelling of Albert and Mary E. Clough was undoubtedly at one time used as a tavern, although the owners are not men-
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tioned in the records as holding licenses to keep a hotel. The southwest room was sheathed from floor to ceiling, wainscotted and painted in Spanish brown, an appropriate finish for a bar room, and tradition has given this name to this particular apartment of the house.
In addition to the licenses for stores and taverns there is a record of several permits granted to individuals to sell liquor on specified days. Four instances are recorded. The first was the giving of a license to John Emerson "to retail spirits on Tuesday the ninth day of March 1813." This was the date of the annual town meeting. In 1826 authority was given to Moses Smith "to retail rum, brandy, gin, and all kinds of spirits, that is to say by the less quantity than one quart on the Common near the Town House for three days from the thirteenth of March 1826." Town meeting occurred that year March 14. The record does not show how many days it took to do the town business. The next year Winthrop Young, Jr., was given a simi- lar license for one day, but, as town meeting required two days that year, Mr. Young's license was renewed for one day more. In 1813, the selectmen "approved of John Mooney as a retailer of spirituous liquors on Friday the first day of October next near John Kimball's for the day." This must have been a muster day of the militia, as there is an old training field at Hill's Corner on what was the Kimball farm, now owned by Cyrus Brown.
These special licenses were undoubtedly issued with more frequency than the records show. No public affair at this period was fittingly observed without the use of liquor. Ardent spirits were a part of the entertainment, not only at musters and on town meeting day, but at all raisings of buildings, auctions and other occasions where neighbors were called together. It was the custom of the times in all New England, and Canterbury was no better or worse than other towns.
Licenses issued to store keepers to sell liquor furnish the only record there is of the places of trade in town for almost a century after the first settlement. This record, however, is incomplete both as to the names of the early merchants and the length of time they were in business. The earliest license bears date June 28, 1796, and it was issued to Moses Brown, the selectmen having approved of him as "a suitable person to retail spirits." The next year his license authorized him "to sell wines and dis-
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tilled spirits at his store in Canterbury near the North Meeting House." If there were no other evidence, it is very improbable that this store located near Hackleborough was the first mart of trade in town. The history of Boscawen says that Ebenezer Greenough of Haverhill moved to Canterbury in 1793 and en- gaged in trade, employing his son, John Greenough, as his clerk.1 The first record of a license issued to Ebenezer Greenough is dated December 19, 1798, and it was for "his store near the South Meeting House." His license was renewed the three following years. In 1807 a license was issued to John Greenough. The same year a license was given to Abiel Foster, son of the Rev. Abiel Foster "to sell liquor at his store." There is record of another license issued to Mr. Foster in 1808. According to the history of Boscawen, John Greenough married a daughter of Abiel Foster, Jr., in 1803 and continued in trade in Canterbury until 1814, when he removed to Boscawen, purchasing there the store of Col. Timothy Dix.1 It is likely that Greenough and Foster were in trade together for a time.
October 14, 1796, a license was given to "Timothy Dix of Boscawen" who had applied for authority to retail spirituous liquors in Canterbury. Two weeks earlier permission had been given to Timothy Dix, Jr., "to sell wines and distilled liquors at his store near the meeting house in Canterbury." Apparently the Dixes and Greenoughs were rivals in trade at Canterbury for a time, as the "History of Boscawen" states that John Green- ough bought an interest in his father's business in 1796.1
The only evidence of a store in Canterbury earlier than this date is contained in conveyances of land to and from David Foster, a brother of the Rev. Abiel Foster. In a deed dated April 23, 1769, Dr. Josiah Chase conveys to David Foster, "trader," two acres of home lot number 113 and also a half acre adjoining it.2 This location was immediately south of the Center and on the road leading by John P. Kimball's. Three years later Ephraim Hackett deeded to David Foster ten acres in home lot number 112 and eight acres and sixty-eight rods in home lot num- ber 113. Subsequent purchases by Foster from 1792 to 1800 were all in this same neighborhood, indicating a continued residence in
1 History of Boscawen, page 395.
2 Prov. Registry of Deeds, Vol. XCVIII, page 198.
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HISTORY OF CANTERBURY.
this locality.1 His sons, David, Jr., and Timothy, inherited and bought much of this land from their father and they also resided in this section, Timothy possessing a part of the farm now owned by Mrs. Susan Houser, lot 86. The buildings occupied by him were not those in which Mrs. Houser resides, but were located a short distance south.
