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 9
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DISTINGUISHED MEN.
and permitted him to take the child off. When about ten or twelve, his father slipped upon the door-rock while rolling in a large back-log for the fire, and broke his knee- pan. This, of course, disabled him for a long time. Ed- ward, the oldest brother who was at home, was at the time sheriff for the county, and consequently obliged to be away a great many days ; therefore the care of about twenty horned cattle, thirty sheep, five or six pigs, with two or three horses and colts, devolved upon Levi and his brother Daniel, neither over fourteen. In 1808 or 1810 he was studying with Rev. John Sabin, of Fitzwilliam, preparatory to entering Dartmouth college, which took place about 18II ; he remained there four years, and graduated in 1815 ; he graduated from Andover in 1818. In May, 1819, he was married to Miss Mary Christie, of Antrim, sister to Daniel M. Christie, one of his classmates, and since then quite a prominent lawyer in Dover, N. H. "June 8, 1819, they embarked on board a vessel bound for Ceylon, where they arrived Dec. 1, 1819; arrived at Oodooville, June 15, 1820; Manipay, Aug. 25, 1821 ; Tellipaly, Aug. 25, 1828 ; Oodooville, March 8, 1833 ; and commenced the American Ceylon Mission, Madura, in India, in the year 1834." In August, 1865, he writes,-" By the grace of God the marble at Brother Oliver's grave made a missionary of me" (refer- ring to an older brother who was drowned while in college at Dartmouth). In another letter, dated Jan., 1862, we find the following :
Until Mr. Knight left us in 1838, I had considered myself a simple Tamil preacher. I had even then prepared the Village School Book series which were then and since in use. When Brother K. left, I was requested to compile a purely Tamil Dictionary. This was done in the short space of about three years, and published in 1842. I then worked day and night. As soon as that was through the press, I was requested to prepare the English and Tamil Dictionary, which I did with the same diligence and success. This left the press in 1843; and a new edition of this was prepared soon after my return in 1847, and left the press in 1852. Soon after this I was engaged
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HISTORY OF JAFFREY.
in revising our Tamil Bible. In the mean time I wrote tracts, as my preaching tours suggested, now about fifty in all. I then, from time to time, prepared the manuscript for a Tamil Union Dictionary ;- this is all but two or three sheets through the press, and will, I think, be the last great work I shall attempt of this kind. I have almost never lost a day by my own sickness since I have been in India. My great object is to keep unto the end my original consecration, and to live and labor and rest with those to whom I was sent by Him who called me.
In May, 1872, he writes to his brother Daniel,-
I still remember old times, when you and I were students under Father Sabins ; when you decided to provide for your- self, and I, a poor homespun boy, dreamed of filling Oliver's place at college. Had I known the world as now I know it, my heart would have failed me. I knew I had not his talent, but my love and respect for him stimulated me to try; so I worked my way through college. Then the Lord took me up, and his command, "Go teach all nations," sent me to Jaffua, Ceylon, among a people I had never heard of, a people of a strange speech and stranger customs. Idols, though a vanity and a lie, were the objects of worship and superstition. Not a real Christian native in the land, nor a Christian book, and but one or two native women who could read. Here I have been ever since 1819-20 (save the three years when on Mary's ac- count I visited America). When I came all our roads and highways were either foot-paths, or gutters for the waters to run in and off. People were lazy, given to and fond of wick- edness and lawsuits, and the revenue was very little. Now the mud house is exchanged for stone or brick. Agriculture then was neglected, but now old fields are cultivated, and new wells dug, and new gardens occupied. Roads checkering the whole district are macadamized, so that the bandy wheel runs as smoothly as on an iron rail. Most of the men can read, and some hundred women have been educated. Now, we have dictionaries and a pretty good supply of common-school books, and a good stock of Bibles and tracts, with religious reading, all in Tamil. Hundreds can speak English, or, more probably, thousands. We have well educated native pastors, lawyers, doctors, engineers, interpreters, and overseers, besides many writers in courts and cutcheries. Now, Daniel, you need not think that I have done all this, but I have lived to see it, and have taken a part in some of these branches. In all I have done, dear Mary has been my right-hand man, both in counsel and in work ; has done more and suffered more than I.
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Praised be God for the assurance that those who die in the Lord are not lost : " their works do follow them."
