USA > New Hampshire > Rockingham County > Exeter > History of the town of Exeter, New Hampshire > Part 28
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It was two years after the termination of The Constitutionalist, before another paper arose. It was started by Henry A. Ranlet, October 2, 1816, under the name of The Watchman. Two months later it went into the hands of Nathaniel Boardman, and its title was changed to the Exeter Watchman. But newspaper property in the town was not very permanent in those days, and November 9, 1819, George Lamson became the proprietor, and added to it the second title of Agricultural Repository; and to complete the round of metamorphoses, Samuel T. Moses became the publisher February 6, 1821, and gave it the designation of The Northern Republican. Mr. Moses was a practical printer, and his name appears upon the title page of several publications at about this date. The Northern Republican was continued only to the for- tieth number.
John J. Williams, a native of Exeter, and a trained printer, began business in 1818, in the office which had been occupied by Henry A. Ranlet, then lately deceased. His brother, Benjamin J. Williams, was a bookbinder ; and a short time afterwards they united, under the firm of J. and B. Williams, in the printing and publishing business, to which they subsequently added that of stereotyping. Their establishment grew to be large and profitable, and for upwards of twenty years issued a great variety of works,
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HISTORY OF EXETER.
for the most part new editions of those which were already favor- ites of the public. Some of them were books of sterling value, and put forth in handsome style ; perhaps a greater number were novels and tales issued in 24mo volumes and usually in boards on roan bindings. These had a great sale, and included many of the works of Scott, Bulwer, Marryat and others.
George Lamson was a native of the town, who had a collegiate education and studied the profession of the law. For a few years he was engaged in the publication of legal works in Exeter, and then removed to the city of New York, where he died.
Francis Grant began life as a bookbinder, but was afterwards the proprietor of a small printing office and became a bookseller and publisher. As such his name and appearance were familiar to the students of the academy for half a century and more. Ile published that very useful little work, called A Book for New Hampshire Children, in Familiar Letters from a Father, written by Hosea Hildreth, which ran through five editions. Mr. Grant commenced the issue of The Rockingham Gazette, a weekly news- paper, September 21, 1824. The editor was Oliver W. B. Peabody. The paper was a decided improvement upon all that had preceded it, but the profession of journalism was yet in its infancy. The Gazette came to a close in October, 1827, when its subscription list was transferred to The Portsmouth Journal.
Within the next three years two abortive attempts were made to establish journals in the town, one by Joseph Y. James, February 12, 1829, whose experiment was called The Hive, but apparently lacked the industry of the bee or the sweetness of the honey, for it came to an end in 1830; and the other by Michael H. Barton, the " 2d. mo. 12th. 1830" whose venture was issued in duodecimo form, eight pages in a number, and named Something New. This publication was designed to introduce a perfect alphabet and a reformed orthography ; a scheme which has employed the atten- tion of many ingenious men. Mr. Barton's plan, whatever it was, was not of sufficient interest to make his publication a success, for it probably never got beyond the first number.
THE NEWS LETTER.
At length, however, a permanent newspaper was established by John S. Sleeper, May 31, 1831, in The Exeter News Letter. Mr. Sleeper, though not a native of the town, was the son and grand- son of residents, and passed his childhood in Exeter. Being of
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HISTORY OF EXETER.
an active, adventurous disposition, he went early to sea, and by his ability and intelligence rose to the command of a merchant vessel. For twenty-two years he followed the profession, and then undertook the launching and management of a newspaper. In this he was equally successful. He held an easy and graceful pen, and knew well the kind of matters in which the public are interested. He edited and published The Exeter News Letter for two years, and then sought a wider field, first in the growing town of Lowell, and afterwards in Boston, Massachusetts, where he founded, and for twenty years conducted, to great popularity and success, The Boston Mercantile Journal.
John C. Gerrish, who was familiar with the printing office, succeeded to the control of The News Letter, and fortunately engaged for his editor John Kelly, a college graduate and a lawyer by profession, possessed of much literary taste and a pleasant vein of humor that enabled him to give attractiveness to the driest subject. He was a thorough antiquary, and prepared for the columns of the paper a series of historical and genealogical " Collectanea," which were the fruits of much study and research, and have been of value and assistance to many investigators of family history since. Mr. Kelly for nearly twenty years retained the editorial charge of the paper, though the proprietorship was in the meantime transferred to Messrs. Smith, Hall & Clarke, all of them skilled printers.
