USA > New Hampshire > Cheshire County > Keene > History of the town of Keene, from 1732, when the township was granted by Massachusetts, to 1874, when it became a city > Part 35
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1 One of the wits of Keene said of the two societies that "one appeared to have religion without morals; the other, morals without religion."
2 In 1851, a second edition, "with corrections, additions and a continuation to 1815" was published by J. W. Prentiss & Co. of Keene.
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the same time appeared the "History of the United States" by the same author. In 1820, the American Academy of Languages and Belles Lettres had offered a premium of $400 and a gold medal to the American citizen who should within two years produce the best written history of the United States. Four books were entered by different authors and the premium for the best history was awarded to Mr. Hale. It was published in New York by Harper & Brothers, in London, by T. Miller, and at the Sentinel office in Keene. A few copies of the London edition were sold here.
The rapid increase of the population and the immense productions of the country brought the subject of trans- portation more and more prominently before the public. That by water, with the steamboat, which was fast com- ing into use, was the cheapest and most rapid then known. Large canal systems were already in successful operation, others were projected in all parts of the country, wherever there was a possibility of a practicable route, and rivers, large and small, were utilized. The canal commissioners of Massachusetts in 1826 reported a feasible route for a canal from Boston through Groton, Leominster, Fitchburg, Win- chendon and down Miller's river to the Connecticut; and it was confidently announced that there would be "a land carriage of only twenty miles from here to the capital of New England." (Sentinel.)
A company was formed to improve the navigation of the Connecticut river from Hartford, Ct., to Barnet, Vt., 219 miles, 202 of which would be in slack water caused by dams or natural levels, and seventeen by canals. The fall was 420 feet, to be overcome by forty-one locks, the whole cost estimated at $1,500,000. The canal and locks at Bellows Falls cost $107,313. Large meetings were held and the subject was ably discussed, notably at Charles- town, in August, 1826. The company had steam tow- boats built for hauling freight; and an elegant new steamer for both passengers and freight, seventy-five feet long, four- teen feet wide, drawing two feet of water and "carrying 30 tons burden including its machinery." It was called the Barnet, and began making its trips in the autumn
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of 1826. Her first arrival at Brattleboro was "greeted with the roar of cannon and the ringing of the bell." The company had a public dinner at the Mansion House, followed by toasts and speeches. Another steamer called the Enterprise1 was put on, followed in 1829 by the Vermont, which had "a handsome cabin on deck," and carried 150 passengers to Charlestown on its first trip. In 1830, congress was asked for an appropriation to im- prove the river. In 1831, the steamer Hampden was added. The boats, making alternate trips, advertised to leave Bel- lows Falls, Westminster and Walpole for Hartford every Monday; Putney, Chesterfield, Brattleboro, Vernon and Hinsdale every Tuesday; Northfield and Gill every Wednes- day; the returning boat leaving Hartford every Monday; carrying both passengers and freight.
The fiftieth anniversary of American independence was celebrated in Keene with great eclat. By a unanimous vote of the town a new bell for the meetinghouse had been procured and at sunrise it was rung, accompanied by twenty-four discharges of cannon. Aaron Appleton was chairman of the committee of arrangements, and Hon. James Wilson (senior) was president of the day, with Samuel Grant of Walpole, Elisha Belding of Swanzey, S. Cobb of Westmoreland, Nahum Parker of Fitzwilliam and Hon. Salma Hale of Keene, vice presidents. Gen. Justus Perry was chief marshal, with Majors Oliver Heaton and B. F. Adams assistants. At 11 o'clock a pro- cession of several hundred citizens of this and neighboring towns, escorted by the Keene Light Infantry, Capt. Geo. Brown, marched to the meetinghouse, where religious ser- vices were held, Rev. Mr. Dickinson, of Walpole, and Rev. Mr. Leonard, of Dublin, assisting the pastor. The house was filled to overflowing. An oration was delivered by Rev. T. R. Sullivan, and patriotic music was rendered by the Keene Musical Society under the direction of Eliphalet Briggs, Jr. At the close of those exercises, 150 persons sat down to "a very handsome entertainment under an arti- ficial bower," where thirteen regular and sixteen voluntary toasts were drunk, and responses made by the talented
1 Believed to have been the one from the Ashuelot river, with steam added.
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gentlemen present. The day was very generally celebrated throughout the country. It was on that day that both John Adams and Thomas Jefferson died.
The first appearance of a circus in this town was in July, 1826. It stopped at the Phoenix Hotel, and concluded its exhibition with a play, "The Hunted Tailor." "Admis- sion 25 cents. Children half price."
