USA > New Hampshire > Hillsborough County > Hollis > History of the town of Hollis, New Hampshire, from its first settlement to the year 1879 > Part 5
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It seems, however, that all these non-residents did not acquiesce in the justice of this law so cheerfully as they might have done. As an instance of their dislike to it, we find that in 1744S Col. Prescott's heirs were taxed under it the considerable sum of £48 138. 4d. for the support of preaching they could not hear, and that they had had an article inserted in the warrant for the town-meeting asking for an abatement of this tax. In response to this petition, as the record states it. .. It was put to vote to see if the Town would Ease Col. Prescott's Heirs of any part of their Land Tax, and it was passed in the negative."
To me. at least, as a native of the town, and one of the descendants of these worthy people, their names and memories are sacred. "All their failings leaned to virtue's side. " Their ashes have slept for near a century in peaceful and honored graves, and the foot of the stranger who knows their worth would tread lightly upon them. I have made these extracts from their annals with no irreverent or unfilial feeling, but to illustrate some of the differences between the laws, customs and sentiments that prevailed among good and Chris- tian people in New-England one hundred and twenty years ago, and those upon the like subjects under whose influence the last two gen- reations have been educated.
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1739 to 1746.] PREACHING FROM 1739 TO 1743. 49
PREACHING BEFORE THE SETTLEMENT OF THE FIRST MINISTER. AND THE MANNER OF PROVIDING IT.
The new parish had no settled minister till the spring of 1743 .- more than three years after date of the charter. In the mean time the inhabitants had manifested a very commendable zeal in their efforts to comply with the laws in respect to the support of the min- istry. At their first parish meeting, as we have seen, a committee was chosen "to provide Preaching till the following April." In the month of March previous. " Samuel Cumings and Eleazer Flagg" were commissioned "to provide Preaching and Entertainment for the minister for the next three months." In July. 1741, it was " voted that Abraham Taylor and Peter Powers have the non-resident money for the current year to pay Mr. Underwood and Mr. Towle * and to procure Preaching till the first of January next, if the money shall hold out. " In September, 1741, the first article in the warrant for a meeting then held, was " to see whether it be the minds of the People to do any thing towards the Bringing forward the Settling of a Larned and Orther Dox Minister in this Parish." And in Feb- ruary. 1742. it was " Voted That any Person who shall hereafter Entertain any Minister for this Parish shall have paid to him Eight Shillings for one Sabbath day and 20' a Week if he stay longer."
DOINGS OF THE PARISH PREPARATORY TO THE SETTLEMENT OF THE FIRST . MINISTER.
At a parish meeting held in October. 1741. before it was publicly known that any part of the town of Old Dunstable was on the wrong side of the province line. it was voted,
Ist. "That Stephen Harris. Abraham Taylor & Peter Powers be joyned in Committee with Benjamin Farley and Samuel Cumings to take some proper Measures to bring forward the settling of a Larned and Orther Dox Minister in this Parish as soon as conveniency will alow."
2d. .. That said Committee be directed to observe the following in- structions. viz .. That they wait upon the Rev. Mr. Trobridge, Mr. Hemmingway, and the Rev. Mr. Bliss and Mr. Swan and desire their assistance in keeping and solemnizing a Day of Fasting and Praver in this Parish and Seeking the Direction of Heaven in the affair. "
3d. " That said Committee should make their Address to said Ministers for their advice and Direction what Ministers to apply our- selves too to Preach with us on Probation. " (4)
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5
50
PREACHING FROM 1739 TO 1743. [1739 to 1746.
At a parish meeting Dec. 28, 1741, among the accounts presented and allowed were the following :
" Voted to alow Abraham Taylor -
"For Entertaining Ministers at the Fast £3. 00. 04.
" For Entertaining Ministers Five Sabbaths £2. 00'. 0d."
The warrant for this meeting was the last in which the words "Middlesex ss." were written in the top margin. It soon became known to them that the parish of West Dunstable was not in the county of Middlesex, that their charter, as a legal instrument, was worthless, and that there was no law by which the minority of the inhabitants could be bound by the votes of a majority. Embarrassed by the decision in respect to the new line and the loss of their charter, our ancestors did not falter in their effort to bring forward and settle a " Larned and Orther Dox Minister." With this end, and others in view, the inhabitants, as we have said before, met in February, 1742, and petitioned the General Court of New Hamp- shire for a township charter. No other public meeting of the in- habitants was held till the 17th of January, 1743, near a year after, when they came together by common consent, and by mutual agree- ment in their personal and individual capacity, invited the Rev. Daniel Emerson, the candidate of their choice, to become their min- ister. As I think the proceedings of this meeting and of that which next followed, cannot fail to interest others as well as myself, I have taken pains to transcribe the substance of them from the record.
