USA > New Hampshire > Cheshire County > Jaffrey > History of the town of Jaffrey, New Hampshire, from the date of the Masonian charter to the present time, 1749-1880 : with a genealogical register of the Jaffrey families, and an appendix containing the proceedings of the centennial celebration in 1873 > Part 8
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Abner Howe, M. D. [See College Graduates.]
Adonijah Howe, M. B., son of Dr. Adonijah and Sarah (Ripley) Howe, studied medicine with his father, attended medical lectures at Hanover, and received the degree of M. B. in 1812. He began practice in Jaffrey, and contin- ued the same till 1815, when he died. He was a man of promise.
Luke Howe, M. D. [See College Graduates.]
Darwin C. Perry, M. D., born in Orwell, Vt., April 22, 1807 ; came to East Jaffrey about 1832 ; removed to Wood- stock, Vt., in 1836, and was connected with the medical college as a lecturer, when he died Nov. 22, 1837. He was a man of talent, and would have been a distinguished phy- sician if his life had been spared.
Amasa Kennie (Dr.) came to Jaffrey soon after the death of Dr. Luke Howe in 1841, and remained there in practice till 1850, when he removed to Vermont ; married ; one child, Charles E., died Jan. 21, 1845, aged 2 years, 4 months, 6 days.
Stephen L. Richardson (Dr.) settled in East Jaffrey as a physician about 1836; after a short practice his health failed and he left town, and died soon after ; last tax, 1841 ; married, Sept. 22, 1840, Mary Ann Bullard.
Roderick R. Perkins (Dr.) was his successor at East Jaffrey about 1842 ; after a short time of practice he died, Feb. 11, 1853, aged 36 years ; married Eliza Smith, daugh- ter of Samuel Smith, of Peterborough ; one child, Ida L., died Nov. 26, 1862, aged 11 years.
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Dr. Andrew J. Gibson was in town in 1852-3-4.
Gurley A. Phelps, M. D., a native of Vermont, graduated from the Castleton Medical college in 1848. He began practice in Hancock, Vt .; removed to Jaffrey in 1849, where he has since remained in the successful practice of his profession. He married, April 10, 1851, Adaliza, daugh- ter of Benjamin Cutter, Esq., who died June 3, 1852, leaving one child, Grace Mina, born April 12, 1852 ; married, second wife, Nancy B. Stoughton, of Gill, Mass. ;- three children, Charles S., born 1860; Mary E., born 1863 ; William S., born 1868.
Oscar H. Bradley, M. D., was born in Vermont in 1826 ; studied medicine with Dr. Amos Twitchell, of Keene ; re- ceived the degree of M. D. at Dartmouth college ; settled in East Jaffrey about 1851. He soon acquired an extensive practice, and has become a leading physician in this sec- tion. He has accumulated in his business a large amount of property, and is a prominent man in the town. He was an active leader in the railroad enterprise, and is one of the directors. He is also a director in the Monadnock National Bank, and president of the Monadnock Savings Bank.
DISTINGUISHED MEN.
Extract from a sermon preached by Rev. Leonard Ten- ney, at the funeral of the Rev. Laban Ainsworth, March 20, 1858 :
The Rev. Laban Ainsworth was born in Woodstock, Conn., July 19, 1757. By his parents he was early consecrated to God in Christian baptism. When a mere child, by reason of a severe sickness, he lost the use of his right arm. It was ever after a weak and withered limb. As he was thus partially disabled from prosecuting the ordinary business of active life, his parents cheerfully consented to his obtaining a collegiate education. Accordingly he was fitted for college ; and, after remaining some weeks at Hanover, he entered the sophomore class at Dartmouth in 1775. At the end of three years he graduated, and then commenced the study of theology.