At its muster this year the Twentieth regiment was commanded by Col. James Wilson, Jr., Col. Perry having been promoted to brigadier general. When the militia of the state was reviewed by Gov. John Taylor Gilman in 1797 or '98, the Twelfth regiment, composed of the towns of Marlboro, Packersfield, Dublin, Jaffrey, Rindge and Fitzwilliam, was pronounced the best in the state; and for a long term of years that superiority was maintained. The Twentieth had been its constant rival for the first position, and this year, under Col. Wilson's command, it was given a slight preference.
For many years afterwards, 1826 was known in this region as the "grasshopper year," from the destructive ravages of that insect. They destroyed gardens, stripped currant bushes and shrubs of their leaves and bark, and in many cases utterly ruined the grass, corn, rye, oats and other crops. They would destroy clothes if left within their reach, and even ruin the wooden handles of farming tools if left out over night. They literally covered the ground and "would rise up before the passer in countless millions, sometimes obscuring the sun like a cloud." "The weather was dry and potatoes and other crops came to a standstill." But rain fell, the grasshoppers died after a few weeks' existence, and crops took a fresh start. Lilacs, and potatoes planted in May, blossomed in September.
The Cheshire Agricultural Society exhibited at Keene this year, the leading men of the county taking an active part in its affairs. Hon. Joel Parker was chief marshal, assisted by Col. Thomas F. Ames and Major Oliver Heaton. Col. James Wilson delivered the address; Levi Chamber- lain, then of Fitzwilliam, was chairman of the committee of awards; and among those who served on committees were James Wilson, senior, Elijah Dunbar, William Lamson,
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Jr., Capt. Joseph Dorr and Aaron Appleton. Mrs. Thomas Edwards took a premium for the best carpet, and Samuel Wadsworth, of Roxbury, took one for the best product of potatoes, having raised 491 bushels on one acre of land.
The notable persons who died this year were David Nims (at his son's in Roxbury), one of the first persons born in Keene, aged eighty-four; Joshua Ellis, the Revolu- tionary soldier wounded at Bunker Hill, aged seventy-four; Ezra Wilder, aged eighty-five; Cornelius Sturtevant, an early settler, aged ninety-one; Mrs. Mary, widow of Major Davis Howlett, aged eighty-seven; Dr. Joseph Wheeler, aged forty-six; and Mrs. Mary H., wife of Gen. Justus Perry, aged twenty-one.
In January, 1827, there was a term of remarkably cold weather. For five successive mornings the mercury did not rise higher than 10° below zero, and on one morning it was 27° below. Lake Champlain was completely closed with ice, and Boston harbor was frozen over as far down as Nantasket Roads. Snow was four feet deep on a level -six feet on the Green Mountains.
At the annual meeting the town raised $500 for fenc- ing burying grounds. The firewards this year were Capt. Joseph Dorr, Timothy Hall, Abijah Wilder, Jr., John Hatch, Joel Parker and James Wilson, Jr. In November, in com- pliance with a law passed the year before, they posted printed rules and regulations in relation to fires; and gave notice that they would inspect the buildings in town, that the required ladders must be put up, and the leathern fire- buckets kept constantly on hand.
The question of dividing Cheshire county had been agitated for many years, and petitions for such an act had been presented to the legislature setting forth the need on account of "the great increase of population and of the business in the probate and judiciary courts and the regis- try of deeds." This year an act was passed creating the county of Sullivan and making Keene the sole shire town of Cheshire.
A committee consisting of Rev. Z. S. Barstow, Rev. T. R. Sullivan, Hon. Salma Hale, Samuel Dinsmoor, Jr., and James Wilson, Jr., was chosen "to take into consideration
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the state of the common schools in the Town and devise such measures as may be practicable and expedient for their improvement." No report of that committee has been found, but the committee on examination of teachers that year, -Rev. T. R. Sullivan, Joel Parker, Thomas M. Edwards, Salma Hale and John Prentiss-prescribed the following textbooks to be used in the schools : "Lee's Spelling Book;" "Easy Lessons in Reading;" "History of the United States;" "English Reader;" the Scriptures; "Scientific Class Book;" Murray's and Putnam's grammars; Worces- ter's and Woodbridge's geographies; Adams' arithmetic, old and new, and Pike's arithmetic in full.
