USA > New Hampshire > Hillsborough County > Hollis > History of the town of Hollis, New Hampshire, from its first settlement to the year 1879 > Part 23
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
There were, appended to the foregoing articles the names of ninety-four youths and young men, all supposed to have been resi- dents of Hollis, and most of them sons of the carly settlers of the town. So far as can now be learned, the two youngest of the mem- bers were Ralph Emerson, a son of the minister, and Jesse Worcester, a son of Noah Worcester, each of whom in June, 1775, was in his fifteenth year. Among the oldest. were Daniel Emerson, Jun., who was a Captain in the war, and Nathan Blood, who was a Sergeant in the Hollis company at Bunker Hill, each of whom was then in his twenty-ninth year. Forty-eight, or more than one-half of the members of this fraternity were soldiers in that war, the most of them having been in the service the first year of it. The names of these soldiers are presented in the following list, thirteen of whom marked thus, (*) were in the Hollis company at Bunker Hill. Two of the thirteen, viz., Nathan Blood, aged twenty-eight, and Jacob Boynton, aged nineteen, were killed in the battle.
Samuel Ambrose, John Atwell, Jun.,
Andrew Bailey, John Ball, Nathaniel Ball, Daniel Blood, .Nathan Blood,
*Evan Dow, *Caleb Eastman
*James Mc Conner,
*William Nevins, Jun.,
Jonathan Eastman,
Elijah Noyes,
*William Elliot,
Enoch Noyes, Jun.,
Daniel Emerson, Jun.,
Thomas Patch,
Christopher Farley,
William W. Pool,
*Josiah Fisk,
John Philbrick,
--------
1
1
F
.
.
--
245
THIRD MEETING-HOUSE.
Benjamin Boynton,
Joseph French,
*Nahum Powers,
John Boynton,
Jacob Jewett, Jun.,
*Thomas Pratt.
*Joshua Boynton,
Jonathan Jewett,
Edward Taylor,
*Jacob Boynton,
Noah Jewett,
Jacob Taylor,
James Colburn,
Stephen Jewett, Jun.,
William Tenney,
Jotham Cumings,
Abner Keyes,
Amos Webster,
*Philip Cumings,
Asa Lovejoy,
*Noah Worcester, Jun.,
William Cumings,
Jonathan Lovejoy,
Jesse Worcester,
Joshua Davis,
Ephraim Lund,
Samuel Worcester.
THE THIRD HOLLIS MEETING HOUSE.
At the annual town meeting in 1799, an article was inserted in the warrant " To see if the town would build a new Meeting House or repair the old one." At that meeting the town " voted to build a new Meeting House in three years," and chose the fol- lowing committee to decide where it should be placed, viz., David Danforth of Amherst, Jeremiah Pritchard of New Ipswich, Jacob Blodgett of Townsend, James Brazier of Pepperell and Frederick French of Dunstable. The report of this committee was soon after made and formally accepted. At the same meeting Emerson Smith, David Smith and Benjamin Wright were appointed a com- mittee to report a "Plan " for the new house, which they did the same season-this plan, as appears, having been copied from that of the meeting-house at Billerica, which with some modifications was accepted and adopted.
The foregoing proceedings seem to have contemplated that the new meeting-house should be built at the expense of the town ; but at a town meeting in May, ISor, the town " voted to proceed with the building provided it could be erected without a Town tax " and then chose a committee to devise the means to effect it, and at the same time to pay the owners of pews in the old meeting-house the appraised value of their pews. This committee of " ways and means" consisted of Daniel Emerson, Esq., Noah Worcester, Jere- miah Ames, Daniel Emerson, 3d, William Brown, Solomon Wheat, Ephraim Burge, Amos Eastman and David Smith.
In the following September, this committee made a report (which was adopted) to the effect "that the town should choose a con- mittee to sell the pews, as described in the ' plan,' reserving a min- isterial pew, and every seventh pew below, and each fifth pew in the gallery, till the rest should be sold. If the sales should fall short of the cost of the house-the purchasers of the pews to make good the deficiency-if they should exceed the cost, the purchasers to have the excess in proportion to the amounts severally paid by
2.46
THIRD MEETING-HOUSE.
them." The committee afterwards chosen to make these sales con- sisted of Dea. Daniel Emerson. Benjamin Wright, William Ten- ney, Amos Eastman, and William Brown.
After the new plan was adopted, the town voted that the new house should be finished on or before November Ist, 1803, but af- terwards voted to extend the time one year longer. At the annual . town meeting in March, IS04, the town instructed the building committee to take down the old house at the expense of the pur- chasers of the pews in the new house, and also voted that the .* new house might be finished with a tower and steeple if it could be done without expense to the town." The foregoing was the last town meeting held in respect to the building of the third meeting-house.
