USA > New Hampshire > Hillsborough County > Mason > History of the town of Mason, N. H. from the first grant in 1749, to the year 1858 > Part 11
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12 William Barrett.
13 Captain Ebenezer Hodgman.
14 Lieutenant Joses Bueknam.
15 Josiah Flagg.
16 Joseph Blood.
17 James Withee and Micah Russell.
18 Ezra Merriam and Ephraim Russell.
19 Captain Samuel Withington.
20 Stephen Lawrence, Esq.
21 Lientenant Ebenezer Gilman.
22 Amos Blood.
7
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HISTORY OF MASON.
The meeting house, a view of which appears on page 125, was by the vote of the town, to be fifty five feet long, and forty five feet wide. It was constructed with galleries on three sides. At each end was a porch, with two doors, one on the west, and one on the south side in one, and one on the east, and one on the south side in the other. From each porch, a door led into the main body of the house below, and two flights of winding stairs, one from cach outer door con- ducted to the second story of the porch, from which a broad flight of steps in each porch, without a door, led into the gallery of the house. The accompanying ground plan, will give a better idea of the division of the house within, than any length of description. The outside was finished with very prime clapboards, and painted, the color having a slight tinge of yellow, making a straw color. The windows were large, the panes, eight by ten glass. The doors all panelled, the front double, the porch doors single. The finishing inside was ceiling, up to the bottom of the windows. The walls above, and ceiling overhead, of plaster; the fronts of the galleries were finished with panelled work, and a heavy cor- nice ; the whole supported by Ionic columns, on which rested the heavy oaken beams, which furnished the groundwork of the galleries. These beams were planed and painted, and not enclosed by the plaster. The posts were very large, extending the whole height of the house, and projecting into the house ; towards the top, where they were to receive the beams, they were enlarged, somewhat like the capital of a column. They were of the finest white oak timber, and finished and painted like the gallery beams. The pews were square, of panel work, with a balustrade of miniature Ionic columns. The pulpit was finished with panel work, outside and in, with angles and curves, which would tax the skill of an artist to describe in words; surmounted by a sounding board, octagonal in form, also of panel work, in the highest style of art of that day. All the work was in the best style, and of the best material. The following description, taken,
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MUNICIPAL HISTORY.
1786.
with a few changes, from the description of the old meeting house in New Ipswich, in the History of New Ipswich, will present a vivid picture of the inside of the house, and of the worshippers. The pulpit was lofty ; the ascent to it was by a flight of stairs outside, with a balustrade of Ionic columns, of a larger size, but similar in form, to those used in the con- struction of the pews. It had a recess or rostrum, in which the speaker stood; behind him, was a curtainless arched win- dow; above him, the sounding board hung near his head, suspended from the ceiling by an iron rod, so slender as to have excited in many a youthful mind, apprehensions of its falling, and speculations of the consequences of such a disas- ter; beneath him, in front of the pulpit, were the deacon's seats, in a sort of pen, where they sat facing the congrega- tion, with the communion table hanging by hinges, in front of them. The pews were about six feet square ; a row of hard, un-cushioned seats, surrounded the interior, and generally, there was one or more high-backed, flag-bottomed chairs in the centre, most usually occupied by the grand-mothers of the family, a shake of whose head, had a wonderful effect in reducing to instant sobriety, any youngster, attempting any trespasses upon the solemn decorum of the place. The seats were hung by hinges, so that they might be turned up as the congregation rose, at prayer, as was the goodly custom of our fathers; and the slam-bang, as they were turned care- lessly down, at the close of the prayers, not unlike a volley of musketry, was no inconsiderable episode in the ceremonies.
Behold now the congregation, as it assembles on the Sab- bath. Some of them are mounted on horses; the father, with his wife or daughter on a pillion behind him, and perhaps also his little boy astride before him. They ride up to the stone horse-block and dismount. The young men and maid- ens, when not provided with horses, approach on foot. They carry in hand a rose or a lilac, a pink, a peony or a pond-lily, (and this was the whole catalogue of flowers then known) or what was still more exquisite, a nice bunch of fennel or cara-
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HISTORY OF MASON.
