USA > New Hampshire > Merrimack County > Canterbury > History of the town of Canterbury, New Hampshire, 1727-1912, v. 1 > Part 35
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46
The society early gave attention to the education of the youth committed to their care. Prior to 1823, when their school house was built, the children were regularly gathered in some building and instructed in the rudiments of learning. After the Shakers were included in a district by themselves and had control of the school money allotted to this district, they began to excel both in their methods of instruction and in the equipment of their school room. All through the public reports of the superintending school committees of the town are to be found commendations of the work of their teachers and the prac- tical interest of the society in promoting the welfare of the young. The meetings of the Educational Society of Canterbury and such gatherings as were called by the state and county boards to discuss school methods were always attended by a delegation of Shakers.
The study of music has been a special feature in the instruc- tion of the Canterbury society. The attainments of its mem- bers have been marked and many of the most thrilling of the Shaker hymns have been their production. Abram Whitney, a teacher of music and for many years a Shaker of the commun- ity at Shirley, Mass., was the first person to urge systematic training in this accomplishment. He early came to Canter- bury and gave a few practical lessons. Speaking of the musical evolution of this society, Elder Henry C. Blinn says:
1 Made from Lysimachia stricta, a wild herb with a yellow flower.
368
HISTORY OF CANTERBURY.
"The first attempt at singing in harmony was ventured in 1845, but only melodies were permitted in worship. The first harmony was indeed a feeble attempt, as only a few words at the end of a line were furnished with a second row of notes and these were a third, fifth or eighth below the melody. At a later date Prof. Benjamin B. Davis of Concord was engaged to give a course of lessons to the singers. This new departure was more or less subject to criticism, but the round notes soon led to a deprecation of the other styles. From this time, interest in music steadily increased.
"August 18th, 1870, Dr. Charles A. Guilmette, of Boston, was introduced to the society by Professor Davis, as a superior teacher of vocal music, both in theory and practice. He proved to be not only an accomplished vocalist, but an elocutionist and learned physician as well. A series of lectures bearing upon the vocal apparatus and the means of its development and culture opened a new era, as classes were soon formed for daily drills, of which the Doctor proved a wise and earnest teacher. Rehearsals for correct breathing and tone production multiplied, until the seed of interest was firmly planted in the minds of the society.
"During these early visits, both Professor Davis and Doctor Guilmette broached the need of a musical instrument as imper- ative to aid the singing. This subject was urged until an agree- ment was reached by the leaders. A melodeon, or small cabinet organ, was the first musical instrument purchased, in November, 1870. The first piano was brought into the community two years later by one of the members."
As early as 1843 the Shakers began to do their own printing. That year they published the "Sacred Roll," the first book produced in Canterbury. Since then, a number of volumes have been issued from their printing office. From 1882 to 1899, the Shaker Manifesto, a monthly paper, was edited and published by this society.
The Shakers of this town have kept abreast of the times, availing themselves of all modern improvements. In the days of Elder Job Bishop, they traveled on foot or on horseback. Now they find automobiles essential to their business needs. The telephone connects them with the outside world. Daily newspapers and the better class of magazines are taken. The Shakers mingle more freely with the general public. At the fashionable resorts in summer, and at the hotels of the larger cities in winter, the sisters are frequently seen selling the
369
THE SHAKERS.
products of their handiwork. Visitors at the Canterbury society are welcome.
The same equality of the individual which pertains to the daily life of the Shakers is observed in death. For years their cemetery had its rows of small uniform headstones with brief inscriptions, and there was no distinction between the elder and the humble follower. In 1900 these were removed and there was erected a monument of granite, a square block, on which is inscribed the single word "Shakers." This was the gift of Mrs. Anita Porter (Shaw) Singer, a summer resident of Canterbury, whose home is two miles north of the village at Hill's Corner.
The Rev. William Patrick, strong in his religious conserv- atism, speaking of this community in 1833, said, "The people called Shakers1 established their society in the eastern part of this town about 1782. Whatever may be said of their enthu- siasm and eccentricities at the beginning, they have now settled down in regular order and however deluded on the subject of religion we may and must view them, they are still peaceful and industrious citizens."