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THE CALL OF THE SOCIETY, ANSWER OF THE CANDIDATE, HIS SETTLEMENT AND SALARY, AND THE WAYS AND MEANS OF PROVIDING IT.
"Att a meeting of the Inhabitants of the West Parish in Dunsta- ble regularly assembled January 17, 1742. 3. Abraham Taylor chosen moderator.
" Unanimously voted and chose Mr. Daniel Emerson for their Gospel Minister to take the Pastoral care of the Flock of Christ in said Place. Also,
" Unanimously voted and agreed to give said Mr. Emerson (on condition of his acceptance) for and toward his Settlement £400. common currency or £roo of the Massachusetts last Emition. Also
" Unanimously voted to give said Minister for his yearly Sallery. During his Ministry in said Place such a certain sum of Bills of Credit as will be equal to fifty Pounds of the Massachusetts last Emition (new). Also,
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51
1739 to 1746.] SETTLEMENT OF MR. EMERSON.
" Voted to give Thirty Cords of Fire Wood, Cord Wood Length att said Ministers Door yearly, Also,
" Voted and chose Abraham Taylor, Samuel Brown, Enoch Hunt, Eleazer Flagg, Samuel Cumings, Peter Powers, William Colburn, Stephen Harris and Robert Blood to wait upon said Mr. Emerson and communicate unto him the minds and Proposals of said Parish and desire his answer therein in convenient time.
" In testimony whereof we have hereunto set our hands the Day above said."
SAMUEL BROWN
BENJ. BLANCHARD
DAVID LOWELL
ABRAHAM TAYLOR
ZEDEKIAH DRURY
THOMAS NEVINS
ENOCH HUNT
PETER POWERS
THOMAS PATCH
WILLIAM SHATTUCK
JONATHAN DANFORTH
NATHANIEL BLODGETT
WILLIAM COLBURN
SAMUEL FARLEY MOSES PROCTOR
STEPHEN HARRIS
WILLIAM ADAMS JOHN BROWN
ELEAZER FLAGG
NICHOLAS FRENCH DANIEL KENDALL
BENJAMIN FARLEY.
ZERUBBABEL KEMP
JOSIAH BLOOD
JEKAHMAEL CUMINGS
PETER WHEELER
WILLIAM NEVINS
SAMUEL CUMINGS
JOSIAH BROWN
SAMUEL DOUGLASS
DAVID NEVINS
WILLIAM BLANCHARD
JOSEPH MCDANIELS
JOSHUA WRIGHT
HENRY BARTON
JAMES MCDANIELS
JAMES STEWART
NATHANIEL BLOOD
JAMES WHITING
STEPHEN AMES
ELNATHAN BLOOD
JOSEPH FARLEY
ROBERT BLOOD
Making in all 43 names.
The parish committee were prompt in communicating the fore- going call to Mr. Emerson, and on the 4th of the following March a meeting was called to consider his answer. which was entered upon the record as follows :
" To the Inhabitants of the West Parish in Dunstable,"
" Whereas it has pleased the Great God (who has the Hearts of all men in his Hands) - to dispose and incline your hearts to invite me to take the oversight of you and to Labour among you in Word and Doctrine as appears by a vote preferred to me by the Committee. bearing date Jan. 17, 1742. 3, I have from that time taken that im- portant matter into the most close consideration and have asked the best advice and am (after many and great difficulties in the way) come to this conclusion without Hesitation viz. :
" If you will fullfill your Promis as to the £400 Settlement in old Tenor. only that the one part of it be in Forty Acres of Good Land. near and convenient to the Meeting House, firmly and forever con- vaied to me, and the other Part to be paid in Bills of Publique credit within a year from the date of this Answer -- And that for my vearly Sallary you give me such a certain Sum of Bills of Publique credit yearly, as shall be equal to 150 ounces of coined Silver, which
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52
SETTLEMENT OF MR. EMERSON. [1739 to 1746.
is the sum you propose -together with Thirty Cords of Wood Cord Wood Length delivered at my Door - And after your Parish "Town or District shall by the Providence of God be increased to the number of 100 Families (and not desired or expected till then) you make an addition to my yearly Sallary of five ounces of coined Sil- ver per year till the same shall be equal to 200 Ounces of coined Silver - there to abide till the number of your Families arise to 150 ---- and then to Raise Five Ounces of Coined Silver per year till it arrives at 210 Ounces of Coined Silver -and there to abide and be no more, which is equal to 270. of the Massachusetts last Emition - Always expecting the Thirty Cords of Wood - And that these Several Sums or Sum be continued to me. so long as I continue a Ghospel Minister over you -- Always and in an espetial manner expecting that you will be Helpers with me by Prayer ----
"Now if these before mentioned conditions be freely and volun- tarily acted on and secured to me-as you promist in the call - then I as freely and willingly accept of the call and freely subscribe myself yours to serve in the work of the Ghospel Ministry During Life.
