USA > New Hampshire > Strafford County > Durham > History of the town of Durham, New Hampshire (Oyster River Plantation) with genealogical notes, Volume 1 > Part 22
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The following is Durham's Collegiate Roll of Honor: John Sullivan, James Sullivan and George Sullivan, Harvard, 1790; Jacob Sheafe Smith, Harvard, 1805; Henry Smith, Bowdoin, 1810; John A. Richardson, Dartmouth, 1819; Richard Steele, Dartmouth, 1815; John Thompson, Harvard, 1822; Hamilton Smith, Dartmouth, 1829; Charles Ingalls, Dartmouth, 1829; George P. Mathes, Dartmouth, 1834; William B: Smith, Dart- mouth, 1840; John S. Woodman, Dartmouth, 1842; Enoch George Adams, Yale, 1849; Hilliard Flanders, Union Seminary, 1849; John Isaac Ira Adams, Yale, 1852; George T. Wiggin Dartmouth, 1859; William A. Odell, Harvard, 1864; George S. Frost, Dartmouth, 1865; Gen. Charles W. Bartlett, Dartmouth, 1869; Edwin DeMeritt, Dartmouth, 1869; Frank DeMeritt, Dartmouth, 1870; George E. Thompson, Dartmouth, Chandler Scientific, 1879, and Harvard Medical, 1884; George W. Ran- som, Dartmouth, 1886; Miss Ada M. Thompson, Wellesley, 1886; Rev. William J. Drew, Berea, 1891; Miss Margaret A. Coe, Smith College, 1896; Miss Anne H. Coe, Smith College, 1902; Roy W. Mathes, Dartmouth Medical, 1906; John R.
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Mathes, Dartmouth, 1900; James M. Mathes, Dartmouth, 19II; Miss Ruth E. Thompson, Denver University, 1912; Cal- vert King Mellen, Norwich University, 1884.
The following residents of Durham have graduated at the New Hampshire College of Agriculture and Mechanic Arts:
Miss Carrie L. Comings, 1897; Miss M. E. Comings, 1897; Leslie D. Hayes, 1897; Miss Mabel L. Hayes, 1898; Miss Etta L. Simpson, 1899; Miss Fannie Burnham, 1900; Charles E. P. Mathes, 1900; Miss Alvena Pettec, 1900; Miss Blanche M. Foye, 1900; Harold M. Runlett, 1901; Eugene P. Runlett, 1902; Ernest F. Bickford, 1903; David A. Watson, 1903; Frank R. Brown, 1903; Everett G. Davis, 1903; Albert N. Otis, 1903; Horace J. Pettee, 1905; Warren C. Hayes, 1905; Miss Lucia S. Watson, 1907; Miss Sarah E. Pettee, 1908; Miss Katharine DeMeritt, 1908; Miss Margaret DeMeritt, 1908, M. A., 1912; Mary A. Chesley, 1908; Stephen DeMeritt, 1912; Miss Bernice M. Hayes, 1912; Myles S. Watson, 1912; Charles F. Scott, 1913; Miss Marie L. Robertson, 1900.
THE NEW HAMPSHIRE COLLEGE OF AGRICULTURE AND MECHANIC ARTS
It was a great day for Durham when this institution, which began its existence in 1866 at Hanover, was removed here. The inducement was the bequest of Benjamin Thompson, of which mention is made in the biographical sketch of that benefactor. The bequest, by accumulation of interest, now amounts to an endowment of nearly $800,000, and its annual income of about $32,000 became available first in 1910. The State appropriated $100,000 for building in 1891 and an additional appropriation of $35,000 in 1893, when the college entered upon its new career. New buildings have been added from time to time, made neces- sary by the rapidly increasing number of students and by new courses of study. Its halls and campus are taking on the appear- ance of the old New England colleges, except that the campus is larger and has greater variety of landscape, with much natural beauty. The college owns 380 acres, of which seventy acres are forest and one hundred and twenty acres are in tillage. There are hill and dale, orchard and woodland, meadow and stream, gardens and greenhouses, race-track and ball-ground. A special
NEW HAMPSHIRE COLLEGE
MORRILL HALL
NESMITH HALL
CONANT HALL
SMITH HALL
THOMPSON HALL
GYMNASIUM
GREENHOUSES
DAIRY BUILDING
LIBRARY
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dormitory has been built for young ladies, and the young men in clubs hire spacious houses with all needed accommodations. The removal of the railroad track toward the west and the disappear- ance of several unsightly buildings have made possible the further beautifying of the campus.