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It was on Commencement day, in 17SI, that a committee ap- pointed by this town met him in Hanover and engaged him to preach. Late in the summer of that year, he began to officiate in his sacred calling with this people. The First Congrega- tional church in Jaffrey was then in its infancy, it having been organized May 18, 178o. It is not difficult to understand how acceptable he was at this early day to the citizens of the town, when we read the expressive language of their official acts. At a town-meeting, called December 17, 1781, it was " Voted, to hear Mr. Ainsworth longer." "Voted, to hear Mr. Ainsworth till he can conveniently go his journey and then return to this town." At another public town-meeting, held April 23, 1782, there is this record : " Voted, to hear Mr. Ainsworth upon pro- bation, in order to give him a call." At a town-meeting, July 8, 1782, "Voted, unanimously, to concur with the church and give Mr. Laban Ainsworth a call to the work of the gospel ministry in this town." They pledged him " as a salary, annu- ally, £70 as long as he shall be the minister of this town." They also proffered him " liberty to visit his friends twice each year, of two Sabbaths each time, if he accepts the call that is given him." These were the final conditions of the settlement. On the 10th of December, 1782, an ecclesiastical council was convened " to afford assistance in setting apart " the candidate " for the work of the gospel ministry." After hearing the parties and examining the candidate, the council adjourned to the following day, when, upon reassembling, they proceeded with the ordination services. Thus it appears that in these in- troductory movements, neither the town nor the candidate was in haste. It was not till he had preached here three or four months that the hearers took any vote on the question of his staying. Nor was it till four months later that they expressed a desire that he should remain as a candidate for settlement. By this time they were cherishing a desire to retain him, so that when he had been with them almost a year, the differing sentiments of the people becoming more and more united, they were prepared to give him a unanimous call to become their pastor. Here is manifest a careful deliberation which gave promise of a permanent ministry. Nor was that promise un- fulfilled, for he has been the minister of this church more than seventy-six years and a half. During nearly half a century he was without a ministerial helper ; but since that time three young men have been associated with him as colleagues, and been dismissed : and now the senior pastor is dismissed, and called to his rest.
Though I have not been summoned before you to-day to pro- nounce his eulogy, I should do injustice to my own sense of
8
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duty were I wholly to forbear speaking of his worth. In doing it very briefly, I must confine myself principally to what I have known of him during the last thirteen years. What impressed me first was his peculiarly venerable appearance. He was then 87 years of age. He had a full, muscular frame, a head slightly bald, with snowy white locks hanging over his shoulders, and a dress corresponding with his age, yet reminding one of a generation for the most part passed away.
What I next observed was his affable and courteous man- ners. He was graceful in his movements, social in his nature, and always ready to make a fit reply to whatever might be said. Though he knew well how to utter the language of severity, how to administer a just rebuke, how to make a keen and sarcastic criticism, yet he greatly excelled in the power to please and instruct in the social circle. The gentle- ness of his manner of receiving company, of welcoming them to the hospitalities of his home, of taking leave of them at their departure, is what many of us delight to remember ; and to the young minister who labored by his side during these thirteen years, he manifested the kindness of a father, with the forbear- ance and courtesy of a constant friend.
I early noticed, also, his peculiar simplicity and propriety in the use of words. He rarely hesitated for a choice of language, and the very expression which was wanted came at his call. This gave him great ability to amuse, to inform, to impress, or to influence the human mind. Nowhere else was this perti- nence in the choice of language so observable as in his prayers, and conversations on the subject of religion. To this fact my attention has often been called by the aged people who long waited on his ministry.
He was evidently a man of intellectual strength and sound judgment. Even amid the infirmities of age, there were per- ceptible distinct signs of a former greatness.
It has been gratifying to notice that with the gradual weak- ening of his intellectual powers, he has steadily maintained a fondness for the doctrines and precepts of God's word. When incapable of taking any care of his temporal concerns, he would express a sensible opinion in what relates to the kingdom of God. And when his intellect became so enfeebled that he could not speak connectedly on ordinary topics, he would offer prayer with no wandering or repetition, and impart Christian counsel with correctness. And when his memory so failed him as to become wholly untrustworthy concerning passing events, he would repeat passages of Holy Writ without mistake.
We have noticed that he was a man remarkably guiltless of affectation himself, and intolerant of it in others. In conversa- tion, he rarely alluded to what he had done, or to what he had
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been. Whatever we learned from him of his personal history was the result of a direct effort to call him out. He was no egotist, nor was he so much inclined to speak of his own thoughts and emotions as would have been agreeable to his friends. Hence a stranger, or a visitor for the day, might find no direct access to his inner life and experience. Of his indi- vidual relation to God he always spoke with much caution. He discovered such perfect holiness in his Maker, and so much imperfection in himself, that he thought, should he ever be ad- mitted into the home of the holy, it would be through the infi- nite riches of divine grace, in Jesus Christ. I have seen him when lying so ill that both he and ourselves thought his re- covery doubtful. On such an occasion I once inquired of him, " Is the gospel which you have preached to others now pre- cious to you?" He replied, "It is, and I hope to be saved through it." Last June, as the Cheshire County Conference of Churches was about to meet in Rindge, I inquired of him what message he would like to send to the good people at that meeting. After a little thought, he said, "Tell them I am going steadily down towards the end, but not without hope."