This testimony from an orthodox minister of the old school who probably questioned fully as much the liberality of the Shaker faith as he did the emotional character of their worship, is not the earliest tribute to their citizenship. They were publicly thanked by the town a year earlier for their gifts to the poor and several times in the years immediately following for their beneficence.
The relations of the townspeople with the society for more than three quarters of a century have been most cordial. Except the vote in regard to their performing military duty and a refusal of the town for several years to permit them to become a school district by themselves, there is no record of conflict between the Shakers and the inhabitants of Canterbury. In no section of the country has this people met with less antagonism from the beginning than here, and in no town where a colony was planted has greater respect been shown to them or higher appre- ciation expressed of their conduct as citizens, neighbors and friends.
1 They gathered at Benjamin Whitcher's about 1782, but the society was not organized until 1792.
25
CHAPTER XVIII.
OSGOODITES. THEIR FOUNDER AND HIS EXPERIENCES. OBTRU- SIVE PROSELYTING AND PLAIN SPEAKING. OBJECTION TO THE HIRELING PRIEST," THE DOCTOR AND THE LAWYER. CHARAC- TER OF OSGOOD'S FOLLOWERS. THEIR SUNDAY SERVICES. PRO- TESTS VOICED IN PRAYER, EXHORTATION AND SONG. SIMPLIC- ITY OF THEIR BURIAL SERVICE. QUAINT HYMNS AND EPITAPHS.
Although originating in Warner, this religious sect had at one time as influential a following in Canterbury as in the former town. Around Zion's Hill the Osgoodite families resided and on this hill was the burial place of their dead. On the tombstones are inscribed their tenets of faith in tributes to the departed. In a few years these inscriptions will have become obscure even if the stones remain standing. Not a follower of the faith now remains, the last one, Sally Grover, dying a few years ago. In the Merrimack County History1 Fred Myron Colby gives the follow- ing account of the origin of the Osgoodites and of the characteris- tics of their leader:
"The religious sect known by this name first made themselves prominent about the year 1814. The founder was one Jacob Osgood, son of Philip Osgood, one of the early settlers of the town. He was an enthusiast, a powerful singer and of much skill in repartee. In the early part of this century he took an active part with the Freewill Baptists. Naturally ambitious and head- strong, he was disposed to be autocratic, and, as some of his religious views were not strictly conservative, he was not ap- proved by them as a leader. He then opposed them, claiming a special power from the Almighty and announcing that he was a prophet and could heal the sick and was a sort of vicegerent. He was opposed to going to law, to performing military duty and supporting preachers. For sometime his followers increased about Mink Hill,2 the Gore,2 Sutton and vicinity. There were also about thirty families in Canterbury led by Josiah Haines. Dur-
1 Page 663.
2 In Warner.
371
OSGOODITES.
ing two or three years subsequent to 1830 the Osgoodites held great revival meetings, one of which was on Kearsarge Mountain. Their singing and peculiar service attracted many hearers. The hymns sung by them were usually of their own composition. Songs, prayers and exhortations were intermixed in their services without any regularity. Osgood's custom was to sit in his chair and preach with both eyes shut and one hand on the side of his face. He was a very large man physically, weighing over three hundred pounds. He died in 1844, and Nehemiah Ordway and Charles H. Colby became the ruling elders. They were an honest, upright people in their dealings with others, but sometimes dishonorably treated by the officers of the law."
Jacob Osgood was born in South Hampton, March 16, 1777, and he moved with his parents to Warner when he was about twelve years old. In his "Christian Experience," a little pamphlet containing the story of his life, and the songs of the Osgoodites, published in 1867, he says that, owing to the poverty of his par- ents, they could not give him "much learning." He describes his thoughts of "God and Heaven " and the " devil and hell" from the time he was fourteen years of age until his final conversion in October, 1805, when he was called to preach. His troubles then began with ministers and members of existing churches and with the civil authorities. "I began to speak in the meeting house in Warner where I was brought up," he says, "but they soon began to stamp and rap. At length one of them took hold of me. I asked the pharisee if he was not afraid that God would strike him dead, and his hand fell off of me and he looked pale as a ghost, trembling. They told me then that they should present me before the rulers. I told them I was willing to die for the Lord Jesus. The clergy pharisee then asked me what my principles were. I told him I had none. But he said he never saw such a Christian before. I must have a principle. I told him I loved God with all my heart and my neighbor as myself. But this would not do, I must have something more for a foundation. I then began to be scared and thought I must own Calvinism, but God told me to own what I knew . .