This new mecting-house (built as is supposed) substantially after the model of that at Billerica, was finished in the fall of 1804. It continued to be occupied, as originally constructed, without mate- rial change outside or inside, till the year 1849, when its west end was turned around to the south-its south side to the east. and the whole building remodelled. renovated, and altered substantially to the condition i ;? which it now is.
Hundreds of people still living have a vivid remembrance of it as originally constructed and finished. It stood upon the same spot with the first meeting-house built in Hollis more than sixty years before, the main building being sixty-eight feet long. east and west, and fifty-four feet wide north and south. It was two stories in heiglit. well clapboarded and painted white, with windows of twenty-four panes each of glass. nine inches by twelve, on its sides and ends, and porches on its two ends and south side. with a wide door in each porch opening into the main building or audience room. The east porch was of two stories with entrance doors on the cast and south sides, with a stairway ascending to the east or women's gallery. The south porch was of but one story with out- side doors on its east. south and west sides. The west porch was also of two stories, with stairs to the west or men's gallery, and sur- mounted with a belfry, cupola and steeple. All of the outside doors of the porches had well finished steps or stairways of hammered stone for ascent to them, and those at the east and west porches were each furnished at one end with a neatly finished and convenient horse-block of the like hammered stone.
The pulpit stood at the middle of the north wall of the audience room, facing south, with stairs on each side of it, and the seats for
.
247
THIRD MEETING-HOUSE.
the four deacons. and the communion table hung on hinges directly below. in front. the central broad aisle leading to it from the inside door of the south porch. There was in front of the deacons' seat an ' aisle extending east and west across the audience room. separating the north wall pews, from two ranges of long free seats for the aged and deaf, one-half of these free seats being east of the broad aisle, for women-the other half west of that aisle. for men.
The pews were six feet long. east and west. and five feet wide. neatly panelled and painted. the partitions between them being fin- ished at the top with a miniature balustrade. There were in all ninety-five of them. of which sixty-eight were below and twenty- seven in the gallery. There was a single row 'of them next to the wall on the lower floor. with a step or stair in front of each pew. all raised a foot or more above the outside aisles leading to them. which with the wall pews. extended around on the two sides and both ends of the audience room. Of these wall pews there were ten, (including those in the corners.) on each of the north and south sides of the lower floor. and six at each end. Of those on the sides five were on the east and five on the west side of the south door, and five on the right side. and five on the left of the pulpit. Of those at the ends, three were on each side of the east and west doors.
The intermediate space between the four outside aisles. (includ- ing the long seats for the aged. ) was occupied with six rows of six pews each. all parallel with the broad or central aisle-there being three rows on each side of it -- the east and west rows of the six be- ing separated from the others by a narrow alley leading from the south aisle to the long seats for the aged.
The gallery. supported by round. wooden. well painted Ionic columns was finished in front with panel work, and a heavy cornice. and extended around on the south side and east and west ends of the audience room. with a range of pews next to the walls, eleven of them being on the south side and eight at each end. with aisles lead- ing to them. The front part of the south gallery was appropriated to the singers. The front part of the east gallery, not occupied by pews. was furnished with long. unpainted free seats for women, and was known as the " women's gallery." The corresponding portion of that on the west end was provided with the like kind of free seats for men and known as the " men's gallery."
The pews were all provided with panelled and painted doors hung on hinges, and with wide, hard uncushioned seats on the side
-----
248
PHILANTHROPIC SOCIETY.
facing the pulpit, each about two feet long, and also with like seats in the corners, all also hung on hinges. In those times, the wor- shippers, as was the custom, stood during prayers. When they rose their seats were all lifted up and turned back against the sides of the pews. At the close of each prayer the " amen" of the minister was the signal for carelessly dropping the seats again to their places with a noise and rattle not unlike a musketry salute of a raw, poorly drilled militia company. Some of these pews were supplied with flag-bottomed arm chairs for the grand-parents, and most of them with long, narrow " leaning boards," so called, to be placed length- wise of the pews in front of the occupants as they sat, upon which they might rest their listless heads, when their " drowsy powers" got the better of their interest in the services. The top ceiling of the audience room was slightly arched and painted of a light sky blue, with a dark, angry, portentous thunder-cloud in its north west corner. With but few if any exceptions, there were no blinds to the windows on the outside to protect the patient audience from the heat and sun in summer, nor curtains nor shades on the inside- nor stoy's nor furnaces to soften the cold of winter. The principal substitutes in winter for these last modern luxuries, were warm fur muff's and tippets for the hands, arms and necks of such of the gentler sex as could afford them, and thick socks of fur or wool for the feet, but more than all the small tin hand stove with its little basin of bright coals and ashes carried in the hand to the pews by the younger members of the family and kindly and quietly slipped around from one pair of cold feet to another.