We love to remember the tenderness of his affection towards his brethren in the ministry, and his strong desire that they should maintain in their ministrations the integrity of divine truth. He felt that we were in danger of setting too little value on the form of sound words, and of accommodating our style of preaching to the standard of the age rather than to that of the Bible. He used to say,-" We want in the pulpit plain, sound doctrine, even if men scorn it. It is better than some pleasing error that shall lead the soul to ruin." The Bible has been his daily companion in the house of his pilgrimage. For years that book, in the French language, was the solace of his hours of solitude. Whenever it was not in his hand it always lay upon the table beside him. And when his eyes grew dim, he has felt the need of having members of his family spend hours each day in reading to him. During the last two years we have seen increasing evidence that he was approaching the end of his earthly course. But on the 19th of July he was able to meet us in this house, while we attempted to celebrate his one hundredth birthday. Since then, the decay of his faculties has been more rapid. His physical strength has failed, and his in- tellect become shattered ; and although, in his weakness, he durst not confide in the truest and most faithful of his earthly attendants, he never, for a solitary moment, lost confidence in God. And when his memory became so enfeebled that he could not recall the names of his nearest kindred, nor recognize the countenances of his most familiar friends, he did not forget
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the name of Jesus, nor did he cease to speak of him in the lan- guage of affection. But the close, so long delayed, has at length arrived. The last struggle in his warfare is past, the last step in his pilgrimage has been taken, the last effort to keep the faith in this world of trial is over. On Wednesday, the 17th of March. at the age of one hundred years, seven months, and twenty-eight days, he turned away from the scenes of his earthly conflicts, to take possession of the awards which the Lord, the righteous Judge, had prepared for him. His end. was peace. On the Saturday before his death he led the devo- tions of the family in prayer. In this, his final audible petition at the throne of grace, he sought a special blessing on himself, and on her who has had the particular care of him for many years. The day before his decease he signified a desire that she should read to him, when he listened with eagerness to the 90th and 103d Psalms. From that time he remained in a state of perfect quietness through the following night, when, at six o'clock in the morning, without the least manifestation of pain, he fell asleep.
" Life so sweetly ceased to be, He lapsed into eternity."
ABEL PARKER.
Hon. Abel Parker, son of Samuel Parker by his second wife, Mary (Proctor) Robbins, was born in Westford, Mass., March 25, 1753. At the age of fourteen he removed with his father to Pepperell, Mass., and was enrolled in 1774 in Capt. John Nutting's company of minute men, attached to the regiment of Col. William Prescott. On the 19th of April the alarm was given that the British troops were marching into the country, and Nutting's men were collect- ed as soon as possible to oppose them. Parker was plough- ing in the field about a mile from the house, and did not re- ceive the alarm in season to start with the company, but, on hearing it, he left his oxen in the field unyoked, ran home, seized his gun and Sunday coat and started upon the run, passed the Groton companies, and reached his own at Gro- ton ridges. The company was too late to share in the glory of that day ; but on arrival at Cambridge, Parker
Abel Parham
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enlisted in the same company, under Col. Prescott, until January following, and was stationed at Cambridge.
On the evening before the battle of Bunker Hill, a de- tachment was ordered to take that place. Parker was not included ; but he was so desirous of participating in active service that he gave his ration of spirit to a comrade, and obtained by exchange a share in the battle, in which he re- ceived a severe wound in the leg from a musket-ball, which his descendants still possess. The ball passed between the bones of the leg without breaking either, and was flattened to nearly one half of its original diameter. He remained in the fort till orders were given to retreat, when, with the aid of two soldiers, he left the field amid a volley of bullets which killed a man on each side of him, and one passed through his shirt. With the aid of those men he continued his retreat till he reached the guard, who refused to let his men pass till persuaded of the impossibility of his going without aid, when he let one of them accompany him.
On pursuing his way to Cambridge, he came to a chaise in which were two wounded men. He seated himself on one of the shafts, and in that way was carried to Cambridge, while the soldier who so faithfully assisted him returned. It was always a matter of regret that he did not learn the names of those men who so faithfully assisted him. In two months he recovered from the effects of his wound, served the remainder of the time for which he enlisted, and then returned to his farm in Pepperell.