The Rev. Dr. Levi W. Leonard subsequently edited The News Letter, and, at a later date, Charles Marseilles became the pro- prietor. It afterwards went into the hands of William B. Morrill, who managed it for several years, and is now the property of John Templeton, a graduate of the printing office, and not without ex- perience in writing for the press. The News Letter has been repeatedly enlarged in dimensions, and now contains nearly twice the amount of reading matter that it had in the beginning.
The firm of Smith, Hall & Clarke was composed of Oliver Smith, Samuel Hall and Samuel B. Clarke, all straightforward, successful business men. Mr. Hall is the only survivor, and has for some years retired from active occupation. Thomas D. Treadwell, who was employed for many years as a printer in the establishment of J. and B. Williams, and afterwards in the office of The News Letter, has recently died, at an advanced age.
But we have not yet done with the Exeter newspapers. On the second of April, 1835, was begun The Christian Journal, a fort-
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HISTORY OF EXETER.
nightly publication, by the Executive Committee of the Eastern Christian Publishing Association. Elijah Shaw was the editor, and J. C. Gerrish, the printer. There was also an "editorial council " of three, chosen yearly. At the beginning of the fifth year the title of the paper was altered to The Christian Herald and Journal; at the beginning of the sixth, it was abbreviated to The Christian Herald, and the paper was issued weekly. It was next removed to Newburyport, Massachusetts, and was published there afterwards.
The first number of The Granite State Democrat, a weekly paper, appeared in January, 1840. James Shrigley was publisher, and Joseph L. Beckett, printer. Mr. Shrigley was a minister of the Universalist denomination, and Mr. Beckett was a native of Exeter, who had served his time in a printing office, and was long employed by the proprietors of The Boston Post. He was a genial soul, with a good deal of humor. This paper, like so many others, changed hands repeatedly. In 1842 it was conducted by Ferdi- nand Ellis, Jr., and afterwards by William Young. In January, 1843, Samuel C. Baldwin became the proprietor, but, by reason of the failure of his health, it was discontinued March 9, 1843. A subsequent effort to revive it proved unsuccessful.
In 1841 no less than three attempts were made to establish new journals in the town. The first was in February, when a prospec- tus was issued of a semi-monthly, to be called The Rose and Thorn, but it is supposed that no sufficient encouragement was offered. In June appeared the first number of The Granite Pillar and New Hampshire Temperance Advocate, to be continued monthly by Abraham R. Brown under the editorship of Joseph Fullonton, but it was short-lived. The last literary venture of the year was a semi-monthly, called The Factory Girl and Lady's Garland. It appeared November 1, J. L. Beckett being the publisher. It, or its successors, continued to be issued in Exeter for about six years it is believed. In 1842 it was known as The Factory Girl simply, and was conducted by C. C. Dearborn ; and in 1843 as The Fac- tory Girl's Garland, by A. R. Brown. In 1845 and 1846, it was much enlarged and entitled The Weekly Messenger, Literary Wreath and Factory Girl's Garland. Later it was removed to Lawrence, Massachusetts, by J. L. Beckett.
A weekly sheet, called The Squamscot Fountain, and devoted to the cause of temperance, was begun in 1843 by Samuel Webster and J. P. Clough. It also underwent a change of title and of proprietors, but those did not save it from an early dissolution.
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HISTORY OF EXETER.
In 1846 was begun a paper called The Factory Girl's Album and Operatives' Advocate, by Charles C. Dearborn, as publisher, and William P. Moulton, as printer. At first it was issued weekly, and afterwards, semi-monthly, and was enlarged ; but it was con- tinued only a little more than a year.
January 1, 1853, a single number of a projected weekly, of a religious and literary character, to be styled The Olive Leaf, ap- peared under the editorship of R. O. Williams, by Currier & Co., proprietors, but it never reached a second number.
About the year 1857, Thomas J. Whittem, who had established The American Ballot, a weekly paper dedicated to the interests of the American party, at Portsmouth, about three years prior to that time, transferred it to Exeter, and continued to publish it there until its discontinuance in 1865.
THE GAZETTE, AND PRESENT PUBLICATIONS.