They had two children, who were early sent to this coun- try to be educated. Their son, Edward M., found a home with his uncle on the old farm at Jaffrey, and eventually went South as a physician, where he died about the close of our War of the Rebellion. Their daughter, Mary Elizabeth, was adopted by a Mr. Abbott, and finally married one of the Abbott family, who have written so many pleasant histories for the young. Many other letters, received from time to time, express the same interest in the cause to which he de- voted his life and all he had. On the 18th of June, 1873, he passed away, and we copy the following from a paper printed at Ceylon :
It only remains that we should say a few words on the clos- ing scene. Mr. Hastings writes,-" You will be sorry to hear that Mr. Spaulding is no more with us. He died yesterday, the 18th, at about 10:30 A. M. He had been confined to his room for about two weeks, though he had been gradually fail- ing for months. His end was peace. He retained his faculties until about an hour before he breathed his last. His has been a wonderful life. For more than fifty-three years he has been laboring as a missionary. During that time he visited Amer- ica but once, and was absent about three years. If he had lived until August he would have been 82 years of age. Mrs. Spauld- ing is sustained in this affliction, is calm and resigned, patient- ly waiting for the summons to call her to join him, with whom she so long lived and labored, in the heavenly home." "He was buried in a coffin that was made of planks, kept by himself in his godown, since the year 1842, for the purpose, with his initial and date, showing his willingness and readiness to meet his Creator." Another correspondent writes,-" The good old man passed away with a smile on his face. The coffin was borne to the grave by twelve native ministers, and they, as well as the large attendance of their Christian countrymen present, are not likely to forget venerable Father Spaulding's last charge to them, delivered through Mr. Howland on that solemn occasion : 'Consecrate everything that is yours to Christ, and ask nothing in prayer which you will not devote to Him.' Truly, with such words before us, and in the face of the exam- ple left by Levi Spaulding, we may feel that ' he, though dead,
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HISTORY OF JAFFREY.
yet speaketh' to all who may hear of him and his work, no less than to his missionary brethren and his adopted country- men."
After his decease his wife resided with the family of Rev. E. P. Hastings, Batticotta, until her death, which took place Oct. 28, 1874, a little more than a year after that of her ven- erable companion.
Extract from a memoir of Hon. Joel Parker, LL. D., by Emory Washburn, Bussey professor in Dane Law School :
The subject of this notice was born in Jaffrey, N. H., whose history he commemorated by an address on occasion of the cen- tennial celebration of its settlement, in 1873. His birth occur- red Jan. 25, 1795. His father was an early settler in that town, having removed there from Pepperell, Mass. He was of that class of intelligent and independent farmers from whom have sprung so many of the leading and influential men of New Eng- land. He was himself a leading man in the county in which he resided, and, among other places of honor and trust, held the office of Judge of Probate for that county. One of his sons was a prominent lawyer in Amherst, N. H., and also held the office of Judge of Probate in that county. It was in his office that his brother Joel read law as a student.
Joel Parker was graduated at Dartmouth college in ISHI, in the same class with Chief-Justice Shepley, of Maine. He was admitted to the bar in 1815, and established himself in practice of the law in Keene. The rank he early attained in his profes- sion may be inferred from his appointment to the bench of the Superior Court of New Hampshire in the year 1833. In 1838 he was promoted to the place of chief-justice of that court, and held the office until 1848, when he resigned it, and in the same year became a professor in the law school of Harvard Univer- sity. He resigned this place in 1868, and from that time till his death, August 17, 1875, he was actively engaged in the management of his own business affairs. These were the only offices of importance which he held at any time, except of that of a representative for two years in the legislature of New Hampshire, and of a commissioner for revising the statutes of New Hampshire, and a like service in Massachusetts ; though it should be added that he held the professorship of Medical Jurisprudence in Dartmouth college from 1845 to 1857, and a like professorship in the Medical College of New York, and gave one or more courses of lectures upon the Constitution in
.
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Dartmouth college, and in the Columbian Law School in Wash- ington. His official honors, as well as duties, it will be per- ceived, were connected almost entirely with law and its admin- istration. His Alma Mater conferred upon him the degree of LL. D. in 1837, and Harvard in 1848. He was a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and in 1859 was elected a member of the Massachusetts Historical Society, which he held till his death.