In July, 1776, he enlisted as a sergeant in Capt. Job Shattuck's company, Col. Reed's regiment, of Littleton, to serve at Ticonderoga. While there he formed one of a party for the purpose of storming a British fort at Putman's Point. But the British retreated, before their arrival, to Crown Point, and from thence to Canada. When his term of ser- vice ended he returned to his farm, and married Edith, daughter of Jedediah Jewett, of Pepperell, October 14, 1777,-a religious woman, of vigorous intellect and marked
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character. After his marriage he again enlisted into mili- tary service in Rhode Island and New York, and held com- missions as ensign and lieutenant.
On the 5th of May, 1780, he removed to Jaffrey, and set- tled on lot 20, range I, at that time an unbroken forest, and cleared his farm himself with such assistance as he could obtain. He resided on this farm till 1807, when he re- moved to the centre of the town,-leaving his son Asa the farm,-where he spent the remainder of his days, living to the age of 78 years. He was a man tall and stately in appearance, dignified in his manners, grave in his deport- ment, and had a commanding influence that but few men possess. He held many offices of dignity and confidence in town and state; represented the town several years in the legislature ; judge of probate twenty years ; sat in the convention which adopted the Federal constitution ; voted for John Quincy Adams in the electoral college of 1824.
In 1812 he was appointed post-master, and discharged the duties of that office for five years. He was also a re- ligious man, and in 1780 made an open profession of his faith ; was a life-member of the N. H. Bible Society, N. H. Missionary Society, Tract Society, and the Cheshire County Bible Society.
ISAAC PARKER.
Hon. Isaac Parker was born in Jaffrey, April 14, 1788, and died in Boston May 27, 1858. At the age of nearly 15, Jan. 31, 1803, he entered the country store of David Page and Luke Wheelock, at Jaffrey. After remaining there a period of three years, he removed, Aug. 29, 1806, to Middle- bury, Vt., still in the employ of the same firm. After the death of Mr. Wheelock the business of the store there was prosecuted under his immediate supervision until he attain- ed his majority in 1809. He was then established in busi- ness with Samuel Smith, in Keene. The firm name there
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was Parker & Hugh, his active associate being one Dr. Hugh, of Keene.
The term of Mr. Parker's residence in Keene included the three years of the second war with England, and we might expect that the son of his father would feel moved by the military impulse of the times. Accordingly we find him connected with the Keene Light Infantry, an independent company, of which he was commissioned captain, June 7, 1813.
Sept. 12, 1816, he was commissioned brigade major and inspector of the 5th brigade N. H. M. It is said that his inspections were rigid and careful beyond precedent. Col. Marshall P. Wilder yet remembers that, on his first parade as a private soldier, Major Parker inspected the detachment.
November 17, 1812, Mr. Parker married Sarah, daughter of Rev. Laban Ainsworth and Mary (Minot) Ainsworth, by whom he had four sons and four daughters, two of whom were born in Keene.
In 1817 he left Keene, and commenced his business life in Boston as a partner with Silas Bullard, under the firm name of Bullard & Parker, at 31 Central street, but soon withdrew, and, associating with himself Mr. Jonas M. Mel- ville, the firm of Isaac Parker & Co. was formed, for the transaction of a commission business for the sale of Ameri- can goods at 6 Broad street.
As a clerk with Page & Wheelock Mr. Parker had ob- served the first germs of the American manufacturing in- terest, and a considerable part of his business at Keene had consisted of manufacturing and selling domestic goods. In 1810 he was present at the starting of the Peterborough Factory, of which he was then part owner, and in which he retained an interest through life. The embargo and the war which succeeded it gave a forced impetus to American manufacturing, and many factories which seem now exceed- ingly small, but which were then of considerable import- ance, sprang into existence. Until the close of the war the
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demand for the products of these factories was sufficient to ensure their ready sale at the works ; but when foreign com- petition became possible, more efficient means were required to distribute these products.