The growth of the college has been phenomenal. In 1893 the enrollment of students numbered only thirty and there were only seven professors in the Faculty. Now there are 354 students enrolled and the Faculty has forty-two instructors. Nearly 2,000 students have already availed themselves of the privileges of this institution, perhaps induced in many cases by the reason- ableness of expense, which need not exceed $300 annually. There are also a goodly number of scholarships, besides opportunities for partial self-support. Here may be found an earnest set of young people, who go to college for hard intellectual work more than for athletics and a general good time. However, they get athletic exercises and good times incidentally, the way happiness must always come. There is an excellent gymnasium and the play-ground adjoining welcomes often enough teams and ball clubs from other New England colleges.
The buildings of the college can not be described in a few words better than by quoting from the last bulletin:
Thompson Hall is the main administrative building and contains the offices of the President, the Dean, the Registrar and the Purchasing Agent. Here also are located the departments of Drawing and Machine Design, Modern Languages, Mathematics and Zoology.
Conant Hall is given over wholly to the departments of Chemistry, Physics and Electrical Engineering.
Morrill Hall contains the Experiment Station Library of over twenty-five hundred volumes, the office of the Director of the Experiment Station, and the laboratories, lecture rooms and offices of the departments of Agronomy, Animal Husbandry, Horticulture and Forestry.
Nesmith Hall is occupied by the departments of Chemistry and Botany of the Experiment Station and contains the laboratory and lecture room of the department of Botany of the college.
The Mechanical Engineering Building contains a wood shop, a machine shop, a forge shop, a foundry and the laboratories of the Mechanical Engineer- ing department.
In the Armory are the lecture rooms and offices of the Military department, the rooms of the College Club and a large drill hall or gymnasium.
The Dairy Building is arranged and equipped in the most up-to-date and sanitary manner. It contains a commercial creamery, with separator room, churning room and cold storage room; laboratories for giving instruction in
THOMPSON HALL
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milk testing, milk inspection, farm butter and cheese making and bacteriology ; a reading and exhibition room; a class room and offices.
The college has also an insectary, a large modern dairy barn, several smaller barns for sheep, horses, etc., and a range of greenhouses especially planned for carrying on up-to-date work in greenhouse management.
Smith Hall, the woman's dormitory, was made possible by the generosity · of Mrs. Shirley Onderdonk, of Durham, who gave sixteen thousand dollars as a memorial to her mother, Mrs. Alice Hamilton Smith. The remainder of the cost, ten thousand dollars, was provided by the State. The building furnishes accommodations for thirty-two students.
In accordance with an act of consolidation between the libraries of Durham and the college, the books of the Durham Public Library and the college are all shelved in one building and form the Hamilton Smith Public Library. This consolidation makes an especially good collection, the scientific books of the college supplementing well the more popular books of the town library. The consolidated libraries number about 30,000 bound volumes and 10,000 pamphlets.
On the thirteenth day of April 1913, the Governor of New Hampshire signed the bill appropriating $80,000 for a new engi- neering building, which will be erected at once.
Thus have been brought together in twenty years buildings and property to the value of about half a million of dollars, besides the endowment fund. Surely a firm basis has been laid, and the future growth of the college is assured. The application of science to agriculture has made farming in New England a new and attractive business, demanding brains as well as brawn. The trolley, the telephone and the rural delivery of mail no longer leave the farmhouse in lonely isolation. Good roads are bringing the markets nearer. Will women become farmers, and is this the reason why they are admitted to New Hampshire College? Why not? Indeed, this is actually the fact and one of growing importance. It has been proved that women have business enterprise and scientific knowledge sufficient to manage large farms successfully. There is reason to think that they will soon compete with men in this vocation, as they are now doing in many trades and professions that were once closed to them. Good agriculture is the basis of human welfare in material things, and should be considered an honorable occupation and made sufficiently lucrative.
Look at the list of subjects taught and wish yourself young again, such as the study of soils, seeds, farming machinery, domes- tic animals and their proper care, dairying, orcharding, horti-
Aut.
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KAPPA SIGMA BETA PHI THETA CHI
GAMMA THETA ZETA EPSILON ZETA Houses now or once used by College Fraternities
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culture, forestry, botany and chemistry. Thus equipped the young farmer begins his work, knowing what to do on his par- ticular farm and how to do it. He can raise a profitable crop of something almost anywhere, if he only knows how. He can draw nutriment out of the air, by proper rotation of crops. If one does not like farming, one can here become fitted to be a chemist, an electrical or mechanical engineer, a surveyor, a machinist, a teacher, and to handle a great variety of tools. The student learns to do things as well as to philosophize about them. Here is pragmatism in contrast with speculative phi- losophy.