" Dunstable West Precinct March ye 4th 1743. ". DANIEL' EMERSON."
The record continues. " It was thereupon Voted and agreed to accept the Terms Mr. Emerson proposed in his answer bouth as to settlement and sallary - Also Voted that Samuel Brown, Abraham Taylor, Peter Powers. Eleazer Flagg and Samuel Cumings be a committee to consult with Mr. Emerson in the choice of a council."
On the same day and at the same meeting. as it appears in the record. a mutual additional agreement was entered into by the tax payers, and signed by most of them, with a preamble setting forth the reasons that made this new agreement necessary, the important parts of which are as follows :
". Whereas his majesty by the late determination of the Northern Boundary of the Massachusetts has left us the Subscribers. Inhabi- tants of the Westerly part of Dunstable out of the Province to which we always supposed we belonged. and under whose Laws we Exercised the Privileges of a Parish - but by the said de- termination it is supposed by some that said Inhabitants are Dis- qualified to make any Act, Agreement or Determination by a ma- jority of voters as they otherwise might have done that should be Effectual to compel Persons to pay their honest Proportion of all
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بعمر
53
1739 to 1746.] CONTRACT WITH MR. EMERSON.
such Rates and necessary charges that shall arise in calling settling and maintaining a minister.
.. Now therefore that we may Enjoy the Benefit of the Ghospel ordinances amongst us we have come into the following agreement and obligation viz."
The contract with Mr. Emerson is set forth in this new agree- ment, verbatim, and the record then continues as follows :
.. Allso agreed that in the Payment of the Ministers Settlement & Sallary the assessors hereafter to be chosen Proportion such a cer- tain part thereof to each Pole that when the Remainder thereof shall be levied upon Each Persons' Real and Personal Estate, agreeable to the Rules of the Massachusetts Province' that the highest Payer upon Estates shall be equal to a single Pole." * *
.. To the Performance of the aforewritten agreement. we hereby covenant and oblige ourselves in the Penal sum of froo, till such time as this society be incorporated a distinct Town or Parish."
Thirty-seven names were signed to this agreement. some of which were not upon the call. This agreement, as will be readily seen, was a voluntary compact. entered into by those who signed it as their best expedient for the lack of a town or parish charter.
Some other matters suggested by this contract between Mr. Emerson and his society are worthy of a few passing remarks, as illustrating the laws. customs and prevailing sentiments of the times as well in civil as in church affairs.
Ist. It was agreed in this contract that the new minister for the present should receive for his yearly salary 150 ounces of coined silver, or their equal value in bills of public credit, the paper money of that day, and also 30 cords of wood. When the number of families in the society should reach 100, five ounces per year were to be added. till the salary should amount to 200 ounces. and it might afterwards be increased to 210 ounces.
The oz. Troy, used in weighing the precious metals. contains 4So grains. The American silver dollar contains 412 1-2 of those grains, making the value of the oz. of silver coin $1. 14: 150 oz. = $171 : 2000Z. == $228 : and 210 oz. == $239.40. in standard federal coin.
Mr. Emerson was ordained April 20. 1743. and he continued a faithful, venerated and popular minister of that society till Nov. 27, 1793; a period of more than fifty years, without a change, " or wish to change his place." At the latter date the Rev. Eli Smith. who
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CONTRACT WITH MR. EMERSON. [1739 to 1746.
had married his grand-daughter, was settled as his colleague, Mr. Emerson retaining one-half of his salary till his decease, Sept. 30, 1801, at the age of $5 years.
During that long period the salary of the minister, in accordance with the tenor of their contract, was assessed upon the inhabitants of the town at the annual March meetings, and always voted, so far as appears from the record, without dissent or opposition. As we have seen, in the acceptance of the proposals made to him by the society, Mr. Emerson closed his answer with the words, " Yours to serve in the work of the Ghospel ministry during life." We have in the pas- torate of Mr. Emerson. an apt illustration of what was understood by our ancestors 130 years ago, by the settlement of a minister in a country town in New England, " during life."