way seeds. Instead of this, in winter, they bear a tin foot- stove, containing a little dish of coals which they have care- fully brought from home or filled at some neighboring house or noon-house ; and this was all the warmth they were to enjoy during the two long hours of the service. They have come a long distance on ox-sleds, or perhaps have skimmed over the deep, untrodden snow on rackets. They enter the house, stamping the snow from their feet and tramping along the uncarpeted aisles with their cow-hide boots. Let us enter with them. The wintry blast howls and shrieks around the exposed building; the ill-fastened windows clatter; and the walls re-echo to the thumping of thick boots, as their wearers endeavor to keep up the circulation in their half frozen feet, while clouds of vapor issue from their mouths ; and the man of God, as he raises his hands in prayer, must needs protect them with shaggy mittens. So comfortless and cold, it makes one shudder to think of it. In summer, on the contrary, the sun blazes in, unscreened by blind or cur- tain ; the sturdy farmer, accustomed to labor all day in his shirt sleeves, takes the liberty to lay aside his coat in like manner for the more serious employments of the sanctuary ; especially is this the case with the singers, who have real work to perform.
Every man is in his appropriate place ; for it was little less than sacrilege, in the days when the Sabbath was kept with all puritan gravity and severity, to stay away from meeting, let the weather be what it might.
The prayers are offered; the sermon begins, and advances by regular approach up to Sthly, and even to 16thly; the elderly men, unaccustomed to long sittings, occasionally standing erect or leaning against the partitions of the pews, to relieve the fatigue of their position; Tate and Brady is lined off, two lines at a time, by a person selected for the purpose, and sung with good nasal twang and hearty good will to some good old tune, Wells or St. Martins; and, finally, the benediction is pronounced. The congregation still remains
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MUNICIPAL HISTORY.
1790.
in its place to go out in prescribed order : first the minister -and as he passes the deacons, they follow-then those in the front seat below, and at the same time those in the front gallery seat and those in the pews-then those in the second seat, and so on in successive order. Would that a like deco- rum in this respect could be substituted for the impatient and irreverent rush of modern days. They separate for a short intermission and to dispatch their lunch of dough-nuts or apples ; in summer they stroll in the graveyard, to hold silent converse with those who sleep there, and impress the lesson of their own mortality; and in winter those from a distance take refuge before the blazing hearth of some friend in the village, and are perhaps regaled by a hospitable mug of cider ; and soon all are reassembled for the afternoon service.
After this, they wend their way home, to partake of a hearty warm dinner, the best of the week, in most instances too, prefaced by an exhilerating draught of hot toddy; and finally "to say the Catechism." That Westminster Assem- bly's Catechism ; who that was trained in the early part of the century will forget it ! Its pictorial alphabet of aphorisms,
In Adam's fall we sinned all ;
My Book and heart shall never part,-
the story of John Rogers, with the picture of the martyr at the stake, surrounded by the grim officials, and, standing near, his wife and nine children, certain; (whether the one at the breast was one of the nine, or one to be added to that num- ber, was a problem too deep for youthful minds to solve,) Agur's Prayer; and Dialogue between Youth, Christ and the Devil ;- it was the only book beside the Bible and Psalm Book allowed in the hands of youth on the Sabbath. The Catechism concluded the religious observance of the day. Then the children were let loose, and in summer, all the family walked over the farm to observe the crops and salt the cattle.
As those who were actors in these almost forgotten scenes recall them, with a thousand associations which it is impossi-
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HISTORY OF MASON.
ble to recount, it must seem almost a dream; and those who are now in the morning of life would doubtless smile could these old times and customs be but once presented in reality. But they were good old times; and the Sabbath and the sanctuary were then regarded with a strictness and reverence which we should be glad to see observed in our day.
The meeting house was so far finished that it was used at the ordination of Mr. Hill, November 3, 1790, and from that time to the time of the dedication, it continued to be used for public worship. The date of the year of the erection of the house appeared in large, gilded figures, 1790, on the capital of the two columns supporting the gallery, one on each side of the aisle in front of the pulpit, the position of which, in pews five and six, is indicated by the mark º in the plan, on page 126. It was probably nearly completed at that time. Why the dedication was deferred till 1795, is not stated in any record or memorial of the times. This house continued to be occupied by the church and congregation over which Mr. Hill was settled as minister, till November, 1837, when a new society having been formed under the laws of the State, in connection with the church, and a new house built for their use in a more convenient and eligible locality, they removed to it, abandoning the old house. It continued to be used by the town, as a town house, for town meetings, and occasionally, by other societies and denominations, as a place of worship, until the town house was built in 1848, soon after which, it was sold and removed. It stood upon the top of the hill where the road leading to Brookline leaves the Wilton road. The locality, although at first it appeared pleasant and suitable for a village, proved wholly unfit for such purpose, it being impossible to dig cellars or wells, by reason of the ledges cropping out too near the surface. The first plot occupied in the town for a graveyard, was in the rear of this house ; and after a few years it was abandoned, for the same reason. Some of the dead, originally deposited there, were removed to the burying ground south of the centre of the
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MUNICIPAL HISTORY.