"The Freewillers were for the most part in the power of God then, of any people I knew, and I joined the church, but the elders soon began to find fault with my testimony yet they never could tell what was wrong. At length God led me
372
HISTORY OF CANTERBURY.
out of town meetings and trainings, but the churches were all in them, believing in politick religion, fighting and killing one another. At length, I found that all of the churches were going back into Egypt and the world, voting for elders to become law makers instead of gospel preachers. I then had to prophesy against them, and persecution came hot against the church in Warner. Even my own relation would turn me out of doors. . But we had heavenly meetings and we kept that faith which was delivered unto the saints, to heal the sick by the laying on of our hands, which made the hypocrites awful mad, and the doctors would swear, and the lawyers would swear also, for we put the woe on lawyers. The gospel leads people to pay their debts without lawyers, and it troubles merchants and all other craftsmen.
"We healed the sick by faith in Christ. One girl in Canter- bury had the consumption and her father had paid four hundred dollars to doctors and they gave her up and said she must die, but we laid our hands on her and cried to God, and she was healed and got up from her bed and was whole. One pharisee woman told her to give God the glory for Osgood was a sinner. It was awful work among the friends of this world and pharisees, for they trusted in doctors, and lawyers and ministers."
The foregoing indicates wherein Osgood and his followers were in conflict with the churches and with society. The ministers, lawyers, doctors and merchants all came in for their denunciation. Typical of their hostility to the world about them is their "Pick- pocket Hymn" from which the following verses are quoted :
"There are pickpockets all around, A-talking very fair; Look out or they will steal your teeth And then they'll shear your hair.
"The priests will pick, I tell you now The doctors they'll pick some; The lawyers will pick whenever they can When to your town they come.
"The merchants they will pick too, If round their stores you lay; They'll sell their goods as cheap as dirt And trust you for their pay.
"But after you have gone awhile And thinking of no harm; They'll have a mortgage on your goods, Your cattle or your farm.
373
OSGOODITES.
"The rulers are picking now, And if I rightly guess They'll pick so close before they're done You'll greatly be distressed."
In 1820, at a time when the state law required all able-bodied men to train for service in the militia, the Osgoodites refused to respond. Not paying the fines levied against them, Jacob Osgood and some of his followers were put in jail. This confinement, however, was welcomed as a martyrdom to their faith.
In proselyting, they were obtrusive and oftentimes offensive, writing into hymns and songs their prejudices against customs and individuals. At meetings held largely in school houses, the Os- goodites spoke with unlicensed freedom of the faults of neighbors, and there was no hesitancy on their part to comment openly upon the failings of any wayward individual who happened to be pres- ent. Sustained by an almost fanatical zeal, they gloried in the opposition provoked by this method of "proclaiming the truth." The "hireling priest" was an especial abomination to them, and all existing forms of worship received their condemnation. A few intelligent people became Osgood's converts, but his followers were mostly men and women of limited education whose environ- ment had been circumscribed and whose testimony voiced the narrowness of their lives. The character of their songs, which were crudely and sometimes vulgarly worded, and the frank criticism they made of the shortcomings of others, attracted the curious to the Osgoodite meetings, where laughter and ribald interruptions sometimes greeted the speakers.
As individuals, the Osgoodites were honest in their dealings, good neighbors and, except when their beliefs conflicted with con- stituted authority, obedient citizens. While Mr. Osgood lived, they kept their members intact, but after his death there were no new accessions, and they gradually dwindled in strength. Along in the seventies, their meetings in the vicinity of Canterbury were held only twice a year, in the spring and fall, and, before 1890, they had ceased altogether.