The military drill, optional in the senior year, is a useful train- ing for many, but will be abandoned with the growth of the college into a State University, for the time is hastening on when international arbitration will keep the peace of the world and the nations shall learn war no more.
Education by the State is taking the place of education by Christian denominations, and the former is no less Christian than the latter. New Hampshire ought to have at least one institution of learning, where women have equal privileges with men and both may pursue any lines of study they may choose. A course in Domestic Science and Household Arts is the latest attraction. Why not have also courses in architecture, sculpture, painting, music, and literature? All these departments will be added in due time. An endowment by some noble patron or alumnus will hasten the desired end.
It is gratifying to know that the college recognizes that it should be an educator of the people at large as well as of the students that flock to Durham. Bulletins of very valuable information go forth from the Experiment Station. "A College on Wheels" is the name given to its Extension Service, that sends lecturers throughout the State to teach farmers how to raise fruit, hay, stock, etc., that makes exhibits at fairs, and enrolls whosoever will in agricultural reading courses.
The first president of the college, after its separation from Dartmouth and removal to Durham, was Dr. Charles S. Murk- land, who took charge in the fall of 1893 and served for ten years. Perhaps the richest legacy left by this able and crudite president is the spirit of true scholarship which characterized his adminis- tration and which still remains. President William D. Gibbs
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EDWARD THOMSON FAIRCHILD, LL.D. President of New Hampshire College
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served as chief officer during the past nine years. He was singu- larly strong in his administration of financial affairs, and during his term the college prospered greatly. Several buildings were added and the number of students more than doubled.
Edward Thomson Fairchild, Ph. D., LL. D., was elected presi- dent of the college in August, 1912. He is a native of Ohio, edu- cated at Wesleyan and Wooster Universities. His whole life has been devoted to educational work. He taught in Ohio Normal School and served as state superintendent of schools. Later he was city superintendent of schools in Kansas and for eight years was
RESIDENCE OF THE COLLEGE PRESIDENT
a member of the board of regents of the Agricultural College. Three years he was state superintendent of public instruction in Kansas, when he formulated workable and up-to-date courses of study in rural, graded and high schools throughout the state. At the time of his election as president of New Hampshire College he was president of the National Educational Association and also superintendent of public instruction for Kansas. The latter position he resigned upon coming to New Hampshire. He has already impressed himself upon the college and town as a man of unusual graciousness and tact in handling administrative prob-
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DEAN CHARLES H. PETTEE, LL.D.
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lems and as a scholar particularly well informed in educational matters.
Mention ought to be made of the work of Prof. Charles H. Pettee, LL. D., who has served as dean of the college fourteen years. After graduating from Dartmouth in 1874 and from the Thayer School of Civil Engineering in 1876 he accepted the chair of Mathematics and Civil Engineering in the New Hampshire College, then at Hanover. He assisted in planning and providing for the erection of the buildings at Durham and has been a posi- tive force in the development of the town. He is a deacon and constant helper in the church and in the prosperity and future growth of the town he shows his faith by his works.
At the commencement exercises held 11 June 1913 the presi- dent of the college conferred the degree of LL. D. on Dean Pettee in the following words:
Charles Holmes Pettee, Dean of the College, for thirty-eight years you have served this institution faithfully and well. Your loyalty has been such that no task has been too humble or too difficult to enlist your quick sympathy and earnest action You have worked for its interests in season and out of season. Ever ready with kind advice or sympathetic assistance, you have been a consistent friend of the thousands of students who have been enrolled in this college. Hundreds of former students and the alumni of this institution will join in approval of the action of the trustees in bestowing upon you the honorary degree of Doctor of Laws, and I now declare you entitled to all the rights and privileges belonging thereto.
LIBRARIES
The educational history of Durham demands that something should be said about the public libraries that have done so much to stimulate desire for sound learning and to enrich the minds of readers. The Durham Social Library was incorpo- rated in 1815, and the Durham Agricultural Library was incor- porated in 1862. For a long time the books of both were on the upper floor of lawyer Richardson's office and were in constant circulation. After Squire Richardson's death no use was made of them until Mr. Albert DeMeritt initiated a movement to secure them as a nucleus for a new library. Money was raised, Benjamin Thompson being a liberal contributor, and, 9 March 1881, the Durham Social Library was organized. The books of all the libraries were kept in the Congregational Church and Maj. H. B. Mellen was librarian. The Durham Library Associa-
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tion was incorporated 8 March 1883, and the Richardson law office and land were purchased, the building remodeled, and the upper floor leased to Scammell Grange. Maj. H. B. Mellen continued as librarian on the lower floor, and he was succeeded by Hon. Joshua B. Smith, Miss Mary E. Smith and Miss Char- lotte A. Thompson.