2d. We have seen that the society in their proposals to the candi- date agreed to give him such a sum in bills of public credit as would be equal to £50 of the " Massachusetts last Emition." This Massa- chusetts last emission was, at that date, the latest issue of paper money by that province, one pound of which. at that time, was worth $3.33 in coin. but like all paper money was very liable to de- preciate. Not intending that the value of his pastoral services should depreciate, as paper money might, Mr. Emersonin accepting the call. with somewhat of worldly wisdom, not to say Yankee shrewdness. took occasion to translate this £50 in paper money into its equivalent at the time in hard cash. By this thoughtful caution, he secured to himself for the following fifty years and more, a fixed hard money basis for the value of his parochial duties, a basis ever afterwards re- spected by the people of the town.
The variable and uncertain value of the paper money in use in New Hampshire, as shown by the town records, from 1741 till near the revolutionary war, and also during that war, is the best commentary upon the caution and foresight of Mr. Emerson in mak- ing his contract as he did. The General Court of Massachusetts first issued bills of credit. as money, in 1690, of which a fac simile is to be found in the Historical Collections of that state for the year 1863. In the year 1748 that province had its bills of credit in circu- lation, issued at different times, to the nominal amount of £2,200,000. These bills of credit at that time had so depreciated that ft in silver was equal in value to fit in paper. About that time this paper money was redeemed at that rate (eleven for one) in Spanish dollars. which had been received from England in payment of the services
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THE OLD TENOR PAPER MONEY.
1739 to 1746.]
of the Massachusetts troops, at the siege and capture of Louisburg, ir 1745. . But in New Hampshire, from 1741 to 1765, there appears to have been very little if any metallic money in use as a medium of exchange. As shown by the town records, the taxes for all pur- poses, during that period, were assessed and collected in some sort of paper money. Even the names by which the various kinds and issues of this currency were known at the time, are to most of the present generation an unsolved riddle.
Among these names we shall find on the records : "manufactory bills." "Mass. old tenor," "N. H. old tenor," "Mass. new tenor," "N. H. new tenor," " Mass. new emission," "N. H. new emission," "lawful money," &c., &c. ; all apparently differing in value as well as in name.
Prior to 1760 the number of families in Mr. Emerson's society had not increased to one hundred, consequently he was not yet entitled to an increase of his salary beyond the value of 150 oz. of silver, or of that of the £50 of the Massachusetts last emission, as it was at the time of his settlement.
For the payment of this salary (equal as we have seen to $171 in federal money), we find that the inhabitants were assessed, in the years named. below, the following sums in the paper money then in use. 1753, £777. 105. 6ª. O. T. 1760, £404. 9. 84. Mass. O. T 1761. £415. 6 .. N. H. N. Tenor. 1763, £447. 158. 6ª. N. H. O. T. 1770, £67. 138. 8d. L. M. or silver money. In the year last named paper money appears to have gone wholly out of use. The like variation in the value of this currency is shown in the prices fixed for the thirty cords of wood to be furnished yearly to the minister. This wood was commonly assessed upon the tax payers from year to year in kind, each of them being required to furnish at the minister's door a certain number of feet. If not delivered at the time fixed by vote of the town. the delinquent was to pay for it at a price voted at the previous March meeting. The price of a cord of wood fixed in this way for different years was: for 1748, £I. ; 1750, £2. 10'; 1760. £6. ; 1770, 3'. 64. lawful or silver money, equal to fifty-eight cents.
3d. We shall also find, by examination of these records, that the mode of assessing taxes at that time, and the way in which they were apportioned between polls and estates. were radically different from our modern views and usages.
We have seen. in the agreement entered into among themselves by the members of Mr. Emerson's society, that by mutual consent
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THE OLD TENOR PAPER MONEY. [1739 to 1746.
1
they fixed upon a basis of taxation, as to polls and property. which. as stated in that instrument, " was agreeable to the rule of the Mas- sachusetts province." This rule was to the effect. that the tax for the support of the minister should be so apportioned among such as had real and personal estate and those subject to a poll tax only, in such way that a single poll tax should be equal to the highest tax on property. In other words, the whole amount of the property tax of the richest man in the town could be no more in amount than twice the poll tax of the poorest who was taxed at all. Under the law of Massachusetts, as we have before seen, male persons were subject to a poll tax at eighteen. and the same law was at the time in force in New Hampshire.
In illustration of this rule of taxation. I will cite an example or two. The first tax after the ordination of Mr. Emerson was for £35. assessed to pay for the entertainment of the ordaining council. Of that sum, £27, 65 .. or more than three-fourths of it, were assessed upon fifty-seven persons as a poll tax, and the balance, less than ES. upon property.
The next tax was for £635, 9s. 6d. for Mr. Emerson's settlement and salary for the first year. Of that sum. £4IS, gs. 6d. were assessed as a poll tax on sixty-two persons, or about two-thirds of the whole.