A mail had run between Keene and Worcester since about 1800. In 1826, a line of stages was put on via Templeton and Worcester to Norwich, Ct., to connect with steamers to New York, three times a week. For a year or two previous to this, the line had run in the same way to Providence, making a similar connection to New York. In 1827, a line of daily mail stages was established which ran from Boston through Keene to Middlebury, Burling- ton and Montreal, following the route of the third New Hampshire turnpike and connecting with other lines at all large towns. A competing line ran on the Cheshire turn- pike and Branch Road Company's route through Rindge and Fitzwilliam, crossing the other line at Keene and going on through Surry, Drewsville and Charlestown to Wood- stock and Montpelier, and also to Windsor and Hanover; thus giving Keene two daily lines to and from Boston. The companies often furnished six horses to the coach, and for many years staging was a lively and important busi- ness. It was not uncommon for sixty to one hundred passengers to arrive and depart in a day, and nearly all the coaches stopped for the night in Keene. Hatch's and Harrington's taverns were the stage-houses for the compet- ing lines. Those lines bore various names at different times, as the "Old Mail;" the "Union;" the "Telegraph Despatch;" the "Citizens';" the "Boston, Fitchburg & Keene Mail Stage Co." etc. The quickest time recorded between Boston and Keene was made on the 27th of December, 1831, in nine hours and twenty-seven minutes,
-
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from the toll-house in Cambridge to Harrington's tavern in Keene, stopping eight or nine times to shift mail and horses. The passage was made from Concord on runners. There was also at one time a line to Greenfield and North- ampton, connecting at Hartford with steamboats to New York; and one running three times a week from Ports- mouth and Exeter to Keene and thence through Brattle- boro to Albany and the west.
In August, Aaron Davis's blacksmith shop and trip- hammer works at South Keene were burned; and Jehiel Wilson's pail factory-the first in New England to make pails by machinery- was damaged by the same fire. Both were immediately rebuilt.
Eliphalet Briggs, third of that name in town, died this year, aged sixty-two; Ephraim Wilson, aged fifty-seven; and Royal Blake, aged seventy-two.
At the annual meeting in 1828, the town "Voted to grant and convey all the right, title and interest of the town of Keene in and unto the meeting House now stand- ing on the common at the head of Main street, with the appurtenances, to the First Congregational Society in said town;" reserving, however, to the town the right to use the house and the bell on public occasions, and the right to hang a bell in the belfry and control and use it on such occasions; but on the Sabbath the society was to have full control. In case the town neglected for six months at any time to provide a bell its rights were to be forfeited. But the vote was not to take effect until bonds had been given to the town by said society for the removal of the house to its present position, without expense to the town, within eighteen months from the passing of the vote (a deed of the land for its future site having been given by Abijah and Azel Wilder); nor until said society had paid to the Keene Congregational Society the sum of $750 and procured a release to the town from that society of its claims to the meetinghouse; and also a release from Joseph Dorr and his wife, Rebecca Richardson Dorr, of their rights and interests in the land on which the house then stood, and in the common-the limits of which were defined and were nearly the same as the present Square,
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which was "to be forever appropriated for a common and public highway." When all these conditions had been com-
FIRST CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH-1829.
plied with, the selectmen were to give a deed of the build- ing to said First Congregational Society.1 That society
1 This was the final separation of the church from the town in Keene, except that the town retained control of the house and bell on public occasions untif the annual meeting in 1840, when final action was taken on the 16th article of the warrant .- "To see if the town will relinquish all the right, title and interest in the old meeting-house except the use of the bell for town pur- poses, or raise money to repair the same"-by voting "that the town relin- quish their claim."
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accepted the proposition of the town, with all its pro- visions, and during that season and the one following the edifice was removed to its present position (by means of a windlass), turned one-quarter round,1 remodelled and finished. The entrance was by broad stone steps on which stood four tall Corinthian pillars supporting the front of the steeple-a fine, graceful structure one hundred and thirty feet high, built by William Wilson of Keene, the organ maker. The work was done through different com- mittees, consisting of Abijah Wilder, Jr., Azel Wilder, Abel Blake, Timothy Hall, William Lamson, Jr., S. A. Gerould, C. H. Jaquith, Enos Holbrook, Nathan Bassett, Eliphalet Briggs, Dea. Elijah Carter and Elijah Parker, the clerk of the society.
The question of enlarging and improving the common had been agitated for several years, particularly by A. & A. Wilder, who owned the land on the north side, gave that for the site of the meetinghouse and moved the edifice at their own expense. As early as 1820, meetings had been held by those interested, money subscribed, and action taken with a view to removing the meetinghouse, dispensing with the horsesheds and enlarging the Square. This year the change was made as related; A. & A. Wilder erected "Wilders' building" on the north; and William Lamson, Jr., had built his three-story brick block on the corner of Roxbury street, where the Bank block now stands, in 1827.
