USA > New Hampshire > Hillsborough County > Mont Vernon > History of the town of Mont Vernon, New Hampshire > Part 8
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When I went to Mont Vernon, its beautiful scenery, location and the intellectual character of the people, having made it a center of at- traction, it was impossible to procure a house in which to reside, and
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we found a home in the family of Dea. George E. Dean; and in the following spring, the little room off the chapel was fitted up for a study. At that time it became evident that a special effort should be made to secure a parsonage if possible; but the usual hinderances were freely presented, and to these was added the forceful argument that, "Every minister has tried and failed, for we cannot raise the amount neces- sary for such a house as we need and ought to have." Nothing daunted, and seeing that something heroic must be done, I drew up a simple subscription paper, and wrote down 18 names of leading people whose ability I learned from the town taxes and report, and attached the amount I thought each ought to contribute to make the enterprise a suc- cess. The list of names was headed by Dea. William Conant, and Mrs. Asa Stevens, each for $200, it being my belief that the beginning would decide the result, and they must set the example of doing great things; and after a little delightful diplomacy each wrote "Approved" against their names. Then followed Messrs. F. O. Kittredge, H. H. Bragg, Capt. Timothy Kittredge, Dea. Joseph A. Starrett, Dea. John Bruce, and others of like willingness to help on the good cause, after which it was plain sailing, and in eight days I had secured the pledge of $2,400, a small part of which was to be paid in labor, and I am hap- py to record that every dollar subscribed was paid, and much more was freely given in drawing timber, grading, and other work in and about the building of the house by the generous and enthusiastic friends.
I immediately drew plans for the house to be submitted to a carpen- ter to determine if it were a workable plan; and it was approved by the building committee and the builder. The contract was made, and work immediately begun in the early summer, and on October 25th, 1866, we moved into the new home, and it would be difficult to decide which were the happier, the people or ourselves; certainly the people manifested a full measure of appreciation, and generous hearts added much to the pleasure of the "House Warming" which followed. Every one seemed to take pride in the movement, and the guests were kind and generous to the young pastor and his family.
As I look over my old records I find these entries that tell a story of commendable liberality for that people, none of whom could be rated as rich, but they were heartily in earnest and gave to the limit in every demand made upon them. Here are a few figures that may interest those who were young people then:
For Parsonage, $2,500
.. New Pulpit furniture and carpet, 100
' Communion Service, 75
" Changes and repairs in chapel, 25
$2,700
This did not lessen the benevolences of the church, or the prompt payment of my salary. The many summer guests who came to this town were of a very high order, and very many of them were constant
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in their attendance on the Sabbath services. They were considerate and generous, and I recall that the first year I was handed an envelope containing $130 from the boarders at the hotel (the old Mount Vernon House, kept by Mr. F. O. Kittredge) and Mr. Dean's. The following year another purse was presented to us from the guests of $80. I cannot refrain from making mention of like kindnesses from our people in ways not measured by dollars. I recall that one Monday morning I entered the "Box Shop" as was my custom, when I was met by some young ladies working there, who handed me a package, requesting me not to open until I reached home. To our very great delight it contained the works of Dr. Horace Bushnell, V Vols .- each volume inscribed thus:
"Rev. Benson M. Frink,
From his friends,
MARTHA E. CONANT, CORDELIA M. J. BRAGG, ELLEN M. BRAGG, MARY E. CLOUTMAN, MRS. JOHN F. COLBY."
December 25, 1865.
Few communities could then, or can today, boast of more delightful homes or educated sons and daughters who have exerted a wide and lasting influence in educational, religious and business circles. I have believed, and shall continue to believe, that the long and faithful min- istry of Rev. Mr. Bruce and his successors, and the inspiration of the honored and distinguished principal of the Academy, the late Rev. C. F. P. Bancroft, D.D., Ph. D., had much to do in guiding to high pur- poses the young men and women who have honored their native town in church and state.
The fathers and mothers sleep; sowers and reapers pass on, but their work abides in the Old Granite State, and the Christian democ- racy of this nation.
The clock that was presented to us Christmas Evening, 1865, at the home gathering of Dea. W. H. Conant, has ticked away the years from then until now; changes have come to all, and many we then knew as our people rest in silence; but memory brings back their sacred names, and their deeds of kindness and love troop in to make glad the years we now live; and no years of my public life are more cherished than those spent among the good people of Mont Vernon, N. H.
Our only child, a daughter, Florence Leonola, was born September 6, 1863, at Magog, Province of Quebec.