No sound of a church-going bell was ever heard from the belfry of this meeting-house till 1821. In that year a subscription was raised by the people of the town of near $740 for the purchase of one, and a bell weighing 1263 lbs. bought and hung the same year. This bell proved to be of a very fine tone, but about twenty years afterwards it was unfortunately cracked, and taken down and sold, and the one now in use procured by a like subscription and hung in its place.
THE HOLLIS PHILANTHROPIC SOCIETY.
On the 15th January, ISor, thirty or more of the citizens of Hollis, interested in the maintenance of the ministry in the Con- gregational society, met for the purpose of devising a " plan" for its permanent support without taxation. At that meeting, a preamb
-
249
PHILANTHROPIC SOCIETY.
was reported, adopted and signed by them, expressive of their wishes and purposes, a substantial copy of which with the names of the signers, is here presented, as follows :
*
" Considering the gospel of Jesus Christ the sole foundation and source of happiness to man, * *-- and that this gospel should be re- spectably maintained and publicly taught in such way as will most harmoniously tend to promote public tranquility and individual piety, -we the subscribers, inhabitants of the town of Hollis, do here- by associate ourselves together under the name of the " Hollis Philanthropic Society" for the purpose of devising, according to the best of our ability, some plan for the perpetual support of the gospel in the town in which we live, and although we dare not promise ourselves a speedy accomplishment of our purposes, yet we view it of such consequence to the well being of society that we deem it an object highly worthy of our attention, and that we can- not transmit to posterity a more valuable legacy." Signed,
Noah Worcester, John Ball,
William Tenney,
Daniel Emerson, Jun.,
Benoni Cutter,
Benjamin Wright,
Stephen Jewett,
Wilder Chamberlain,
David Holden,
E'hraim Burge,
Jesse Hardy,
Amos Eastman, Jun.,
.athan Colburn,
Jesse Worcester,
Reuben Flagg,
Thomas Farley,
Daniel Lawrence,
Eli Smith,
Nathan Holt,
James Bradbury,
William Ferguson,
Daniel Emerson, 3d,
William Merril!,
Aaron Bailey,
Solomon Wheat,
Josiah Conant, Jun.,
Samuel Smith,
David Smith,
William Brown,
Enos Hardy,
David Burge,
David Hale,
Timothy Lawrence.
At that meeting a committee, consisting of Daniel Emerson, 3d, Noah Worcester, Jesse Worcester, Stephen Jewett, and Ephraim Burge, was appointed to prepare and report a plan and rules for carrying into effect the objects of the association. These proceed- ings, with the report of this committee finally resulted in procuring from the General Court an Act of Incorporation, authorizing the association to raise funds by donation and contribution, the income of which (as contemplated) might permanently support the minis- try in this church and society. The association began its operations for the objects proposed the same year, and has continued in exis- tence, under its original and amended charters, from that time to the present.
The original charter provided that when the funds of this asso- . ciation should reach the sum of $7,000, five-sixths of its income should be paid to the Selectmen of Hollis for the time being for the support of the gospel in this church and society. In 1831. the
250
BENEVOLENT ASSOCIATION.
original charter was altered, authorizing the association. when its funds should amount to $3,500, to pay to the standing committee of that society twelve-thirteenths of its yearly income. In the year IS32 the invested funds of the association, having increased to $3,536. the association that year paid $200 of its income for the support of the ministry in that society, and continued to pay the like sum yearly till 1849,-from 1849 to 1854, $250 per year. Since 1854, the average annual amount so paid has been near $267. It appears from the annual report of the association. made in Jan- uary IS7S, that its permanent fund, including interest. had increased to $5.703.95.
THE HOLLIS BENEVOLENT ASSOCIATION.