In compliance with a law passed in 1827, the select- men this year appointed a superintending school committee, consisting of Rev. Z. S. Barstow, Rev. T. R. Sullivan, Joel Parker, Elijah Parker and Thomas M. Edwards; and each district chose a prudential committee.
In March, Mr. Beniah Cooke, 2 who had been "Pre- ceptor of Fitchburg Academy" opened a school for instruc- tion "in the several branches usually taught in our Acad- emies" in a room over Sylvester Haskell's store, where the Sentinel building now stands, with the entrance on the
1 " Old Capt. Samuel Bassett, the carpenter and Revolutionary soldier, sawed off the posts and men and boys pulled the steeple over with ropes." (W. S. Briggs and N. E. Starkey.)
2 He married a daughter of Col. Stephen Harrington and was for many years editor and publisher of the Cheshire Republican and Farmers' Museum, the Silk Grower, and other publications.
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north side. He afterwards called it the Keene Academic School, and continued it for several terms very successfully, having nearly 100 pupils.
But in December, 1828, the Keene High school was established by the citizens of the three central districts of the town, under certain restrictions and regulations. The candidates for admission were examined by a committee chosen for that purpose, the first being composed of Rev. T. R. Sullivan, Aaron Hall and Phineas Fiske. It was managed by a prudential committee consisting of Rev. Z. S. Barstow, Eliphalet Briggs and Abijah Wilder, Jr. It was taught in the east room of the Wilder building by Mr. Edward C. Ellis, a graduate of Middlebury college. He was succeeded the next year by Mr. A. H. Bennett, who was afterwards a lawyer at Winchester.
The town appropriated $125 for the purchase of a cast steel bell1 for the west (Baptist) meetinghouse, to weigh not less than 600 pounds.
At the meeting of the legislature, in June, Hon. Salma Hale presided as chairman when Col. James Wilson was elected speaker of the house. 2 Upon the introduction of a bill by Hon. Salma Hale, the First Congregational Society in Keene was incorporated.
The 4th of July was celebrated in much the same way that it had been two years previous.
A large and enthusiastic convention of the Whigs of Cheshire county was held in Keene, on the 9th of October, in opposition to the movement in favor of Andrew Jackson for president. Hon. Joel Parker presided, Larkin G. Mead was secretary, and Col. James Wilson and Thomas M. Ed- wards were the principal speakers. At the national elec- tion in November, 1828, Keene cast 346 votes for the Adams' electors, to 107 for those of the Jackson party.
A remarkable rain-storm, lasting two days and extend- ing over all New England, occurred in November. Mills, dams, bridges and fences were swept away and crops
1 That bell is still in use in the tower of the Baptist church, on Court street. 2 His term as speaker continued but one year, the "Hurrah for Jackson" carrying the state Democratic in November. He built his large brick house the same year-now the residence of Mr. Isaac J. Dunn, 129 Main street, and soon afterwards built the present City Hotel, named at first the Workingmen's Hotel and kept by Edward Whitney. Two years later the name was changed to Emerald House. Still later the brick store north of it was joined to the hotel.
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destroyed. The Connecticut river rose more than twenty feet, and was higher than had been known for forty years.
Among those who died this year were William Lam- son, senior, aged sixty-four, Samuel Osgood, seventy-one, and Zachariah Tufts, a Revolutionary pensioner who served with credit in Morgan's celebrated corps of riflemen.
I. Airbus Het
UNITARIAN CHURCH-1829.
The first Unitarian meetinghouse was built in 1829, on the south corner of Main and Church streets. The building committee were John Wood, Justus Perry, John
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Elliot, Francis Faulkner, and James Wilson, Jr. Placed beneath the corner stone was a copper plate bearing this inscription :
"On the Fourth Day of July, A. D. 1829, THE CORNER STONE of this house Erected by the Keene Congregational Society, Aided by a donation from William Lamson, And Dedicated to the worship of the Only True GOD, In the name of JESUS CHRIST, whom he hath sent, Was placed with religious ceremonies. T. R. Sullivan, Pastor."
It was dedicated in April following, Rev. Mr. Barrett, of Boston, Rev. Dr. Bancroft (father of the historian), of Worcester, and Rev. Mr. Abbott, of Peterboro, assisting. With Mr. Lamson's legacy of $1,500.00, subscriptions, and the sale of pews, the society started not only free from debt, but with sufficient funds to purchase an organ-the first church organ in town-built by Pratt of Winchester and played by Miss Juliette Briggs. The bell, cast by Revere, weighed fifteen hundred pounds, and is still in use, in the tower of the new Unitarian meetinghouse. A few years later a town clock, made by Mr. Holbrook of East Medway, Mass., the gift of Mr. John Elliot, was placed upon the tower.