1798.
town; others still rest in their lonely graves. A few monu- ments, the oldest in town, remain to mark their places of repose.
March meeting, 1796. Joseph Barrett was chosen repre- sentative.
March meeting, 1797. Joseph Barrett was chosen repre- sentative.
"Voted, To make a present to the Rev. Mr. Ebenezer Hill, of the obligation he gave the selectmen, dated March 13, 1793, for $105. Voted, To leave the fixing of the burying grounds to the selectmen, provided they can have a sufficient title from Thomas Tarbell, of that burying ground near said Tarbell's house."
June 23d, 1787, sundry orders "To Capt. Wm. Chambers, £5 15s. 11d. 2q., it being for sundries he let the Rev. Mr. Dix have, and also for dining the Rev. Mr. Whitman, and keep- ing his horse ; also for answering Mr. Whitman's order upon the town or selectmen, and for Lt. Farley's rats, that was abated, and for boarding Mr. Dix."
September 4th, 1787. Capt. Wm. Chambers £2 19s. 1d. it being for boarding several ministers, and finding the com- mittee that was chose to place the meeting house, a dinner, and for paying the Rev. Mr. Dix for preaching on fast day."
December 11th, 1787. "Joseph Merriam, for boarding Mr. Jesse Remington, 5s. 0d. 1q."
April 26th, 1788. "Hubbert Russell 7s. paid Mr. Warren, and for boarding Mr. Warren 3 weeks and three days, £1 7s."
June 16th, 1788. "Jonathan Searle for keeping school, £1 12s. 0d. 0q."
June 21st, 1788. Eleazer Fish, "for a pair of steers he turned in to the town, to pay a debt due to Mr. Whitman for preaching, £9 5s."
October 9th, 1788. To Wm. Chambers, "for paying a note to Mr. Jesse Remington, and for paying a debt to Mr. Nahum Sargent, and for keeping Mr. Aiken's horse and Mr. Reming- ton's horse, £5 6s. 6d."
18
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HISTORY OF MASON.
December 5th, 1788. Lt. James Wood, in all, £2 8s., "for boarding Mr. Nathan Church ;" another order, "for boarding Mr. Church, 6s., and for paying him 7s."
February 2d, 1789. Isaac Brown, two orders, in all £2 6s., " for a saddle he let the town have, to pay a debt due Mr. Benjamin Green, for preaching."
February 16th, 1789. William Chambers, 13s., "for drink for the committee, when they vendued the timber for the meeting house."
March 17th, 1790. Order, To pay Jonas Fay 3s. 4d., "for a pound of tea, he let Mrs. Betty Locke have, towards her keeping school in 1788."
March 12th, 1791. Aaron Wheeler, "for his meeting house tax in 1789, 12s. 10d. 3q."
April 28th, 1791. Order to pay Dr. William Barber £2 8s. 9d., "for keeping school in the South District in 1789."
January 31st, 1792. William Eliot, " for his meeting house tax in 1789, 12s. 2d."
Messrs. Eliot and Wheeler were Baptists, and their taxes were abated, pursuant to the order of the town. See page 122.
1793. John Brown, "for two palls, or funeral cloths, £2 8s."
1795. The following persons were paid 12s. each, for bounty, for enlisting as volunteers; Samuel Merriam, Elisha Buss, Ezra Newell, Aaron Wheeler, Jr., Thomas Robbins, Jr., Joseph Merriam, Jr., Capt. James Wood, James Withee, according to the vote of the town. See page 124.
1796. Order " to pay Capt. Joseph Barrett $4,19, it being so much he paid at Hopkinton court in December, 1796, with his own money, for a lawyer to speak respecting the north road, to our petition, for entering said petition, and for being recognized twice at said courts, and for expenses of myself and horse." It must be admitted, that, for all these items, it was a very moderate bill. This is the first time the federal currency appears in the town's accounts.
November 17th, 1797. "The Selectmen, ordered the
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MUNICIPAL HISTORY.
1799.