We have said that his life was a busy one; and, though he left no one considerable work to indicate the extent to which he contributed to general literature, or that of the law, the number of his publications, if collected, would form several good-sized volumes. The number and extent of his judicial opinions, while occupying a seat upon the Bench, are in them- selves an evidence of his unwearied diligence in the thorough- ness of his investigations, and the fulness and clearness with which he prepared and published these opinions. Such was the case, also, while connected with the law school, as was shown by the number of special and occasional lectures upon subjects connected with the topics of which he was treating in his regular courses, which had assumed more than ordinary importance from the circumstances of the times. Several of these were afterwards published, and are valuable as able and original discussions of the matters of which they treat. So, as a member of the Historical Society, his contributions to its proceedings were able, interesting, and exact ; always thorough, and, as far as possible, exhaustive.
His thoroughness of investigation rendered him a safe and reliable contributor to the resources of local history ; and among the last of his contributions to this class of literature was the address, of which we have spoken, on the occasion of the centennial celebration of his native town, in 1873, in which the freshness and playfulness of forty run through the pages which he penned when close upon the confines of fourscore. Nor do the publications mentioned embrace all the elaborate and well-considered productions of his pen. But they are sufficient to justify the qualities of diligence and thoroughness which have been ascribed to him, as characteristics of his habits of thought and life. A perusal of his published works, including his opinions as a judge, would enable one to go deeper into the character of his mind than can be done in a brief biography, and detect some of the sources of that power and efficiency which he brought to bear upon any subject in which his judgment and convictions were enlisted.
As a judge, he listened patiently and courteously, and formed his judgments after careful, thorough, and impartial examina-
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HISTORY OF JAFFREY.
tion of the whole subject before him. He borrowed no opinions upon doubtful matters at second hand, but went over the necessary processes of analysis and generalization for himself, till he came to a conclusion which satisfied his own understanding. And, when he had reached that point, he never stopped to ask how it chimed in with the present popu- lar sentiment, or the traditional notions of the past. If he believed, upon investigating for himself, that these were mis- taken, he did not hesitate to say so in terms of unequivocal significance. And when, in the performance of an official duty, it became necessary to act up to his convictions, it mat- tered little with whom or with what power he found himself at issue. He had too much self-respect to forget what was due to courtesy in the manner and language of a discussion, but it was not difficult to understand that he knew no compromise with right and duty.
The numerous opinions which he has left in the published volumes of the reports of the court of New Hampshire, many of them calling for a high measure of sound learning and pro- found analysis, when taken in connection with the uniform testimony of the bar of that state, and of those who knew him in his judicial capacity, to his fairness and impartiality, leave little occasion to enlarge upon his eminent qualifications for that office, or the high reputation he earned during the fifteen years that he occupied the bench.
Of his faithfulness and ability as a legal instructor in his office of Professor in the Law School, little need be said beyond the fact that he brought to it the same habits of diligence, careful preparation, and a thorough mastery of his subjects, which he had shown as a lawyer and a judge. As new sub- jects and questions of interest arose, he gave them the attention which their importance deserved, and not only gave his class the benefit of his research, but in several instances, as has already been stated, embodied his views in a printed form. The many hundreds who shared his instruction with that of the other teachers in the School, and are now scattered through the Union, would, I am confident, pay a willing tribute to his learning, his courtesy, and his generous sympathy in whatever concerned their progress and their ultimate success in life. The relation that has always subsisted between the students of that school and its instructors has been that of friendship and mutual respect, united to a desire to communicate and receive instruction ; and it lost none of its characteristics so long as Judge Parker held the office of Royall Professor in that institution. And the fruits of his long and active experience in the profession could hardly have failed to give an added
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value to the learning which he gathered from the books, in giving instruction to his pupils. His associates, moreover, in the instruction, found him an earnest and interested co-laborer in whatever tended to advance the interests of the school.
Of his services as a member of the Historical Society, enough appears upon the pages of their Proceedings, and the printed volume of their Lowell Lectures, to justify a claim for him of having collected and preserved much valuable learning and sound philosophical thought. They give unmistakable evidence of the same thoroughness of research and preparation, and the same clearness of conception and statement, which distinguished whatever he undertook or accomplished.
As a constitutional lawyer, while he did not belong to the school of strict constructionists, he had for the Constitution itself a profound veneration and respect. And when in the conduct of our civil war he saw what he regarded a departure from the true construction of that instrument, he did not hesitate to point out in their true light what he deemed would be the effect and consequences of such departure. Among the subjects to which he devoted time and attention during this conflict were those of the Right of Secession, Habeas Corpus, and Martial Law, the Case of the Trent, and International Law, the Character of the Rebellion, and the Conduct of the War; and upon each of these he has left publications which will long survive the causes and occasion which brought them out. They are full and exhaustive upon the subjects of which they treat, and deserve a place among the permanent constitu- tional literature of the country.