Mrs. Lydia Simpson died in 1895 and left about $8,000 to the Durham Library Association, in trust, the income to be used. March 8, 1892, the town voted to accept the provisions of an act to establish free libraries.
March 18, 1893, the town and Durham Library Association signed a contract, securing the union of the library of the town with that of the association.
January 13, 1906, a contract was signed by the New Hampshire College, the town of Durham and the Durham Library Associa- tion, whereby the three libraries were consolidated, all three contributing toward its support. The running expenses are paid by the college, and the library is open to all the citizens of Durham. The funds for the Hamilton Smith Public Library building were contributed by Hamilton Smith and Andrew Carnegie, and the building was furnished by the State of New Hampshire. There are 30,000 volumes in the library, five daily papers, twenty New Hampshire weekly papers and a large num- ber of magazines. Thus it is seen that Durham has exceptional library advantages.
In connection with the libraries of Durham honorable mention should be made of Maj. Henry B. Mellen, who was born in Durham 2 March 1828. He served during the Civil War in the Second California Cavalry, continuing in military service till 4 October 1872, when he was retired "for loss of right foot at ankle and left leg below the knee, from injuries rceived in line of duty." His service was in California, Louisiana and Texas, and he had charge of the erection of several frontier forts. Begin- ning as first lieutenant, he gradually rose to the rank of major. Soon after his retirement he settled in Durham and became interested in the Library Association, serving gratuitously as librarian and on the book committee. He died in Durham 20 June 1907, aged 78.
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LAWYERS AND LAW STUDENTS OF DURHAM
Ichabod Bartlett was born in Salisbury, 24 July 1786. He graduated at Dartmouth in 1808 and was admitted to the bar in 1812, beginning at once to practise law in Durham. He removed to Portsmouth about 1818, where he resided till his death, 19 October 1853. He was one of the ablest lawyers in the State. He was clerk of the senate in 1817 and 1818, rep- resentative from Portsmouth seven times and speaker of the house in 1821. In 1822 he was elected to Congress and served as representative three terms.
James Bartlett was born in Salisbury, 14 August 1792. He graduated at Dartmouth in 1812 and studied law with his brother, Ichabod Bartlett, in Durham, and practised in partnership with him a few years. He was appointed registrar of probate for Strafford County in 1819 and removed to Dover. He married, 28 June 1820, Jane, daughter of Joshua Ballard of Durham. He served four terms as representative from Dover in the legis- lature, 1823-26 and as State senator, 1827-28. He married (2) June 1831, Jane M., daughter of George Andrews of Dover.
William Boardman was born in Newmarket, 31 July 1779. He was educated at Phillips Academy, Exeter, and studied law with Ebenezer Smith in Durham. He began practice in Farm- ington about 1806 and within two years returned to Newmarket, where he died soon after.
Joseph Clark was born in Columbia, Conn., 9 March 1759, and graduated at Dartmouth in 1785. He studied law with Gen. John Sullivan and began practice at Rochester about 1788. About 1810 he removed to his native town, where he died, 21 December 1828.
Nathaniel Cogswell was born in Haverhill, Mass., 9 January 1773. He graduated at Dartmouth in 1794 and studied law with Ebenezer Smith in Durham. He commenced practice in Gilmanton, in 1805, and removed to Newburyport, Mass., about 1808, where he died in 1813 or 1814.
Richard Ela was the son of Joseph and Sarah (Emerson) Ela, born in Lebanon, 21 February 1796. He studied law with Ichabod Bartlett in Durham and was admitted to the bar in
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1819. He practised law in Durham from 1819 to 1830. He removed to Portsmouth, and in 1835 he was appointed to a posi- tion in the Treasury Department in Washington. He died in Washington, D. C., 8 January 1863.
Peter French was born in Sandown in 1759. He graduated at Harvard in 1781. He studied law with Gen. John Sullivan and practised for a short time in Durham. He died in Maine.
John Ham was born in Dover, 30 December 1774. He gradu- ated at Dartmouth in 1797 and studied law with Ebenezer Smith at Durham. He was admitted to the bar in 1800 and began practice at Gilmanton, where he died 7 March 1837. He served as selectman, member of the legislature, and trustee of Gilman- ton Academy.
Winthrop Atkinson Marston was born in Nottingham, 14 June 1804. He studied law in Durham, in the office of Stephen Mitchell. He was admitted about 1829 and practised law at Somersworth and Dover. He died 30 March 1850 at Somers- worth.