As in taxes assessed for other purposes. so in those for the support of the ministry, there was no law for the exemption of the person or property of any one except by vote of the town. The law in this respect appears to have been in full accord with popular sentiment. and the majority of the people were sufficiently tenacious of their legal rights under it. As an instance of public sentiment upon the question, we find that as late as 1785, Mr. Edward Spalding had an article inserted in the warrant for the annual March meeting: " To see if it were the minds of the people to exempt his estate from min- isterial tax, for the reason that he belonged to the Baptist denomina- tion." This question being submitted to the meeting, " the minds of the people" found expression in the following clear and emphatic terms : " Voted. that the estate of Edward Spalding shall not be freed from minister's tax for the time past, present, or to come."
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CHARTER OF HOLLIS.
CHAPTER IV.
`1746 TO 1750 .- CHARTER OF HOLLIS, ETC. - ORIGIN OF THE NAME. FIRST TOWN MEETING. - SECOND MEETING HOUSE. -- PEW GROUND AND PEWS. - CARE OF THE MEETING-HOUSE. - LAND TAX. - SINGING. ETC.
The district organization of all that part of old Dunstable lying north of the new Province line, and west of the Merrimack river, con- tinued unchanged from 1742 till the spring of 1746. This district organization. as we have seen, was for the single purpose of assess- ing and collecting Province taxes. Early in the year 1746, the Governor and Council, with a view to the division of this district into townships, appointed five Commissioners to examine the ter- ritory and to report in what way it could be best subdivided into township corporations.
At the last public meeting of the inhabitants of West Dunstable, held Feb. IS. 1746. John Boynton, Thomas Dinsmore, and Benja- min Parker were appointed a committee on the part of the people to meet those Commissioners and to represent to them the wishes of the settlers in West Dunstable in respect to the proposed incorpor- ations. These Commissioners convened at the East parish. They were waited upon there, as is said, by the Committee from West Dunstable and requested to visit and view the west part of the Dis- trict ; but the Commissioners declined going any farther to the west. In pursuance of the report of this commission, the district of Dun- stable was very soon divided and incorporated into the four townships of Dunstable, Holles. Merrimack and Monson. With the exception of their boundaries, the charters of these townships were substan- tially alike, those of Dunstable and Monson, being dated April 1, that of Merrimack, April 2. and that of Hollis, April 3. 1746.
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CHARTER OF HOLLIS.
[1746 to 1750.
CHARTER OF HOLLIS.
" Province of New Hampshire.
Seal
George the Second, by the Grace of God of Great Brit- ain, France and Ireland, King, Defender of the Faith, &c.
" To all to whom these Presents shall come. Greeting.
" Whereas sundry of our loyal subjects, Inhabitants of a Tract of Land within the Antient Boundary of a Town called Dunstable in our Province of New Hampshire, on the Westerly Side of Mer- rimack river, herein described, Have Humbly petitioned and re- quested of us that they may be erected and incorporated into a Township and Enfranchised with the same Powers, Authorities and Privileges which other Townships in our said Province have and. Enjoy.
" And it appearing to us to be conducive to the General Good of our said Province as well as of said Inhabitants in particular, by main- taining Good order and Encouraging the Culture of the Land that the same shall be Done. Know ye therefore that Wee of our Spe- cial Grace, certain Knowledge and for the Encouragement and Pro- moting the Good Purposes and Ends aforesaid ; - By and with the advice of our trusty and beloved Benning Wentworth, Esq., Gov- ernor and Commander in Chief, and of our Council for said Pro- vince. have erected, incorporated and ordained. and by these Pres- ents for us and our Heirs and Successors Do will and ordain that the Inhabitants of the Tract of Land aforesaid, bounded as follows viz., Beginning at Nashaway River where the Northerly Boundary Line of the Province of Massachusetts Bay crosses that River : Then running North Eighty Degrees West on said Line Six miles and Ninety Six Rods ; Then North by the needle on Dunstable An- tient Head Line four Miles and one Hundred and Forty Rods ; Then South Eighty Degrees East by the Needle to Muddy Brook ; Then by Muddy Brook into Flint's Pond ; Then by Flint's Brook to Nashaway River ; Then by Nashaway River to the Place Where it first began : And (they who) shall inhabit the same be and by these Presents are declared and ordained to be a Town Corporate and are hereby Erected and Incorporated into a Body Corporate and Cor- poration to have continuance forever by the name of Holles With all the Powers and Authorities, Privileges. Immunities and Fran- chises Which other Towns within our said Province or any of them
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