This period, culminating about 1825 and continuing for many years afterwards, was one of remarkable bril- liancy in the society of Keene. The town was noted for its high social standard, for the refinement and culture of many of its inhabitants, and for its many accomplished and lovely women who gave tone to that society, among whom were the wife of Major Josiah Richardson and his daughter, Mrs. Joseph Dorr; Mrs. Daniel Newcomb and her sisters-in-law, Mrs. Daniel Adams and Mrs. George Ingersoll; 1 Mrs. Samuel Dinsmoor; Mrs. Aaron Hall; Mrs. James Wilson; Mrs. Elijah Dunbar and her sisters, Mrs. Ithamar Chase,2 Mrs. Wm. M. Bond and Mrs. James H. Bradford; Mrs. Salma Hale; Mrs. Aaron Hall, Jr., and Mrs. Timothy Hall; 3 Mrs. Z. S. Barstow; Mrs. Aaron
1 Of the Goldthwaite family of Boston.
2 Daughter of Alexander Ralston and mother of Salmon P. Chase.
" One of the wits of Keene said of those ladies that "one was the immacu- late Mrs. Hall, the other the aromatic Mrs. Hall," from the profusion of flowers with which she adorned her home and provided for entertainments.
.
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Appleton; Mrs. Azel Wilder; Mrs. Phineas Fiske; Mrs. Henry Dorr; Miss Catherine Fiske; and many others deserving of mention.
There was also a brilliant array of able men, as may be seen from the names already mentioned.
It was in 1829 that the Keene Debating Society, after- wards named the Keene Forensic Society and Lyceum, was formed; and it continued for many years with great success. The names of its members represent a tower of intellectual strength such as few country villages could present. Among them were those of Joel Parker, Salma Hale, James Wilson, Jr., Z. S. Barstow, T. R. Sullivan, A. A. Livermore, Samuel Dinsmoor, Jr., Elijah Parker, John Elliot, Justus Perry, Thomas M. Edwards, Aaron Hall, Charles G. Adams, John B. Dousman, John Prentiss, Phin- eas Fiske, Nathaniel Dana, Benj. F. Adams, Phineas Han- derson, Levi Chamberlain, John H. Elliot, and Wm. P. Wheeler, whose name was the last signed to the constitu- tion. Their constitution was headed with the preamble, " Whereas intellectual culture and a knowledge of science and the arts are important to the best interests of society, and indispensably requisite for the stability and prosperity of a free government," etc. Hon. Joel Parker was its first president, with Rev. Z. S. Barstow and Rev. T. R. Sullivan vice presidents. The meetings were held in the town hall, open to the public, and a lecture preceded the debate. One of the questions debated soon after the organization was, "Would it be advantageous to the public and to Keene to construct a railway from Boston through Keene to the Connecticut river ?"
There was also a large number of men and women of refinement and literary taste and culture not mentioned in the above categories; and other societies for intellectual improvement were formed. The Keene Book Society had been organized in 1824 and its annual meetings were held in the town hall. Its membership in 1827 numbered 122 and its officers were the leading men of the town. Addresses were made each year, and the list of speakers contained the names of the most brilliant and learned men in the country. In 1831 this society was merged in the Keene
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Circulating Library, which had been in existence many years, and the combined library numbered one thousand volumes. It was under the management of George Tilden and was open every day except Sunday. The Social Library of former days was still in existence, with Noah Cooke librarian, at the time of his death, in 1829. Some of its volumes are still in the Keene Public Library.
Then there was a Cheshire Athenaeum, whose officers at this time were Joel Parker, president; James Wilson, Jr., vice president; Elijah Parker, treasurer and librarian; Timothy Hall, registrar; and Rev. Z. S. Barstow, Aaron Hall and George Tilden, trustees. It had six hundred volumes. There was also a Cheshire Theological Institute, a corporation in which many of Keene's prominent men held shares, designed1 to furnish the clergymen of the county with literature that might aid them in their work. It had a library of about 700 volumes.
Besides these there was a Free Fellows' Society; an Auxiliary Education Society, Capt. Abel Blake, chairman; a Youth's Social Fraternity; a Juvenile Library, Rev. T. R. Sullivan, librarian; a Sabbath School library of the First Congregational church containing 550 volumes; and a Poker and Tongs Club.
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