THE ELEVENTH PASTOR was the Rev. Seth Harrison Keeler, D.D., who was born in Brandon, Vt., Sept. 24, 1800. In 1823 he entered the Sophomore class at Middlebury College, graduating in 1826, and entering Andover Theological Seminary the same year. Soon after
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his graduation from there he was called to the church in South Ber- wick, Me., and was ordained as its pastor in October, 1829. The following winter he was married to Mary Felt, of New Ipswich, N. H., of whom he said : "Not a little of my success as a pastor I gratefully ascribe to her example and influence." In the autumn of 1836 he accepted a call to the church in Amesbury Mills, Mass., and after a successful ministry of three years, (April 18, 1836 to December 7, 1839), by the advice of a council of clergymen, answered the call to a church in Calais, Me. There he remained for twenty-seven years, (November 30, 1839, to October 22, 1874), extending his usefulness so much beyond his own church that he was called the "Bishop of Washington County." In 1865 the trustees of Middlebury College conferred upon him the degree of D.D. Full of patriotism. and long- ing for some share in the Country's sacrifice, he asked permission from his people to serve in the Christian Commission at Washing- ton, and was there for some weeks, comforting the sick, and sustain- ing many a soldier in his last hours. In 1866 he resigned his pas- torate at Calais, and came to Reading, Mass., purposing to rest, and preach occasionally as he might have opportunity ; but at the close of 1867, through his friend Dr. Clark, of Amherst, he went to preach at Mont Vernon, New Hampshire, and, receiving a unanimous call from the church, entered once more upon the labors lie loved as pastor, continuing at Mont Vernon from 1867 to 1875. He often spoke of the eight years he spent there as most happy. He delighted in the beautiful scenery, and said the fine air gave him a new lease of life. He took a lively interest in Appleton Academy. This was his last pastorate. In 1875 he removed to Somerville, Mass., to be near a son and daughter, and lived there until 1886. On Christmas day of that year he died in church, just as he had risen to join in singing-a most fitting ending to an exceptionally beautiful and use- ful life. He was 86 years, 3 months and 2 days old at the time of his death. Though advanced in years when his service to this people commenced, he proved himself as an able. scholarly and faithful religious teacher. In 1873 and 1874 some forty people united with the church as the result of special religious interest in the community.
On the 5th of September, 1880, Dr. Keeler came and preached a centennial sermon, the church having been organized in 1780.
THE TWELFTH PASTOR was the Rev. William H. Woodwell, who was born at Newbury (now Newburyport), Mass .. September 9,
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HISTORY OF MONT VERNON.
1844. He attended the public schools of Newburyport, graduating from the High school in 1862. Between that date and the time he entered Bowdoin College in 1865, he was employed a part of the time as a special reporter on the Boston Transcript. He graduated at Bowdoin in 1869, and at once entered the Andover Theological Seminary, where he graduated in 1872. He was ordained as a min- ister at Wells, Me., June 12, 1873, and was pastor of the Congrega- tional church at that place until May, 1875. In November of that year he became pastor of the church at Mont Vernon, serving until about April, 1880. In January, 1881, he went to Hawaii. Sandwich Islands, and was pastor and teacher there until May, 1882. He was called to the pastorate of the Congregational church at Orient, N. Y., and served that church from 1883 to 1887. After a short pastorate at New Marlborough, Mass., he was called to the Congregational church at Sandwich. Mass., and was there from near the close of 1888 to October. 1898. He soon after removed with his family to Washington, D. C., and supplied pulpits of churches of his denom- ination in Washington and elsewhere until April, 1901, when he preached at Hampton, Conn., where he remained till April, 1904, when he assumed the pastoral care of the Congregational churches at Hampton Falls and Seabrook, N. H., where he now is (May, 1905).
On the 18th of April, 1873, Mr. Woodwell was married to Miss Martha Haskell, of Newburyport. The following children have been born to them : -
Julian Ernest, born at Wells, Me., Jan. 7, 1874, who graduated from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Eva Cecilia, born at Mont Vernon, N. H , and graduated at Mount Holyoke in 1900.
William Herbert, born at Pohala, Hawaii, May 5, 1881, and was a member of the Law School of George Washington University, at Washington, D. C.
Archer Roscoe, born at Newburyport, May 23, 1883, now (1905) residing at Fredericksburg, Va.
Carolus Sylvester, born at New Marlborough, Mass., February 9, 1889, and now a member of Phillips Academy at Exeter, N. H.