The designation of "trader" is found in nearly all the deeds to and from David Foster to as late as 1792. He is found on the tax lists as early as 1767, when he was but twenty-five years of age. As he probably came to Canterbury earlier than this, his description as a "trader" must have accrued to him on account of his commercial activities in this community and by reason of his keeping a store. While the exact location of his place of busi- ness is unknown, he was very likely the storekeeper who preceded the Dixes, father and son, at the Center. His residence is said to have been on the site of the present parsonage.
In 1800, 1801 and 1802, Samuel Mooney was authorized "to keep store for selling rum and other spirits by the gallon," and from 1803 to 1813 Obadiah Mooney, Jr., was licensed to sell liquor at "his store near the South Meeting House."
The next name to appear among the licensees is that of Richard Greenough. Authority to sell liquor at his store was granted at various times between 1809 and 1832. Part of this time he was in trade at Hill's Corner, but in 1826 and 1827 his store is described as "near the West Meeting House," the church at the Center being known as both the West and South Meeting House. Here he continued in trade until his death November 11, 1843. His sons, Jonathan C. and Charles Greenough, followed him and carried on the business for a brief time. They were probably succeeded by Moses R. Elkins, at whose store the war- rant for a town meeting in September, 1845, was posted. March 3, 1821, Josiah H. Pollard received a license for his store "near the meeting house." This location must have been at the Center. In the town records showing the place of posting the warrants for the annual meetings, it appears that Jonathan T. Underhill kept a store at the Center from 1832 to 1836 under the firm name of Jonathan T. Underhill & Co., for the selectmen certify that a copy of the warrant was posted at his store during these years.
1 See Rockingham County Registry of Deeds.
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The Greenough store was in the old Elkins building in that part now used as a chapel. The records of the Canterbury Mutual Fire Insurance Company show that William C. Webster was in trade at the Center in 1849 and 1850. A warrant for a town meeting was posted at his store as early as 1847. The same records give the information that Josiah E. White was chosen a director of the insurance company in 1851 and 1852 and that a meeting of the company was held at his store in 1853. He took out an insurance policy in 1851 which was renewed in 1857 and discharged August 30, 1859. About this time Mr. White closed out his business, as in September, 1859, Rev. How- ard Moody was appointed to succeed him as town clerk. It is said that Stephen Moore, whose daughter married Mr. White, was in trade in this building for a short time. He may have been merely engaged in selling out Mr. White's stock of goods.
The Elkins building had a hall over the store which the Republicans had used for party purposes. The Democrats stole a march on their political opponents and bought the building about the time Mr. White vacated it, thus securing possession of the hall, which was the only one in town. The Republican leaders then formed a joint stock company, bought the old Bap- tist Meeting House at Boscawen, moved it across the river to Canterbury and erected the building in which Alfred H. Brown's store now is, finishing off Union Hall above the store. The lower story was altered for business purposes.
After the building was completed in 1861, the brothers, Alfred H. and Joseph A. Brown, began business and the partnership continued until 1868; when Joseph A. sold out his interest to his partner, who has been in trade at the Center ever since.
In 1887, at the time of the appointment of John W. French as postmaster, Henry P. and Charles F. Jones put in a stock of goods in what is now the store of George W. and Sam W. Lake, and Mr. French as postmaster and storekeeper carried on business until 1889, when the Lakes bought the store, and they have continued in trade ever since.
When a store first appeared at Hill's Corner is probably not indicated by the first license issued for one in this part of the town. April 29, 1820, authority was given to Abiel Cogswell "to retail wines and spirituous liquors at his store in the north easterly part of the town." As Lieut. Moses Cogswell was keep-
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ing a hotel in this section as early as 1807, it is very likely that someone was engaged in trade at Hill's Corner prior to 1820.
The next year a license was issued to Thomas Butters for his store "near Samuel Huckins." Mr. Butters' stay at Hill's Corner was probably brief, as there is no record of a subsequent license being issued to him as a storekeeper.
Dudley Hill opened a store at the same time that he began keeping a tavern in 1825. His license as a storekeeper was renewed in 1826 and 1827.
September 8, 1827, Amos Cogswell was licensed as a storekeeper and the record shows that this license was renewed in 1828 and 1829.