The Exeter Gazette was founded in 1876 by James D. P. Win- gate and A. P. Dunton. Three years afterwards, J. H. Shaw purchased the interest of Mr. Dunton. In 1883 Mr. Wingate became, as he still is, the sole proprietor. An experiment was made, a few years since, of issuing a daily paper from the same office, but the general circulation of the metropolitan journals is fatal to ventures of that kind in the smaller towns. The Daily Gazette struggled against fate for six months, when it succumbed.
The Weekly Protest was established by Andrew J. Hoyt in 1880, an organ of the Greenback party.
The Exonian, published by the students of the Phillips Acad- emy, was begun in 1878; and The Phillips Exeter Literary Monthly, a magazine in octavo form, in May, 1886.
The present periodical publications of the town are The News Letter, The Gazette, The Protest and The Exonian, all weekly, and The Literary Monthly.
CONTRIBUTORS TO THE PRESS.
Exeter has had its share of anthors, though none very voluminous. No attempt will be made here to give a complete or exact biblio- graphical account of their productions ; but a list of such writers as are recalled is subjoined, with the titles, or some brief descrip- tion of the character of their works. The letter n. after a name stands for native, and r. for resident of the town.
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HISTORY OF EXETER.
Rev. John Emery Abbot, n. Sermons ; and Memoir by Henry Ware, Jr., 1829.
Rev. John W. Adams, r. Sermons, 1884 and 1885.
Joseph L. Beckett, n. Directory and History of Exeter, etc., 1872.
Charles H. Bell, r. John Wheelwright, 1876. History of Phillips Exeter Academy, 1883.
Rev. John N. Brown, r. Emily and other poems, 1840.
Rev. Ebenezer L. Boyd, r. Thanksgiving Discourse, 1813.
James Burley, 2. Company Discipline, 1820.
Rev. Jacob Chapman, r. Genealogy of the Folsom Family, 1882. Genealogy of the Philbrick Family, 1887.
Rev. Jonathan Cole, r. One or more sermons.
Charles Denis Rusoe D'Eres, r. Memoirs, 1800.
This person, a Canadian, claimed to have been a captive among a tribe of Indians with an unpronounceable name, for eleven years. His story is generally regarded as apochryphal, and the chief merit of the book istits rarity.
Rev. Ferdinand Ellis, r. Election Sermon, 1826, and other sermons.
Rev. Joy H. Fairchild, r. Autobiography and Remarkable Incidents, 1855.
A perfect sheaf of pamphlets were issued in relation to the offence imputed to him, and containing reports of the various in- vestigations and trials to which he was subjected.
Jeremiah Fellowes, n. Reminiscences, moral poems and trans- lations, 1824.
Charles L. Folsom, n. Oration before Handel Society of Dartmonth College, 1821.
Henry F. French, r. Treatise on farm drainage.
Dr. Selah Gridley, r. A volume of poems.
Rev. James Haughton, r. One or more sermons.
Rev. Hosea Hildreth, r. Discourse before Washington Benev- olent Society, 1813. Two discourses to townsmen, 1824. Book for New Hampshire Children, 1839, 5th ed.
Joseph G. Hoyt, r. Miscellaneous writings and reviews, 1863.
Mary W. Janvrin, n. Peace, or the Stolen Will, etc.
Rev. Henry Jewell, r. Dedication Sermon, 1846.
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HISTORY OF EXETER.
Caroline E. Kelly, n. Grace Hale, and other juvenile works.
John Kelly, r. Historical communications to various publica- tions.
Alexander H. Lawrence, n. Examination of Hume's Argument Against Miracles, 1845.
Rev. John C. Learned, r. Obituary Sermon on L. W. Leonard, D. D., etc.
Rev. Orpheus T. Lanphear, r. One or more sermons.
Rev. Charles Lowe, n. Sermons and various religious writings.
Rev. Benjamin F. McDaniel, r. One or more sermons.
Rev. Elias Nason, r. Sermons and other tracts.
Rev. Alfred C. Nickerson, r. Sermons, 1887.
Thomas Odiorne, n. The Progress of Refinement, 1794, etc. Rev. John Odlin, r. Sermons, 1725, etc.
[Woodbridge Odlin], n. Review of Result of Council, 1842.
Amos A. Parker, r. A Trip to the West and Texas, 1836.
Rev. Samuel P. Parker, r. One or more sermons.
Oliver W. B. Peabody, n. Poem on bi-centennial of New Hampshire, 1823. Address before Peace Society, 1830, etc.