Treasurer, to pay S. M. 25 cents in full, for killing a crow, the town, by a vote, allowing the same."
A bill for articles furnished for building a school house, by Timothy Dakin, a merchant in the town, the following prices appear, of this date. Board nails, 8s. per m; shingle nails, 2s. 4d. per m ; double tens, 6s. for 500 ; a pair of door hinges, 4s. 6d. ; a bushel of lime, 2s. 6d.
In December, 1798, eleven persons petitioned the select- men to call a town meeting, "To take some measures to petition Congress in regard to the land tax," the petitioners " viewing it to be unequal and injurious to the rights of the people." A meeting was held December 13th, 1798, pursuant to this petition, and the subject considered, and Dea. Jotham Webber, John Blodgett, Joseph Tuffts, Dr. Joseph Gray, and Dea. Rogers Weston, were appointed a committee to petition to the Court, &c., for redress of grievances, &c., and the meeting was adjourned four weeks. At the adjourn- ment, "Proceeded to read the report of the committee," &c., and then "Voted, Not to be so much dissatisfied with the land tax, so called, as to petition Congress upon the subject."
Most of the persons appointed on this committee, were leading men in the democratic party in the town. The land tax, one of the measures of John Adams' administration, was, with that party, very unpopular. No doubt the design of this movement was, to encourage and incite opposition to his administration. The report of the committee, which was read, is not found in the records, or on file. The manner in which it was disposed of by the town, at the adjournment of the meeting, shows that the object of the petitioners was not favored by the citizens.
April 5, 1798. Orders. Maj. James Wood, $4,17 in full, for his "procuring and conveying articles for Mr. John Goddard, such as rum, sugar, raisins, and other necessary articles when he was sick, and for making and carrying a coffin to his house for said Goddard."
March 9, 1799. " Benjamin Mann, eight dollars in full, for
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HISTORY OF MASON.
making a piece of road [near] Mrs. Chambers', and for liquor at the vendue of Mary Jefts, and doing writing when the selectmen received a deed of John Smith and for toddy at the time, and for liquors at the vendue of the town land and pound, and the wall round the graveyard, and assisting at said vendue, and for one cord of wood, delivered at the school house in the centre district, for 1798." One would think that for all this, cight dollars was cheap enough.
March 20, 1799. James Withee's taxes abated. "The town favored him on account of his losing his barn and rye and hay by fire."
The municipal history is now brought down to the close of the eighteenth century, also to the close of the first half century of the proprietary and corporate existence of the town; within which time, the forest has been subdued, the roads have been made, the mills, mecting house, school houses, and farm houses and barns, have been built, and the town and church, with all their institutions, put into success- ful operation. In the extracts from the records and com- ments upon them thus far given, the object has been, to let our fathers, as far as might be, become their own historians ; therefore, whatever it was judged would exhibit the charac- teristics of the people and of the age, and would illustrate their manners, habits, customs, and modes of thought, and way of managing their affairs in church and state, has been frecly used for that purpose. The municipal history of the next fifty years will occupy much less space. It is, in itself, less note worthy, less important, and less illustrative of the manners of the people. To pursue it in as full detail as has been given to the preceding period, would occupy space required for other matters, and would swell the book to a size beyond what was contemplated. Besides, it is but fair to leave something for the historian of the next one hundred years. It is a remark worthy of consideration, that those communities are by no means the happiest which furnish the greatest amount of materials for the historian's page.
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MUNICIPAL HISTORY.
1809.
At a town meeting, November 5, 1804, "Chose Thomas Wilson and Joseph Winship saxtons."