In defining the highway districts of the town in 1831, a starting point in district No. 20, of which Daniel P. Ham was surveyor that year, is given as Jeremiah Kimball's store. The next year a license was issued to Kimball and Young "to exercise the busi- ness of retailers at their store now occupied by them near Dudley Hill's tavern." One or both were in business as late as 1834. In 1840 S. Dudley Greeley had a store at Hill's Corner.1
In 1884 John Twombly was in trade in the Solomon M. Clifford Shoe Shop which stands at the fork of the roads leading from Hill's tavern to the meeting house. He sold to Charles S. Osgood in 1885, who was in business about six months. This was the last store in this section of the town.
The licenses, of which there is record in Canterbury, appear to have been based upon the act of June 14, 1791. As early as 1753 there was a province law making it the duty of the Court of General Sessions of the Peace "to grant as many tavern keepers in each town, parish or precinct as they shall judge convenient." 2 In 1772 this act was extended five years. Under the provincial government there had been various acts passed for the "inspect- ing and suppressing of disorders in licensed houses," for "pre- venting gaming in public houses" and for "granting unto His Majesty an excise on several liquors" which an act of December, 1778, recites in the preamble as being ineffectual.
The latter statute, therefore, was to take the place of these prior enactments. It required that licenses to sell liquor should be obtained of the Court of General Sessions of the Peace and that
1 As evidenced by the posting of warrants for town meetings.
2 Province Laws, 1753, Vol. II, page 243.
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CHARACTER OF LIQUOR LICENSES.
licensees should have the approbation of the selectmen of the town where they dwelt. A taverner or innholder was at all times to be "furnished with suitable provisions and lodgings for the refreshment and entertainment of strangers and travellers and with stable room, pasturing, hay and provender for horses in the proper season on pain of being deprived of his license." No inhabitant of the town was permitted to be in the tavern "drink- ing or tippling" after nine o'clock in the evening or on the Lord's Day. The taverner was forbidden to keep "any cards, dice, nine pins, tables, shuffle boards, billiards or any other imple- ments used in gaming or suffer any person to gamble in his place."
The scope of the tithingman's authority, enlarged by the province law of January 6, 1715, was continued by the act of 1778. At least two and not more than six tithingmen were to be elected in each town, who were "to carefully inspect all licensed houses and to inform of all breaches of this act to a justice of the peace." If the tithingman refused to qualify after an election, he was liable to a fine of £5.
The law of 1791 embraced substantially all these provisions, except that the selectmen of towns were to issue licenses and have them recorded in the town books. No license was to be effective unless recorded. This provision of the statute seems to have been frequently violated in Canterbury. No licensed person, except taverners, could sell liquors in less quantities than one pint or sell any "mixed liquors" or suffer any drinking in his shop. The selectmen, tithingmen and grand jurors were to inform of all breaches of the law.
Another provision of the law was evidently intended to dis- courage innholders from giving extensive credit at their bars. It reads, "No taverner shall be entitled to recover more than 20 shillings on any account for spirituous liquors sold to any inhabitant of the town or place and drank in such tavern house, notwithstanding such taverner may on trial prove the sale and delivery of spirituous liquors to more than that value or amount."
An act of 1820, in amendment of the law of 1791, created the "black list," as it is known in modern times, and provided for the posting of the names of inebriates.1 This amendment was as
1 N. H. Laws, Vol. XXII, page 636.
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follows: "If the selectmen shall have evidence by their own view or otherwise that any person is in the habit of drinking or tippling spirituous liquors to excess in any tavern or store in town . it shall be the duty of such selectmen to post the name of the person so drinking and tippling in every tavern and store in such town as a common tippler forbidding all taverners or retailers to sell such person or suffer him to drink in or about their houses, stores, &c."
Canterbury early acquired the reputation of being an intellec- tual town, a reputation it sustained for a century and a half. All of the ministers settling in town from 1743 until 1802 were grad- . uates of Harvard College. The Rev. William Patrick, whose pastorate lasted from 1803 to 1843, was a graduate of Williams College. From 1799 to 1831 Canterbury furnished fifteen college graduates, or an average of one in about every two years. A Baptist minister, the Rev. Edmund B. Fairfield who was both preacher and teacher during his residence in town, afterwards became president of Hinsdale College, Mich., and still later chancellor of Nebraska State University. "Master" Henry Parkinson, whose name and reputation for distinguished scholar- ship are familiar to many now living, was a teacher in Canterbury for many years during the latter part of the eighteenth and the first part of the nineteenth centuries. He was a graduate of Princeton College. Probably few towns of its size in the state furnished so many well-qualified teachers in the first quarter of the nineteenth century as Canterbury. During the period under consideration, New Hampshire was represented in the Congress of the old confederation from 1783 to 1786 by the Rev. Abiel Foster of this town and, after the constitution was adopted, he was one of the first three representatives to be elected to the national house of representatives, being subsequently reëlected four times. Before the recollection of his distinguished services had faded from memory, a second citizen of Canterbury, Dr. Joseph M. Harper, was chosen to represent the state in the national councils. With such men of liberal education, scholars of broad culture, to take an active part not only in educational matters, but in everything that pertained to the welfare of the town, it is not surprising that every effort was made to enlarge its educational facilities.