The Boston Directory for 1817 contains the names of two firms (Samuel Adams & Co. and Gilman Pritchard & Co.) described as dealers in American goods ; and that for 1821, the next of which any copy is extant, contains the titles of five firms similarly described, including that of Isaac Parker & Co. The concerns that preceded them proved quite ephemeral; but that which Mr. Parker estab- lished in 1819, under the style of Isaac Parker & Co., and continued as Parker & Blanchard (Abraham W. Blanchard), Parker, Blanchard & Wilder (Hon. Marshall P. Wilder), Parker, Wilder & Parker (William A. Parker), and Parker, Wilder & Co. (Samuel B. Rindge, Ezra Farnsworth, and Francis J. Parker), still continues under the latter title the business which he founded ; but the amount of the sales of one of those earlier years has often been exceeded by the business of a single day in the later history of the house. To sell by the single piece or " bolt" was the rule at the first, the sale of an entire package the exciting ex- ception. The space occupied for a salesroom on Broad street was not greater than that included by the counting- rooms of the present firm.
Although devoting himself to business interests and fam- ily affairs, Mr. Parker did not refuse to bear his part in pub- lic duties when summoned to them. He was a member of the Common Council of the city of Boston in 1824-5-6, again in 1832, and yet again in 1838-9-40, serving on the Standing Committee on Finance, and in the last two years as chairman on the part of his branch of the Joint Commit- tee on the Introduction of Water,-a matter at that time of the highest interest in the politics of the city. Jonathan Chapman (mayor in 1840) was second on this committee in 1839. Mr. Parker served also three years as a repre-
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sentative from Boston in the House of Representatives of the Massachusetts legislature, 1830-1, 1831-2, and 1842. He was a director in several business corporations, one of the original trustees of Mt. Auburn cemetery, trustee under the mortgage of the Sullivan Railroad in New Hampshire, and for the last sixteen years of his life president of the Traders' Bank. His death was the result of an accident, by which he was thrown from his carriage ; and thus, after a brief illness, and without any of that failing in faculties which often precedes and clouds the closing years of men's lives, he passed from earth into paradise, and is now with God.
The Honorable Marshall P. Wilder, who knew Mr. Par- ker from early life, and who was associated with him as a partner for more than twenty years, in a note to the present writer thus sums up the character of his friend :
As a merchant and citizen of Boston, the memory of Isaac Parker will be cherished by all who knew him. In all the relations of life, whether public or private, he had the reputa- tion of a high sense of honor and unbending integrity. His moral, political, and religious sentiments were matters of fixed and controlling convictions. He was always anxious to do right and to be just. He was very considerate, conservative, and cautious, but having come to a conclusion, he was as im- movable as the granite hills of his native state. He was very industrious, systematic, and punctual, and dispatched business with facility, but never without deliberation. He had at heart the best interests of humanity, and was ever ready to bestow his influence for the improvement of those around him. He was eminently a peace-maker, never having controversies, if possible to avoid them, and was anxious to do to others as he would have them do to him. Mr. Parker was remarkable for the uniformity of his character, and he will long be remem- bered in the annals of Boston as one of her distinguished mer- chants, as one of her pioneers in the traffic in domestic fabrics, and as one notable for his integrity, firmness, and good judg- ment,-in short, as an enlightened merchant and a Christian gentleman.
F. J. P.
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LEVI SPAULDING.
The subject of this sketch, Rev. Levi Spaulding, was born in Jaffrey, Aug. 22, 1791. He was one of eleven children. His father, Phineas Spaulding, being one of the earliest set- tlers in the west part of the town, had originally built a log hut, but, at the time Levi was born, had removed from that into a frame house, consisting of two rooms and an unfin- ished attic. As the boys grew old enough, one half of this attic was appropriated to them as a sleeping apartment, and many were the jokes emanating therefrom. One particu- larly stormy night they tried their powers at rhyming, when Levi perpetrated the following, which was received with shouts of applause by the rest :
"The howling blast sweeps o'er the roof While I'm secure within, While in the bed I warm my hoof And out of bed my chin."
He was early noted for fearlessness and determination. If his mind was made up, it was almost impossible to alter his decision or let any obstacle prevent the accomplishment of his plans. At the age of five or six, he with his father and brother Daniel was in the fields one day, when a young colt, that had never been broken either to harness or saddle, came near them. His father stood a few minutes rubbing the loose hair from the colt, when Levi begged to be put upon his back. Not thinking but what he could easily take him off, the father complied. No sooner did the colt feel the boy's weight upon his back than he sank nearly to the ground and coming up with a bound, started on a run round the pasture. Nothing daunted, Levi clenched his hand into the colt's mane and resolutely held on until he had run twice to the bars and back again, a distance of about a hundred rods, when, finding he could not throw the boy, he came to Mr. Spaulding's side (who stood pale with affright)
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