THE THIRTEENTH PASTOR was Rev. C. C. Carpenter, who began his pastorate simultaneously with the second century of the church, occupying the pulpit of the church first on September 19, 1880, and
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removing his family here from Peabody, Mass., in November fol- lowing.
Charles Carroll Carpenter was born in Bernardston, Mass., July 9, 1836, the son of Dr. Elijah W. Carpenter, for forty years a physician in that town, and Vallonia Slate. He was of the eighth generation from William Carpenter, an English emigrant of 1638, who had been influenced to join the Plymouth Colony by Governor Bradford, hus- band of Alice Carpenter, a cousin. He settled first at Weymouth, Mass., soon after at Rehoboth, where the successive generations dwelt until Dr Carpenter's father, after his service in the Revolution- ary army, removed to Vermont.
Mr. Carpenter fitted for college at Goodale Academy in his native town, at Williston Seminary, and at Kimball Union Academy in Meriden, N. H., but the complete break-down of his health pre- vented him from pursuing his studies further. A health excursion to the coast of Labrador led him, after two years spent in business, to visit that coast again in 1858, under the auspices of the Canada Foreign Missionary Society to see what could be done for the un- privileged inhabitants. He took lumber down the St. Lawrence, built a mission-house on Caribou Island, in the Straits of Belle Isle, and at that station, and at a winter station on the banks of Eskimo River, served as missionary among the sailors and shoremen until the fall of 1865, when the severity of the climate compelled him to retire. In the meantime he had visited "the States" repeatedly, at- tending lectures at Harvard Medical College, receiving ordination at Montreal in 1860, marrying in 1862, and spending the last winter of the Civil War in the service of the U. S. Christian Commission in the Army of the Potomac.
From 1866 to 1872 he was superintendent of the Lookout Mount- ain (Tenn.) Educational Institutions for white youth, having for as- sociates, for a part of the time, Principal Cecil F. P. Bancroft and his Mont Vernon wife, Frances Kittredge. He was a student at Andover Theological Seminary from 1872 to 1875, then minister at South and West Peabody, Mass. (two parishes), until 1880. He was formally installed pastor at Mont Vernon, July 1, 1881, and closed his pastorate, Sept. 20, 1885. He has since resided in An- dover, Mass., without pastoral charge, occasionally preaching, but mostly engaged in literary work ; was editor of the Andover Towns- man for two years, and has been a contributing editor of the Con- gregationalist from 1886 ; he published a Biographical Catalogue of
4
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Phillips Academy, Andover (1778-1830), and is now preparing a general catalogue of Andover Seminary. He received the honorary degree of A. M. from Hamilton College in 1869, and from Dart- mouth College in 1887.
Mr. Carpenter married, May 1, 1862, Miss Feronia N. Rice, of Auburn, Mass. They have had five children : George R., Harvard College, 1886, professor in Columbia University ; Charles L., Dart- mouth College, 1887, civil engineer on the Panama Canal; William Bancroft, Harvard College, 1890, teacher in Boston public schools ; Jane B., Mt. Holyoke College, 1897, teacher; Miriam F. (born in Mont Vernon), Colorado College, 1905.
THE FOURTEENTH PASTOR was the Rev. Richard Hastings Mc- Gown, who commenced preaching here January 10, 1886, and was installed June 23, 1886. He was born at North Ellsworth, Me., May 13, 1850, was educated principally at the Eastern State Normal School at Castine, and graduated in 1878 from the Bangor Theological Seminary. Became a preacher of the Methodist Conference, and as such was stationed at Dover, Tremont, and Pembroke, Me. March 7, 1882, he was ordained as a Congregational minister at Harrington, Me., was acting pastor at Turner, Me , from December, 1833, to November, 1885, and at Mont Vernon from December, 1885, until February 26, 1888. He was afterwards two years each at Cornish, Me., and at Northwood, N. H. His last pastorate was at the Court- land street Congregational church in Everett, Mass., where he died in the service, April 1, 1900, after a brief illness. His wife and two sons and two daughters survived him; also two brothers, Dr. Wilkes McGown, of Lynn, Mass., and the Rev. A. J. McGown, now (1905) pastor of the Congregational church at Amherst, N. H.
Sept. 25, 1875, he married Abby Frances Rowe, of Ellsworth, Me. Five children were born to them : Ruth May, Ralph Sumner, Anna Estella, Roy Edmund, and Ernest Alfred, the last named child dying in infancy.