Stephen Mitchell, son of Benjamin and Martha (Steele) Mitchell, was born in Peterborough, 29 March 1780. He gradu- ated at Williams College in 1801 and studied law with his uncle, Jonathan Steele, in Durham, where he began practice in 1805. In behalf of his townsmen he made the address of welcome to Gen. Lafayette, in the summer of 1825, in a "very handsome and appropriate manner." He taught school in Durham in 1802. He married, 9 November 1809, Sarah, daughter of Joseph Mills of Deerfield, born 22 June 1788. He died in Durham 18 February 1833. He was one of the incorporators of Durham Academy and a member of the Congregational Church, whence he and his wife took letters in 1830, recommending them to the Episcopal Church in Portsmouth.
Moses Parsons was born in Newbury, Mass., 13 May 1744. He graduated at Harvard in 1765 and studied law with Gen. John Sullivan, practising in Newmarket and Durham. He re- moved to Amherst, N. H., in 1773, and was a delegate from that town to the third and fourth Provincial Congresses. He is said to have been in Kingston in 1775, in Newmarket in 1778 and in Massachusetts in 1779. Governor Bell relates the fol- lowing story about him. "When he was once about to return to Durham from a visit to his father, the latter gave him some
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seasonable religious advice. 'That reminds me,' replied the son, rather irreverently "of my mortality. I have one request to make. If I die at Durham, don't bury me there.' His father answered that it was of little consequence where the body was deposited, if the soul was properly fitted for the other world. 'True,' responded his son, 'but the people of Durham are so uncivilized and quarrelsome that I should be ashamed to be seen rising in their company at the last day.'"
John Adams Richardson was born in Durham, 18 November 1797. He was son of Capt. Joseph Richardson, who was born in Boston, 25 December 1756, and married Sarah Hanson of Dover. He graduated at Dartmouth in 1819. He was a teacher in Haverhill, Mass., in 1818 and 1820 and read law there with John Varnum. He was admitted to the bar in 1823 and at once began practice in his native town, continuing therein till his death, 25 August 1877. In 1846 he was clerk of the state senate. In the latter years of his life he was president of the bar associa- tion of Strafford County. He is described as a very social and gentlemanly man, having a fondness for the peaceful side of the law, and a reader of general literature. He married (1) Marcia A., daughter of Maj. Alexander and Sally (Adams) Rice of Kittery and had two daughters, Marcia and Frances. His first wife died 8 October 1832, and he married (2) in 1835, Mrs. Frances J., daughter of Hon. Daniel Farrand of Burlington, Vt., and widow of Rev. Thomas J. Murdock.
Arthur Rogers was the son of Maj. Robert Rogers, who be- came celebrated in the last French and Indian War of 1754 as a leader of a company of rangers. He was born in 1770 and studied law with Gen. John Sullivan in Durham and with Edward St. Loe Livermore of Concord, where he began practice in 1793. He removed to Barrington in 1794, to Pembroke in 1797, to Plymouth in 1800, to Pembroke again in 1803, to Concord in 1812 and to Portsmouth in 1832, where he died in 1841.
Hon. Ebenezer Smith was born at the garrison house in Lubber- land, Durham, 13 March 1758, son of Dea. Ebenezer Smith. He was educated at Dummer Academy, Byfield, Mass., and studied law with Gen. John Sullivan, beginning practice in 1783. He was the secretary of Gen. Sullivan while the latter was a member of Congress, 1780-81. He served his native town as moderator, selectman seven years, representative six years.
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He was councilor two years, justice of the Court of Common Pleas, 1784-87, aide on the staff of Governor Gilman in 1798, and president of the bar association of Strafford County nearly twenty years. According to Governor Bell he was "very sucess- ful in his profession and became one of the most prominent lawyers in his section of the State." In 1783 he purchased the Thomas Pinkham residence in Durham village and built an office west of the house, which was used in recent times as a grocery store with tenement overhead. This real estate is now owned by George W. Jennings of New York. Mr. Smith died in Durham, 24 September 1831. [See Genealogical Notes.]
Hamilton Smith, born in Durham 19 September 1804, grad- uated at Dartmouth College in 1829 and studied law in Wash- ington, D. C., with Levi Woodbury, senator from New Hamp- shire, and with William Wirt of Virginia. In 1832 he went to Louisville, Ky., where he practised law and engaged in business enterprises, being president of corporations that owned cotton mills and coal mines. He removed to Cannelton, Ind., in 1851. He served as a member of the Indiana legislature in 1858 and was a delegate to the National Democratic Convention at Chicago in 1864 and to the similar convention at New York in 1868. He died in Washington, D. C., 7 February 1875, after an honorable and successful career in law and business. For family see Genealogical Notes.
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