As illustrating their peculiarities, a brief reference to a gath- ering held in a school house at Northfield in the spring of 1871 will suffice. It was just after the election of James A. Weston, Democrat, as governor of the state. Only five Osgoodites were present, but the room was filled with spectators. In
374
HISTORY OF CANTERBURY.
addition to the desks in the school room, extra seats were pro- vided by putting boards upon blocks of wood. Soon after the service was opened, Elder Charles H. Colby, referring to the recent Democratic victory, thanked God for turning the "black legs" (Republicans) out and putting the "hunkers" (Demo- crats) in. "Now," said the speaker, "we shall have a good apple crop and plenty of cider. The Republicans have had prohibition in this state and God has cursed the apple trees, so that they have borne but little fruit for years. You can see His pleasure in the defeat of the 'black legs' in the boun- tiful blossoming of the apple trees. It has been very difficult in years past to do our haying without cider."
In spite of this protest against prohibition, the Osgoodites were an abstemious people, using no liquors unless it was cider and that in the most moderate quantity. Their political preferences as here voiced signified nothing, as they did not believe in voting or holding office.
The prayers on this occasion were conversations with the Lord, in which He was advised rather than supplicated for His help. When speaking, their talks were a mixture of prayer and exhortation, the one running into the other. Upon invitation from the audience, particular songs composed by them were sung, while Elder Colby and the others answered all inquiries addressed to them by the spectators upon any subject whether pertinent to the occasion or not. While there was no attempt to discredit the worshipers, the audience regarded the meeting as an entertainment rather than a religious service, and those present familiar with the sect sought to develop all the oddities of this people by questions as to their belief on a variety of subjects. All inquiries were treated by them seriously and readily answered.
The garments of the Osgoodites were as peculiar as their religious professions, especially those of the women. The dresses were cut straight and were entirely plain. Across the shoulders they wore a white kerchief and on the head a linen bonnet in the summer and a woolen hood in the winter. The dressing of the hair conformed to the plainness of the clothes. The garments of the men were not so strikingly odd as those of the women, but they resolutely refused to conform to the styles of their generation. They wore their hair long
375
OSGOODITES.
and unkempt as showing their contempt for the fashions of the day.
Sally Grover, the last survivor, had a habit of calling at homes, where she was acquainted, near the meal hour. Being invited to the table, she took occasion in prayer to admonish members of the household. Her supplications did not pre- cede the repast but broke out at any time during the meal that the spirit moved. At one home where the wife was not a favorite with Sally, she emphasized her rebuke of the mother by telling the Lord that the husband or father was "a just man and feared God."
The austerity of their lives was carried into the rites for the dead. The coffin inclosing the remains was usually of white pine and unpainted, with no finish or decoration of any kind and often made by a neighboring carpenter. During the serv- ice, in prayer, exhortation and hymn, the fact that there was no pomp or display shown for the departed was frequently referred to, as were the other facts that neither doctor nor "hireling priest" attended the deceased.
Among the quaint inscriptions on the headstones that mark the graves on Zion's Hill are the following:
"Here lies Phebe, wife of David Ames, who was a succorer of many and Brother Osgood also. She died October 30, 1838."
"Here beneath these marble stones Sleeps the dust and rests the bones Of one who lived a Christian Life. 'Twas Hannah Haines, Josiah's wife. She was a woman full of truth,
And feared God from early youth, And priests and elders did her fight
Because she brought her deeds to light."
"Josiah. He was a blessing to the saints, To sinners rich and poor.
He was a kind and worthy man. He's gone to be no more. He kept the faith unto the end And left the world in peace.
He did not for a doctor send Nor for a hireling priest."
CHAPTER XIX.
SCHOOLS. EARLY LEGISLATION IN NEW HAMPSHIRE. FIRST VOTES IN CANTERBURY AND FIRST SCHOOL MASTER. MEAGER PRO- VISIONS UNTIL AFTER REVOLUTION. DIVISION OF TOWN INTO CLASSES AND LATER INTO DISTRICTS. FIRST SCHOOL HOUSES. INSPECTORS. THE "SCHOOL DAME" AND WOMEN'S SCHOOLS. EXAMINATION OF TEACHERS. PRUDENTIAL COMMITTEES. RE- PORTS OF SUPERINTENDING SCHOOL COMMITTEES. DECLINE IN NUMBER OF SCHOLARS. REDUCTION IN NUMBER OF DISTRICTS. PRESENT CONDITIONS. KEZER SEMINARY.