The earliest library of Canterbury was started at the close
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LIBRARIES OF CANTERBURY.
of the eighteenth century. A bill to incorporate the Canterbury Social Library was passed by the legislature and approved December 12, 1797. The incorporators were Nehemiah Clough, John Sutton, David Morrill, David Foster, Jonathan Ayers, and Abiel Foster, Jr. Two years previous to this, December 7, 1795, the library movement in Canterbury was "instituted." Shares were purchased at two dollars each and the holder was entitled to one vote on each share and to the use of the books. The population of the town at this time was between ten and eleven hundred-in 1790 it was 1,038; in 1800 it was 1,114. Forty- one names appear on the first list of subscribers, or one in every twenty-five of the population. That they were men of character may be inferred from chapter one, article one of the constitution, which reads, "Every member shall be approbated by a majority of the committee." That the books were selected with much caution and discrimination may be seen from chapter one, article five, "No book shall be purchased for or received into this library but such as shall have been agreed upon by at least a majority of two thirds of the members present at a legal meeting or by a committee appointed for that purpose." All books were to be returned within three months. The person taking out a book was forbidden loaning it out of his house. There were fines and penalties for keeping books beyond the constitutional limi- tation and for damaging them by writing in them or turning down the leaves or any otherwise mutilating them.
The constitution adopted when the act of incorporation was passed does not differ greatly from the earlier one. Three dollars was made the price of a share and many new names, about forty, appear in the subscribers' list. A yearly assessment of twenty- five cents a share was made for the support of the library. A faithful record of books loaned, with date of withdrawal and return, was kept. The penalty for retaining a book longer than three months was fifteen cents and one cent for each day after that. For not returning the book before the annual meeting the fine was twenty-five cents. The fines imposed for damages varied greatly. All the rules relating to the library appear to have been enforced with impartiality. From the records it appears that Dr. Joseph M. Harper was fined for keeping two vol- umes twelve days over three months. The Rev. William Patrick incurred a fine of ten cents for blotting and marking a library
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book, presumably when he was writing his sermons. In a few instances there appear to have been extenuating circumstances, the librarian being merciful, and a part or all of the fine being "given in." A goodly sum must have been realized from this source. From time to time, probably once a year, though the clerk's books do not give regular records, the books of the library were examined by a committee and their condition reported.
The stern character of the reading may be judged by the titles of some of the volumes purchased for the library,-Milton's "Paradise Lost and Regained," Edwards' "On Redemption," Josephus, Doddridge's "Rise and Progress of Religion in the Soul," "History of the Work of Redemption" by Jonathan Ed- wards, Richard Baxter's "Call to the Unconverted," "Improve- ment of the Mind" by Watts, "Views of Religion" by Hannah Adams and "The Converted Jew" by Hannah More. There were in addition several histories, books of travel, works on philosophy, an occasional volume of the poets and some of miscellaneous reading to complete the collection. Although housed at present in the same room with later libraries, the books of the Social Library rarely have readers. They are not attrac- tive to the present generation either in matter or binding. There are about three hundred volumes, the original number being 339.
In 1862 a library association under the name of "The Canter- bury Library Society" was formed. The interest in this organi- zation was very general and a most excellent collection was the result. Any person could become a member by the payment of fifty cents into the treasury and signing the constitution. A yearly assessment of twenty-five cents was made and the money for the purchase of books was also raised by "levees" and social gatherings. Books were chosen with care and good judgment and comprised several hundred of the best works that were at that time popular with the reading public.
In 1893, Canterbury availed herself of the state's gift of one hundred dollars in books and established a library called "The Canterbury Public Library." Little interest was manifest at this time in the two libraries that had been established at an earlier day for the reason that the public, and especially the young readers of the community, desired up-to-date literature. The public library with its modern reading almost immediately se- cured the attention of both old and young. While the population
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