William B. O. Peabody, n. Sermons ; and Memoir by his brother, 1849.
Robert F. Pennell, r. The Latin subjunctive, etc.
John T. Perry, n. Sixteen Saviors or One? 1879. The Credi- bility of History, etc.
Dr. William Perry, r. Address in behalf of Insane Hospital, 1834.
Rev. William F. Rowland, r. Election sermons 1796 and 1809, etc.
John S. Sleeper, r. Tales of the Ocean, 1842. Salt Water Bubbles, etc.
Jeremiah Smith, r. Eulogy on Washington, 1800. Bi-centen- nial discourse, 1838. Judicial opinions, etc.
William Smith, n. Remarks on Toleration Act of 1819, 1823. Remarks on the assassination of Julius Caesar, 1827.
Rev. George E. Street, r. Memorial discourse on Hon. Amos Tuek, 1880, etc.
John Templeton, n. Hand Book of Exeter, 1883.
Dr. Samuel Tenney, r. Papers in various historical and seien- tific publications.
Tabitha Tenney, n. Female Quixotism, or the Adventures of Dorcasina Sheldon, 3 vols., 1841, 5th ed. Domestic Cookery, 1808.
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HISTORY OF EXETER.
Oliver Welch, r. Arithmetic, 1812, several eds.
George A. Wentworth, r. Series of text books in mathematics.
Rev. John Wheelwright, r. Fast day sermon, 1637. Mercurius Americanus, 1645.
Charles E. L. Wingate, n. History of the Wingate Family, 1886.
This enumeration does not include several authors who were born, or lived for some time, in the town, but whose literary work cannot with reasonable probability be assigned to the period of their residence there. Such were Lewis Cass, n., Henry A. S. Dearborn, n., Timothy Farrar, r., Rev. Roswell D. Hitchcock, r., William Ladd, n., Charles Folsom, n., Dudley Leavitt, n., and others.
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CHAPTER XVI.
MILLS AND MANUFACTURES.
THE falls in the rivers were undoubtedly among the induce- ments which determined the location of the settlement of Exeter. Their immediate value as fishing places was no more fully recog- nized than their prospective importance as sources of water power for turning the wheels of mills.
The Exeter river afforded, in addition to and above the main falls at the head of tide water, at least five valuable mill sites within the original limits of the town ; and Little river, which empties into it, two, if not more, of less magnitude. Lamprey river also had large falls near its mouth, and lesser ones at other points of its course, while the Pascassic,* a branch of the Lam- prey, furnished water power which was afterwards utilized for two mills, at least.
The first mill in the town was for grinding grain, and was built by Thomas Wilson at the foot of the main falls on the easterly side of the island now reached by String bridge, near where a simi- lar mill stands to this day. That part of the stream which runs in the channel on the eastern side of the island was known as Wilson's creek. The mill site and the island, on which Wilson also erected his house, were granted to him by the town, probably in the very first season of their occupation, and before any formal records that we know of were kept. The evidence of this is found in depositions taken in the year 1651. Edmund Littlefield and Griffin Montague testified that " the inhabitants of the town of Exeter did give and grant unto Thomas Wilson free liberty to draw as much water from the higher falls as should sufficiently serve his turn at all times for his own use, either by digging through the rocks or by damming the falls ; and further the town did freely give and grant unto Thomas Wilson that island that his house stands upon ; only did reserve so much liberty for landing
* This name, we learn from Jenness, was early speit Pascassock. It has been modernized without improvement, into Plscassic.
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HISTORY OF EXETER.
their canoes and laying of fish." And John Compton and Robert Read testified that the town granted "to Thomas Wilson that creek or water course at the higher fall at Exeter to dig and draw that water he should stand in need of at any time without any limitation ; and also gave the little island by the falls on which his house and mill standeth." The "higher" fall refers, of course, to that farthest down the river and next to tide water; higher in altitude but lower in location.
Mr. Wilson naturally lost no time in improving his privilege by the erection of a mill, and we find that the town passed an order November 2, 1640, regulating " the miller's toll." He died in 1643, and his widow afterwards married John Legat ; but the mill went into the hands of his son, Humphrey Wilson, who had the charge of it for many years after.