Among the characteristics of Judge Parker's mind, which ought not to be passed unnoticed, was one which could hardly have been anticipated, when contemplating him as the cau- tious, critical, and exact lawyer and judge ; and that was his love of poetry, and his keen relish of the beautiful and tender in it, as well as of the heroic and descriptive. He was at home in Shakespeare, and had ready at his command a rich store of treasured poetical thought, which he had gathered from a frequent perusal of some of the choicest English and American poets. But it was only among his familiar friends that he indulged in any thing like a free use of what he had gathered from a department of literature which, apparently, lay outside of his ordinary line of thought and duty.
Somewhat late in life he married Miss Mary M. Parker, a daughter of his former partner in business, who with two of their children, a son and daughter, survive him. In private life, his influence and example were always in a right direc- tion. In his benefactions, he was wise as well as liberal, and
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HISTORY OF JAFFREY.
many were the sharers in the aid and encouragement which he cheerfully bestowed upon such as deserved them. His home was to him a place of special and ever-growing attraction ; and he manifested his taste, as well as a desire to make it every thing that a home should be, by the pains and money which he expended upon it. In his intercourse with others he was genial, free, and affable, and could unbend to playfulness and familiarity without compromising either dignity or self-respect. The cheerfulness and urbanity with which he always greeted his friends and associates added much to the pleasure of his society as a man of liberal culture and broad experience, and marked him out as a man whom it was a privilege to know, and one not easy to forget.
His life was one of protracted usefulness and honor, and closed suddenly, at last, without any sensible decay of his active powers, or his lively interest in the events which were passing around him. And though, as has been said, such a biography can have but few salient points of attraction, it is eminently fitting that his associates of the Historical Society should record this simple tribute to his memory.
CHAPTER X.
MILITARY HISTORY-FIRST MILITARY COMPANY-SECOND COMPANY-OFFICERS-ROLL OF SOLDIERS - JAFFREY AND RINDGE CAVALRY COMPANY-RIFLE COMPANY- TRAININGS AND MUSTERS.
TN the settlement of this country a military organization was an unavoidable necessity for mutual protection, not only against the native Indian, but in settling many con- troversies among themselves. Much has been written and said about peace on earth, and in our own days organizations have been formed to promote that condition of things, but all in vain ; the formation of a well-organized militia is found to be the most effectual in securing that desired con- dition.
A military organization was formed in New Hampshire previous to 1631, and was called into service that year. In 1635 a large amount of military goods was imported for military organizations. During the French and Indian wars every man became a soldier and every house a garri- son. In 1718 the militia law required all persons from six- teen to sixty years of age, except negroes and Indians, to perform military service. In 1776 the soldiers were classi- fied : the able-bodied men from sixteen to fifty constituted a training-band, and those from fifty to sixty-five an alarm band ; one for active and continued service, and the other for sudden emergencies. The early military laws of New Hampshire required every male inhabitant from sixteen to sixty years of age to own a musket, bayonet, knapsack, car- tridge-box, one pound of powder, twenty bullets, and twelve
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flints. Every town was required to keep, in readiness for use, one barrel of powder, two hundred pounds of lead, and three hundred flints, besides spare arms and ammunition for those too poor to own them. In the town of Jaffrey, previous to the Revolution, there was no military organiza- tion. In 1775, after the battle of Lexington, an order was received from congress to organize a company ; and on the 26th of June, that year, at a meeting of the town legally warned, a company was organized by the choice of the fol- lowing officers :
Henry Coffeen, Captain.
David Hunter, Ensign.
Roger Gilmore, Ist Lieut.
Peter Warren, Clerk.
John Stanley, 2d Lieut.
This organization remained till 1785, when two compa- nies were formed by vote of the town, designated by the names of East and West companies, one belonging in the east and the other in the west part of the town. Their mil- itary coats were faced, one with red and the other with yel- low trimmings. This organization continued till 1814. Previous to 1820 we have no military record, and what knowledge we have of the commanding officers has been obtained from the town record and gravestones. The first name on the town record dignified with the title of cap- tain was Jonathan Stanley, who warned the first town-meet- ing in 1773, before any company in Jaffrey had been formed. He was probably commissioned while a resident of Rindge.