March 12, 1805. Annual meeting. After the choice of moderator, "Then chose Col. James Wood and Mr. Joseph Merriam, a committee to wait upon the Rev. Mr. Eben". Hill, in order to open the meeting with prayer. Then Voted, That all the voters should take the east side of the meeting house before they voted, and pass to the other side when they voted, so as to change sides when they carried in a vote." This extraordinary measure indicates that a fierce struggle for party ascendeney was impending. This year, for the first time, a democratic majority was found in the town. The votes for governor were, for Gilman, federalist, 64; for Langdon, republican, 64-a tie. For Senator, J. K. Smith, republican, 64; for Frederic French, federalist, 63. For counsellor, Benjamin Pierce, republican, 71; for Phillip Greeley, federalist, 54. "Voted, To add one hundred dollars to the Rev. Mr. Eben". Hill's salary, for this year only." A similar addition of one hundred dollars to his salary was voted in 1807 and in 1808. This custom of inviting the min- ister to attend and open the annual meetings with prayer was observed many years. It may be justified by the same reasons as the employment of chaplains by legislative bodies. "
1809. The law of the state required the towns to make provision for the feeding of the militia on the field, at the regimental musters. It was the custom for the selectmen to make a schedule of the provisions required, and let the fur- nishing by auction, to the lowest bidder. Several of these schedules are recorded. That of 1809, is copied as a sample. "Provisions for the soldiers, at the muster at Temple, On Oct. the 6, 1809, Viz : One hundred weight of good beef, to be well cooked, that is, either roasted or baked; one bushel of good wheat, made into good bread, and one bushel of good rye, made into good bread; twenty five weight of good cheese ; five gallons of good West India Rum ; five pounds of good lofe sugar ; one barrel of good new cider ; all to be at
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HISTORY OF MASON.
the mustering field, at Temple. by the time that the battalions meet on Friday, the 6th day of Oct., 1809," bid off by Josiah Russell, at $24,50. Well does the writer, though then but a lad, remember, on the gathering of the companies around the cart, upon the parade ground, getting a generous slice of the beef and bread, and a drink of the cider, and probably of the rum, for then it was thought to be good for every body, old or young. A boy's appetite, sharpened by a walk of some seven or eight miles, on a raw October morning, would have made an indifferent piece of beef and bread an accept- able oblation to the god of hunger, if such god there be; but he is ready to testify, even after the lapse of so many years, that in this instance, the beef and the bread fully came up to and answered the requirements of the schedule.
September 26, 1815. The town "Voted, To make up to the soldiers who volunteered [for the defence of Ports- mouth] their wages to $15 a month."
1816. The small pox appeared in the family of Silas Lawrence. The town was at once in commotion. Several town meetings were held, in reference to that subject. The first was January 29th, at which "Chose a committee of five men, all to consist of such men as have had the small pox, to advise with the selectmen on means to be taken to prevent the further spreading of the small pox. Chose Jedediah Felton, Lt. Joses Bucknam, Ezra Merriam, Joseph Tuffts and Dea. Jotham Webber. Voted, That the selectmen give leave that two or more persons, not exceeding five, who have had the kine pox and have been exposed to taking the small pox, may be enoculated with the small pox, provided that Mr. Willard Lawrence is willing to have the enoculated persons go and remain in his new house until they have gone through [the] operation, at their own expense." A second meeting was called, February 5, at which it was "Voted, To send for Dr. Spaulding, of Amherst, forthwith, to examine Ira Lawrence and give his opinion whether he had the kine pox or small pox. Then Voted, The small pox committee cleanse the
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MUNICIPAL, HISTORY.
1819.
Wid. Abigail Richardson's house, and keep it for the purpose of putting in any persons who, in the judgment of said com- mittee, hath simtims of the small pox, until it be known whether they be likely to have the small pox or not. Then Voted, To have two more added to the small pox committee, and chose Abel Adams and Henry Isaacs." It was the cus- tom then, on the appearance of any contagious disease in a town, for the selectmen to cause the highways leading by the house in which the disease was found, to be closed against all passing, by fences across the same, and to cause to be exhib- ited at the fences a signal, usually a red flag, as a warning to avoid the place. Such precautions were taken in the present instance, that the disease did not spread beyond the family in which it appeared. Silas Lawrence died of the disease ; also his mother, an aged lady. His son, in whom the disease first appeared, recovered. The deceased were buried upon Mr. Lawrence's farm, as interments of persons who died of contagious diseases, were not then permitted in the public burying grounds. The funeral services were attended by the Rev. Mr. Miles of Temple, the only clergyman in the vicin- ity who was qualified, by having had the small pox, to officiate on such occasions.
January 19th, 1819. In the warrant was an article, "To see if the town will vote that each religious society in said town of Mason, shall have the use of the public meeting house their proportion of Sabbath days, and also at other times." The result of the vote on this article is, "Voted, Not to give the Baptist Society their right in Mason meeting house." At the annual March meeting, the next year, was an article "To see if the town will rectify a mistake or erroneous vote, by said town, January 18th, 1819," reciting the vote as thus recorded. The town "Voted, To rectify the mistake or erro- neous vote, and "instead thereof, that we are willing that they should have their right in said house."
How they could claim any right, in a house which they had refused to aid in building, and also, to aid in repairing, is a
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