Up to the year 1647 we have no account of any saw-mill being built in Exeter. Pipe staves and other kinds of small lumber manufactured before that time, were in all probability riven or split ont from the logs. The square timber was hewn with the axe, and the boards needed for home use were sawn in "pits," which were excavations in the ground, of the depth of six or seven feet. The log to be cut up was laid across the month of the cavity, and the long, two-handled saw was used by two men, one standing in the pit beneath the log, and the "top sawyer " monnted above it.
An ordinance of the town forbade the digging of saw-pits in places where they were liable to prove dangerous to man or beast.
THE FIRST SAW-MILL.
But in the year 1647 the town took a great step forward. An arrangement was made for the immediate construction of saw- mills, which would give a greatly increased valne to the abundant timber.
Edward Gilman, of Welsh lineage, emigrated from Hingham in Norfolk, England, to this country, with five children, in the year 1638, and settled in Hingham, Massachusetts. His eldest sou, Edward, thirty years of age, married, and a man of property and enterprise, came to Exeter in 1647 and proposed to become an inhabitant, upon certain conditions. The occasion was esteemed so important that an agreement in writing was entered into between him and the townsmen and principal inhabitants, of the tenor following :
.
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HISTORY OF EXETER.
4 November 1647. The agreement of the inhabitants of the town of Exeter.
Imprimis, That we do accept of Edward Gilman the younger to be a townsman amongst us, and do give and grant him liberty to set up a saw mill or mills in any river or within the liberty of Exe- ter, and to have the privilege of the river for the use of the mills, and of the pines for sawing, or masts or any other timber for sawing, to have the privilege of it within the liberty of Exeter.
2ly. The aforesaid Edward Gilman does engage himself to come and live as a townsman amongst them, and to setup a saw- mill by the last of March next ensuing, if he come, or at the furthest by the last of August next ensuing.
3ly. The said Gilman does engage himself to let the towns- men have what boards they stand in need of for their own use in the town, at three shillings a hundred, and what two-inch planks they shall need for flooring at the same price, and to take country pay at price current, if the mill shall saw it.
4ly. The said Gilman does engage himself that what masts he makes use of, to give them as much as if he sawed them into boards, and to a load haul ten hundred in every 3,000 to the town.
bly. Its agreed than Anthony Stanell [Stanyan] shall have liberty to put in a quarter part for a saw-mill provided he do make good his proportion or quarter part in every respect of charges as a partner, so that the work be not hindered by him ; if he do, to forfeit his share to the aforesaid Gilman and to pay what damages he shall sustain by it. For the true and sure performance of the same we do bind ourselves in a forty pounds sterling. In witness whereunto we have set our hands.
WILLIAM MOORE, townsman, EDWARD GILMAN. SAMUEL GREENFIELD, * NATHANIEL BOULTER, BALTHAZAR WILLIX, EDWARD HILTON.
Mr. Gilman at once took up his residence in the town and became a leading citizen. His father, Edward Gilman, Sr., and his two brothers, John and Moses, followed him to Exeter within the next five years, and his brother-in-law, John Folsom, in about twelve years. Edward Gilman, Jr., completed and put in opera- tion a saw-mill, according to his agreement, in the spring or sun- mer of 1648. It was on the west side of the river upon the upper fall near the present Great bridge ; and before June, 1650, he erected another saw-mill on the opposite side of the river. It is not known that Anthony Stanyan availed himself of the privilege reserved to him in the agreement with the town, of becoming a partner in the mills.
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Encouraged by this example, a number of the more enterprising inhabitants made application to the town for mill sites .. On April 22, 1649, Nathaniel Drake, Abraham Drake, Henry Roby and Thomas King, were empowered by the town to set up a saw-mill at Little river " with liberty of felling timber on the commons for the said mill, provided they come not for timber on the hither side of the river towards Mr. Gilman his saw-mill, whereby he may be damnified for want of timber." The terms of the grant were the same as those allowed to Edward Gilman, Jr., in respect to his mill. The locality referred to was probably that where the Little river crosses the road to Brentwood, which some of the sentimen- tal young people of a former generation denominated the " vale of Ovoca."
On the same April 22, 1649, liberty to set up a saw-mill was given to Edward Hilton, James Wall, John and Robert Smart and Thomas Biggs, on Pascassic river ; and to George Barlow, Nicho- las Listen, * Francis Swain, Nicholas Swain and John Warren, at the falls at Lamprey river ."a little above the wigwams." The terms in each case were the same as those allowed to Edward Gilman, Jr. Both these localities were probably in the present town of Newmarket.
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