Captains. 1800. Daniel Emery. John Joslin.
1776. Henry Coffeen.
1778. Roger Gilmore,
1801. Edward Perkins.
1781. Benj. Spaulding.
1803. Josiah Mower.
1781. William Pope.
1803. John Tilton.
1782. David Page.
1806. Samuel Dakin.
1786. Benjamin Prescott.
1806. Moses Cutter . Rufus Houghton.
1787. Joseph Perkins.
1790. Joseph Cutter.
Eber Lincoln.
1793. James Stevens.
Joseph Cutter, Jr.
1793. James Gage.
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ROLL OF SOLDIERS.
Captains, 3d Co., 12th Regt. 1820. Thomas Dinsmore.
Isaac Jewell.
Benj. Lawrence, Jr.
John M. Maynard. Wilder Joslin.
Nathan Blodgett.
William Putman.
Aaron Sawtell.
Caleb Cutter.
Daniel French, Jr.
Orford Capron.
Charles Cutter.
Luther Cutter.
Albert Pierce.
Sylvester B. Lawrence.
Jona. Page.
George Briant.
Willard G. Jones.
A List of the mens Names belonging to the Training Band In the town of Jaffrey June ye 14, 1784.
Sarg. Ephm Whitcomb, Andrew Davis,
Samuel Pairce,
Sarg. Moses Woster, Willm Davis,
Cotton Whiten,
Sarg. Daniel Emory,
Noah Emory.
Oliver Hale,
Sarg. Elias Whitney, Philip Adams,
Asa Prieast,
Cor. Jonath Taylor,
Thomas Adams,
Abijah Carter,
Cor. Nathan Cutter,
Joseph Bates Jun". Simson Steward,
Abner Jackman, Jun',
Fif. Gauden Davis.
John Briant,
David Chadwick.
Jeams Gowing.
Nehemiah Green,
Simeon Ingals,
Moses Stickney.
Jacob French.
Bezelel Sayer, Jun,
Barnabas Wood,
Jonath Dean,
Rufus Sayer,
Thomas French.
Jesse Snow,
Nathaniel Sayer,
Daniel Wight,
Collens Hathorn, Collens Hathorn, Jun', Eben" Jaquith, Jun',
Benja. Frost,
Benja. Jaquith,
Samuel Jaquith,
Elijah Goodale,
Benja. Jaquith, Jun",
Eben' Hathorn, Jun", John Dun,
Amos Boynton, John Pushee. Thomas Fisk,
Hugh Dunlap, Jeams Dunlap,
Samuel Batcheldor,
Benj. Gowing,
Robert Harkness,
Willm McAlister.
Simeon Burt,
Samuel Adams,
John Butters, Abel Parker.
Paul Fitch.
John Bockley,
Jeams Turner, Jeams Davidson.
Benja Haywood, Zacheus Witt,
Josiah French,
John Davidson, Jun", Nathan Chamberlin,
Jonath Esterbrooks,
Thomas Dutton,
Joseph Hodg,
Samuel Emory. Jun', William Emery,
Thomas Dunshee,
Thomas Holt,
Daniel Priest,
Abraham Roos,
Simeon Whitcomb,
Joseph Chamberlin, John Wood, Whitcomb Powers, Simeon Butters,
David Stratton, Oliver Gould, Jeams Cutter, Peter Davis, David Eaton,
Jeams Haywood, John Chamberlin, John Davis, Jun",
George Atridge, Jacob Pairce, John Hale,
David Lasa,
Jeams Hall,
Samuel Stanley,
Jeames French,
John Joslen, Zebediah Densmore,
Ezra Stiels,
Moses Peabody,
Isaac Baley, Jun™,
Fif. Vinton Barns.
Washington Davis. Charles A. Stearns. John Frost.
Lieutenants.
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HISTORY OF JAFFREY.
Simeon Warrin, Ezra Wilder,
Laban Ripley,
Oliver Baley,
Simeon Nutting,
Levi Baley,
Silas Wilder,
David Avery,
Samuel Swett,
Thomas Emery,
Benj. Dole,
Jonath" Emory,
Joseph Horton,
Moses Stickney, Jun™,
Peter Farmer, Thadeus Blodget,
Willm Marshall,
Nathaniel Hardy,
Jesse Jaquith.
Silas Marshall,
Samuel Jewett,
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