A newspaper account of his death says: "Wherever he has been he has left the impress of his faithfulness, and people were everywhere impressed by the integrity and faithfulness of his Chris- tian life and ministry ; and everywhere he was called ' a good man.' While his life was comparatively short it would be hard to estimate the good he has done."
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HISTORY OF MONT VERNON.
THE FIFTEENTH REGULAR PASTOR was the Rev. John Thorpe, who was born May 4th, 1845, in the village of Newton Heath, three miles from the city of Manchester, England, which, at this writing (1904), is a ward of said city. His father, Joel Thorpe. was born in Moston, a suburb of Manchester, and died in October, 1880, at the age of 75. His mother's maiden name was Sarah Brown, and she was born at Compstall Bridge. Derbyshire, England, Jan. 5, 1811, and is still (1904) living with grandchildren. Both father and mother were silk weavers on the hand loom. There were eleven children, of whom John was the sixth. He went to school at three years of age, and at eight worked in the print works at what was known as a " half timer." At thirteen he began to work as a "full-timer," and attended a night school until he was twenty. He began work as a local preacher at the age of sixteen for the " Methodist New Con- nexion," still working as a calico printer, at the Claybon Vale Print Works, Manchester. At twenty-one he went to work in a Manches- ter ware-house, first as a porter and messenger, then as travelling salesman. At the age of twenty-four he married Miss Emily A. C. Bennett, eldest daughter of Alfred and Sarah Ann Bennett, of New- ton Heath. Mr. Bennett was superintendent of a cotton mill at the time of his death in 1870. Her mother is still (1904) living in Failsworth, Manchester, at the age of 76.
At the age of twenty-five John Thorpe sailed for New York, and after a rough passage of 52 days in a clipper ship, landed at Castle Garden, New York, May 8, 1871. He worked three months in a woolen mill at Raritan, N. J., and then went to Lawrence, Mass., and at first worked as a cloth-folder in the Washington Mills, and later as a cloth-inspector. On Sundays he was engaged in mission services, supplying pulpits in various places, and following his occu- pation in the mill during the week.
In May, 1874, he returned with his wife to England. Leaving her with her mother, he went to London, and in June, 1874, sailed for Quebec, Canada, removing to Upper Canada, and then to Detroit, and Chicago, at which last named place he was employed by a sur- veyor for a brief time. Then he went to Elgin, Ill., as an attendant in a hospital. On the first of March, 1875, he went to Washington, D. C., and thence to Baltimore, and later to Philadelphia, from which place he shipped in a Guion steamer for London, and later rejoined his wife in Manchester. They soon went to honse-keeping in the Lancashire seaport town of Southport, where he did odd jobs for a
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hardware dealer, and finally acted as a salesman. He afterward was employed as lodge-keeper and messenger at the Lancashire Indepen- dent College at Whalley Range, Manchester ; and later as librarian at the Longsight ( Manchester) Mechanics Institute. .
In January, 1880, he returned to Lawrence, Mass., as a cloth- inspector, and also resumed religious work under his local preacher's license. In 1884 he served the Tower Hill Congregational church of Lawrence as pulpit supply. In 1885 he removed to South Weare, N. H., as preacher and missionary, and Dec 30, 1885, was ordained and installed as a Congregational minister in the Congregational church at South Weare. On Sunday afternoons he also supplied the pulpit at North Weare, also preaching often for the Free Baptists.
June 17, 1888, he began his pastorate of the Congregational church at Mont Vernon, where he preached until Sept. 1, 1894. On this date he began service as pastor of the Congregational churches at Andover and East Andover, N. H., laboring there until March 1, 1899, when he removed to Brookline, N. H., where he served as pas- tor of the Congregational church until June 1, 1902, when he began his labors with the Congregational church at Center Harbor (on Lake Winnepesaukee), N. H., under an engagement on a mutual basis for what is called " An Indefinite Time"-which connection he still holds (June, 1905).
In the Old Scholars' Union Magazine, a Sunday-school publica- tion, issued in 1891, Mr. Thorpe gives a good many facts in his career. His call to be a preacher, he says, came when he was a child, when his ambition was to enter the ministry. At 16 he joined the church, at 18 he preached his first sermon in the old Culcheth school, at 19 he was put on the " plan," and at 21 went to work in the city of Manchester. At 24, he says, he " married the prettiest Lancashire lass in the whole county." At 25 he set sail for New York, where he landed, May 8, 1871. At 26 he joined the Free Con- gregational church at Lawrence, Mass., and the next year preached for the Methodists at various places in Massachusetts and New Hampshire.