Provision for the school master and the school house was con- temporaneous in the provincial laws of New Hampshire with the authority given to tax the inhabitants for the support of the min- istry and for the building of houses of worship. When the prov- ince was included in the Dominion of New England in 1686 under Gov. Joseph Dudley, it was ordered that "all contracts, agreements or orders for the support of ministers and school masters" be continued in full force.1
In 1693, after New Hampshire again became a separate prov- ince, selectmen were directed to raise money "for the building and repairing of meeting houses, minister's houses, school houses and allowing a salary to a school master in each town."2 Although this act was vetoed by the Queen in 1706 on account of its liberal provision for the support of the ministry, it was reenacted in 1714.3
That education should be compulsory and that towns should have no excuse for neglecting to provide by public taxation for the instruction of children, an act was passed May 2, 1719, which provided that "every town having the number of 50 householders or upwards shall be constantly provided of (with) a school master to teach children and youth to read and write, and when any town or towns have the number of 100 families or householders, there
1 Laws of N. H., 1679-1702 (Batchellor), page 115.
2 Idem, page 560.
Idem, pages 867, 868.
377
SCHOOLS.
shall also be a grammar school set up & kept in every such town, and some discreet person of good conversation well instructed in the tongues shall be procured to be master thereof, every such school master to be suitable encouraged and paid by the inhabi- tants." 1
If any town neglected for the space of six months to procure such a school master, it incurred a penalty of £20 for every con- viction upon complaint made, the fine to go to the support of schools within the province "where there may be most need." Any town which regarded itself incapable of complying with this act could appeal to the Court of Quarter Sessions of the Peace for relief.
All of these provisions for schools antedated the granting of the charter for the township of Canterbury in 1727. The first reference in the proprietors' records to this subject was in 1754. At the annual meeting that year there was an article in the war- rant "to see if the town will raise money to keep a school for the education of the children and youth of Canterbury and how much money." There is no record that this article was acted upon at the meeting. It is doubtful if there were fifty householders in town at that time.
Four years later at the annual meeting March 16, 1758, there was an article in the call for the meeting "To see if the town this year or any part of the year will have a town school for the instruc- tion and education of their children and to see what method they will take for regulating the same."
Among the votes recorded at that meeting is the following: "Voted £200 old tenor for the benefit of schooling the children, and that each Fort's people shall enjoy the benefit of their own money in their own Fort."
This vote explains why no earlier action was taken by the in- habitants to provide for schools. Being a frontier town, the peo- ple were menaced by the Indians during most of the years of the early settlements and they were not without apprehension until after the French were driven out of Canada. At the time this
1 Province Laws Vol. I., page 240. In 1721, the act of 1719 was amended and its operation extended and made more explicit. Laws, Ed. of 1771, page 163. See also act of 1771, Laws, Ed. of 1771, page 260. The act of June 18, 1789, Laws, Ed. of 1792, page 275, is a new school act repealing all provisions of previous dates. See also act of 1714, Laws, Ed. of 1625, page 140. Idem, Laws, Ed. of 1771, page 163. Idem, 260.
378
HISTORY OF CANTERBURY.
vote was passed, the English and French were in a life and death struggle for the possession of Canada, and Quebec was not cap- tured until a year later, in 1759. Hence the provision that "each Fort's people shall enjoy the benefit of their own money in their own Fort." The forts or stockades were the only safe places where the children could be assembled.
Prior to 1758, such instruction as the children had must have been given at the fireside by the parents, though it is not unlikely that the Rev. James Scales, the first minister in town of whom there is record, combined with his pastoral duties the imparting of knowledge to the young. He was a man of varied attainments, being a teacher, physician and surveyor as well as a minister.1 Mr. Scales came to Canterbury in 1742 and did not remove to Hopkinton until 1757. As he was a public spirited citizen, he may have met conditions as he found them in Canterbury by combining the duties of pastor and school teacher.
From 1758 until late in 1762 the town records are silent on the subject of schools and presumably no appropriation was made for the maintenance of one, as after 1749 the town clerk was a resi- dent of Canterbury and the register of the transactions at town meeting was quite full and complete.
At a special town meeting held December 27, 1762, £500 old tenor was appropriated for the "support of a school, " and it was "voted that the selectmen provide a school master to teach said school and order in what parts of the town said school shall be kept."
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.