If the amount of the contributions in money of the Congrega- tional society in Hollis in aid of the various charitable and reli- gious enterprises of the day does not equal that of some other larger and more wealthy societies in the county, still it is believed that in this respect its good name will not suffer in comparison with most of them. In January, 1836. a charitable organization was formed, composed of its leading members. which then adopted the name, and has since been known. as the " Hollis Benevolent As- sociation." It appears from the written Constitution of this asso- ciation. that it was one of its main purposes, by means of a single organization. in place of several. to furnish material aid to each of the charitable religious enterprises of the day. in which the members of this association felt interested. These enterprises included the Bible Society. Foreign and Domestic Missions, the Tract. Educa- tion. and Sabbath School Societies. It is shown by the accounts of its doings, kept in the records of this association. that the amount in money contributed to its objects for the first six years of its exis- tence, was $3.644. being at the rate of $607 per year. It also ap- pears that the amount raised by it from 1853. to 1869. (being six- teen years of the pastorate of Rev. Dr. Day) was very nearly equal to an annual average of $500, and making an aggregate of $7.794-
THE HOLLIS FEMALE READING AND CHARITABLE SOCIETY. .
This association composed of ladies belonging to the Congrega- tional church and society was formed in the year IS29. and has been in active operation from that year to the present. It appears from its Constitution, then adopted, that its leading objects were the pro-
----
-
251
FEMALE CHARITABLE ASSOCIATION.
promotion of social intercourse, mental culture and improvement, and active and worthy charities. Its regular meetings were to be held during the entire year on the first Thursday afternoon of each month, and while listening to some useful and instructive reading by one of its members, the time of the rest was to be occupied in working for some object of beneficence to be approved by a majority of them.
The records of the doings of this society have been. from year to year, neatly written out and kept for near half a century. One of the primary objects of its charities seems to have been to aid the un- fortunate, deserving poor at home. but the amount of its benefactions bestowed in this way does not appear in its records. nor in the early years of its existence was the annual report of its treasurer recorded at all. Still. though the record of its good works is thus incomplete. vet it is shown by the report for 1878 of its present secretary, Mrs. Jefferson Farley, that it appears from these records that more than $1,000 have been received by the society, mainly from self-imposed taxes and fees for membership. Aside from its home charities and work, the objects of the bounty of the association have been many and various, including in them. Home and Foreign Missions and Missionaries. the Seaman's Friends' Society. the Home of the Friendless in New York city. and the New Hampshire Orphan's Asylum, at Franklin. As the fruits of the labors and beneficence of these busy and faithful workers, boxes filled with clothing, bedding. and other valuable articles for household use have been made by them and from year to year forwarded to their destination in aid of the charitable enterprises above named. of the aggregate appraised value of $3.305.
THE HOLLIS BAPTIST SOCIETY. :
It appears from the published minutes of the Boston and New Hampshire Baptist Association, that a Baptist church existed in Hollis as early as 1791, and that in the years ISio and ISH it num- bered forty-nine members, but I do not find that the society then had either minister or meeting-house. As those " minutes" contain no report of any Baptist church in Hollis between ISHI and 1836 it is to be presumed that the church first formed. was dissolved soon after ISII. But it is within the recollection of many persons now living. that between the years 1816 and 1823, Rev. Benjamin Paul, a very worthy colored Baptist minister, had charge of a small Baptist
#
252
BAPTIST SOCIETY.
society composed of members living in part in the east part (! Hollis and partly in Dunstable. No record of this society is known, to exist and it is supposed also to have been dissolved.
After 1823 no Baptist society is known to have been formed in Hollis till March 31, 1836, when a new society of that denomina- tion was organized, and the following officers then chosen, viz .. William N. Bradstreet and Amos Hagget, Directors ; William F. Burrows, Clerk; William N. Bradstreet, Treasurer, and .1st Jaquith, Collector. The church was formed June 6, 1837, then consisting of twenty-eight members, and took the name of the "First Baptist Church in Hollis." The Deacons of the church at that time chosen were Abraham Temple Hardy and Amos Hagget. In April 1841, on the removal of Dea. Hardy from the town, Dea. Leonard W. Farley was elected in his place. The church from the time of its formation continued to increase, from year to year, till September 1843, when it consisted of one hundred members, with a Sabbath school of one hundred and twenty pupils. After 1843, its numbers gradually diminished. The clergymen who have acted as pastors of the church have officiated in the following cruer : Rev. Phineas Richardson, Rev. Daniel P. Deming, Rev. H. W. Dalton, Rev. Bartlett Pease and Rev. George B. Bills. In the year 1838 this society built a convenient and substantial meet- ing-house, on the east side of the Hollis common, with fifty pews, and at a cost of $2,000.
Rev. Mr. Richardson is said to have begun to preach in Hollis the year before this society was formed, and was a popular, faithful and successful pastor of the church for about twelve years. He was born in Methuen, Mass., February 2, 1787, and was self educated, with the exception of studying for a few months with Rev. Dr. Chaplin of Danvers. He was ordained to the work of the ministry at Methuen, in IS17, and was for some years afterwards employed as an evangelist, but for eighteen years next previous to his coming to Hollis he was pastor of the Baptist church in Gilmanton. N. H. Mr. Richardson resigned his pastorate in Hollis on account of feeble health and removed to Lawrence, Mass. His last pastorate of four years was at New Hampton, N. H. Died at Lawrence, January 25, 1860, in his S3d year.