One who knows him well says :
" The free, frank, independent, happy-go-lucky, roaming, rhym- ing, contented, rollicking spirit of John Thorpe was learned by him from reading and assimilating over and over again the life of John Wesley, who said : . I look upon the World as my parish. I have
.
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no time to be in a hurry. God buries his workmen, but continues his work. The best of all is, God is with us '"
"No foot of land do I possess, No cottage in this wilderness- A poor way-faring man; I lodge awhile in tents below, And gladly wander to and fro, Till I may Canaan gain. "
Mr. Thorpe's ministry at Mont Vernon was busy and successful. He might well be called a "hearty" minister, both in his preaching and in his parish work. His varied experiences made him a fit_ex- emplar of St. Paul's note of his own course in " becoming all things to all men," and he had a whole-souled manner which made him wel- come in every household.
THE SIXTEENTII PASTOR was the Rev. Thomas Jones Lewis, son of Thomas and Susan (Jones ) Lewis, and he was born in Swansea, Wales, July 2, 1857. He attended the public schools in his native place, and began to preach when only eighteen years of age in a Con- gregational church in Swansea. He came to the United States in August, 1883, and was a student at Marietta, Ohio, in that and the succeeding year. From 1884 to 1887 he was a student at the Theo- logical Seminary at Bangor, Me., graduating with his class.
After graduation he preached two years at Deer Isle, Me., but was not ordained to the gospel ministry until Dec. 5, 1889. This occurred at Southwest Harbor, Me., where he began preaching in September of that year, and continued until April, 1891. In May, 1891, he became pastor of the church at East Andover, N. H., and served there until July, 1894, when he succeeded the Rev. John Thorpe as pastor of the Congregational church at Mont Vernon, who in turn succeeded him at East Andover. Mr. Lewis remained at Mont Vernon until December, 1897, when he went to Wales, supply- ing a pulpit at Portheawl for about a year. In 1899, having returned to this country, he was recalled to the pulpit at East Andover, N. H., which he served until January, 1904. At this time he was called to the pastorate of the Congregational church at Conway, N. H., where he is still serving successfully and happily (June, 1905).
On the 19th of February, 1878, Mr. Lewis was united in mar- riage to Miss Annie Daniels, by whom he has had four children, of whom three are living.
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Mr. Lewis's pastorate at Mont Vernon was successful in every respect. It was during this pastorate that the new meeting-house was dedicated. Mr. Lewis was an honest, faithful, and devoted Christian minister, and a preacher of no mean abilities. He possessed the entire respect and esteem of all his people.
THE SEVENTEENTH PASTOR, the Rev. Donald Browne, commenced preaching here November, 1898. He was born at London, England, November 3d, 1851, son of Donald and Sarah (Humphrey) Browne. Educated in Devonshire, then became teacher. He took charge of an Episcopal Mission School in Newfoundland four years. He was Judge of District Court six years at St Barbes, Newfoundland. He studied in the theological department of Boston University, was or- dained over a Congregational church at Tiverton, R. I., in 1889, re- maining there three years. In 1892 he went to the Broadway Con- gregational church. Fall River, preaching there several years. He closed his two years' pastorate liere November, 1900. Mr. Browne while here assisted in the work of Grace Episcopal Church of Man- chester, N. H., of which the Rev. W. Jones was rector. Mr. and Mrs. Browne were very highly esteemed here, and the universal sentiment of the parish was of much regret at their departure He went from Mount Vernon to pastoral work in Manchester, N. H., and later to Derry, N. H .. and at this writing (June, 1905.) he is at South Groveland, Mass. These last two charges were in the Episcopal denomination.
THE EIGHTEENTH PASTOR of the church (who is serving at this date, June, 1905, ) is the Rev. Henry Porter Peck. He was born in Kalamazoo, Michigan, Oct. 25, 1853, and spent his boyhood and early manhood in Norfolk, Conn. He fitted for college at Williston Seminary, at Easthampton, Mass., and graduated at Amherst College in the class of 1878. IIe spent two years in the study of theology at Auburn, N Y., and two years at Andover Theological Seminary, where he graduated in 1882. May 1, 1882, he was called to the pas- torate of the Congregational church at Plymouth, N. H., where he served from 1882 to 1889. October 1, 1889. he was called to the Second Congregational church at Winsted, Conn., where he remained until Oct. 1, 1891, and May 1, 1892, was settled over the Congrega- tional church at Milford, N. H., until Oct. 1, 1899. He began his ministry at Mont Vernon in the winter of 1900-1901, where he still
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