Mr. Richardson was succeeded in the pastorate at Hollis by Rev. Mr. Deming who supplied the pulpit for about six years, till the year 1854, when he removed to Goffstown, and was pastor of the
--------
---
-
-------
-
1
253
BAPTIST SOCIETY.
Baptist church at Goffstown for the next four years. Upon his re- moval from Goffstown he became the pastor of the Baptist church at Cornish, N. H. for the next seven years. Mr. Deming (1879) now resides in Plainfield, N. H. He was succeeded in Hollis by Rev. Mr. Dalton, who officiated as pastor for about two years, and upon his removal the church was supplied for a short time by Rev. Mr. Pease, who was succeeded by the Rev. Mr. Bills, the last minister of the society, for about a year. For the last sixteen years, the church has had no minister or stated preaching, and in the year 1869, in pursuance of a vote of the society, the meeting-house, built in 1838, was sold. taken down and removed to Nashua.
2
254
MUNICIPAL HISTORY.
CHAPTER XXIII.
PARISH OFFICERS OF WEST DUNSTABLE FROM 1739. TO 1746 .-- OFFICERS OF THE DISTRICT OF DUNSTABLE PROM 1742 TO 1746 .- FULL LISTS OF THE TOWN OFFICERS OF HOLLIS FOR THE FIRST. AND THIRD YEARS .- MODERATORS OF THE ANNUAL . TOWN MEETINGS .- TOWN CLERKS .- TREASURERS AND SELECT- MEN FROM 1746 TO IS7S.
PARISH OFFICERS OF WEST DUNSTABLE.
First Election January 2, 1739-40. O. S.
Abraham Taylor, Moderator.
Stephen Harris, Treasurer.
Abraham Taylor, Assessor. Benjamin Farley, Auditor.
Peter Powers,
Moses Proctor,
Benjamin Farley,
Abraham Taylor, Com. to run Parish lines.
Moses Proctor, Collector.
Peter Powers,
..
Thomas Dinsmore, Collector non-resident
Thomas Dinsmore,
Taxes.
Second Election, March, 1740-1, O. S.
Peter Powers, Moderator.
Thomas Dinsmore, Treasurer.
Abraham Taylor, Clerk.
Stephen Harris, Parish Committee.
Benjamin Farley, Assessor.
Thomas Dinsmore, "
=
Willam Colburn,
Peter Powers, =
Jerahmael Cumings,
David Nevins, Collector.
Third Election, March 4, 1742-3, O. S.
Abraham Taylor, Moderator.
Eleazer Flagg, Assessor.
Abraham Taylor, Clerk. Enoch Hunt,
Peter Powers, Coilector. Jonathan Danforth
Abraham Taylor, Assessor.
Thomas Patch,
Fourth Election, March, 1743-4, O. S. ₡
Samuel Cumings, Moderator. John Boynton, Clerk. John Boynton, Assessor. Samuel Cumnings, =
Jonathan Danforth, Assessor. Jerahmael Cumings, Treasurer. Sephen Harris, Collector. Henry Barton,
255
DISTRICT AND TOWN OFFICERS.
Fifth Election, March 12, 1744-5, O. S.
Samuel Brown, Moderator. john Boynton, Assessor. Thomas Patch,
Jerahmael Cumings,
John Boynton, Clerk. Elias Smith, Treasurer. Josiah Blood, Collector. Stephen Ames,
OFFICERS OF THE DISTRICT OF DUNSTABLE, FROM 1742 TO 1746.
The district of Dunstable, as we have stated, (pp. 44, 45, ante.) was organized by'the New Hampshire General Court in March, 1742, for the purpose of assessing and collecting province taxes, and com- prised all the territory afterwards embraced in the towns of Dun- stable, Hollis. Merrimack and Monson, as chartered in April. 1746. The meetings for the choice of district officers appear to have been held, alternately, in the East Parish of Dunstable, and at the old or first meeting-house in West Dunstable. The district officers chosen at these meetings were, a Moderator, Clerk, Assessors and Collec- tors, and were about equally divided in respect to residence, between the East and West Parishes. Of the officers named in the lists below, Blanchard, Harwood, Lovewell, Lund and Parker lived in the East Parish. and Boynton, the two Cumings, Hunt, Proctor, Smith and Taylor in West Dunstable, now Hollis.
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.