USA > New Hampshire > Hillsborough County > Peterborough > History of the town of Peterborough, Hillsborough county, New Hampshire > Part 19
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" Voted, To raise eight hundred dollars for a fire-engine and apparatus."
"Voted, To accept the sums raised by subscription for the same." Chose John H. Steele, Thomas Little, and Granville P. Felt a committee to purchase the same.
In 1874, the town voted, for the security of their property, to lay down water-pipes from the Phoenix Factory to the Town- Hall, which pipes were to be connected with the force-pump of the factory. Individuals who owned property on Main Street raised by subscription between $1100 and $1200, to continue the same through the street, to the great bridge. The work was completed late in the fall of this year, tried, and found to be in perfect order.
In less than two weeks after the pipes were laid it was brought to a successful trial. A room in Henry K. French's building, just over the book-store, having been set on fire by an incendiary, at five different places, with kindlings, so as to insure a rapid fire, the water-works were brought into full play upon the same, in a very short time, and quickly extinguished the same, with but little loss to the building.
SURPLUS REVENUE. - During the administration of An- drew Jackson, President of the United States, a large amount of the revenues of the government was deposited with the sev- eral States, to be repaid when called for, and in the distribu- tion to New Hampshire, Peterborough received her moiety of
240
HISTORY OF PETERBOROUGH.
the State division. An agent, Timothy K. Ames, was chosen by the town to receive their share, and the town was pledged, agreeable to an act of the Legislature, for the safe keeping and repayment of the same, if required to be returned. The whole amount received in three several instalments, includ- ing interest, amounted to $5,695.38, all of which was appro- priated to the payment of the Poor Farm and stocking the same for running order.
THE OSGOOD GRATUITY .- At a legal meeting of the town held March 10, 1868, "Voted, That the town accept the legacy bequeathed by the late Isaac P. Osgood, of Boston (son of the late Dr. Kendall Osgood), upon the conditions specified in his late will and testament, and that the select- men be authorized to receive and receipt for the same."
' The following is the article alluded to in the will :-
"I give to the selectmen, for the time being, of my native town of Peterborough, in the State of New Hampshire, one thousand dollars, to be by them invested in some safe secur- ity, bearing an annual interest of six per cent., the annual income thereof to be by them distributed annually to such paupers of the town as they may judge to be worthy of such charity."
POST-OFFICE. - We suppose there were no postal facilities in town prior to the establishment of a post-office, and the appointment of John Smith, P. M., Oct. 1, 1795. Whether there were any post-offices in any of the neighboring towns, by which letters were sent to the inhabitants of Peterborough, we have no means of knowing. Postal facilities during the Revolution and the subsequent years, to the establishment of the Federal Constitution, 1789, must have been very meagre, if any really existed. It is probable that all the correspond- ence of that day, which was very small, must have been done through private means. The following are the names of all the postmasters who have held office in town :-
John Smith, Samuel Smith, 2d Ist Postmaster, appointed Ist of October, 1795
Ist of July, 1797
241
MISCELLANEOUS.
Jonathan Smith,
66 4th of January, 1817 Riley Goodridge, 5th 66
66 29th of October, 1833
Samuel Gates, 6th
66 Ioth of Febru'y, 1841
Henry Steele, 7th
15th of May, 1854
Miss S. M. Gates, 8th
66
66 Ist of February, 1861
John R. Miller, 9th
17th of August, 1861
which office he now holds.
3d Postmaster appointed 15th of June, 1813 Samuel Smith, 4th 66
The mail was first carried from Brattleboro to Portsmouth once a week, by a Mr. Balch. This mail-route was among those first established in the State, under the Federal Consti- tution of 1789. We are uncertain as to the precise time that William Thayer succeeded Mr. Balch; but he continued to carry the mail till 1807, when he died suddenly, at Amherst, from an injury received in an innocent scuffle with one of his friends. Daniel Gibbs was the next mail-carrier, and contin- ued to follow the business till his death in 1824, when he was accidentally thrown out of his wagon at the great bridge in the village, then under repair, and fatally injured. For many years he carried the mail on horseback, as his predecessors had done before him, till the one-horse wagons came into use. He at once adopted this vehicle, as more convenient for his mail-matter, and as enabling him occasionally to carry a pas- senger on his route. Asa Gibbs, his son, succeeded him, and for a few years carried the mail in a two-horse' carriage, till the establishment of stages. The first mail-coach from Ex- eter to Brattleboro commenced running July 14, 1828, three times a week. It was first started and run by George W. Senter and I. N. Cuningham. These facilities were soon so increased as to have a daily mail from Boston, and a stage up and down each day through our village. This continued till the advent of railroad facilities in 1871.
31
242
HISTORY OF PETERBOROUGH.
POPULATION .- The first census of Peterborough was made in 1767, as follows :-
Unmarried men from 16 to 60, 33
Married men, . 64
Boys 16 and under, II3
Men 66 and above, . I3
Females unmarried, 149
Females married, 68
Male slaves, .
Female slaves,
00
Widows,
02
443
A census was taken again in 1775 as follows : -
Males under 16, . I35
from 16 to 50, 77
above 50, . 23
Persons gone to the army, 25
All females, . . 277
Negroes and slaves for life,
08
545
We have no farther enumeration till the Constitution had been adopted, and the first census taken, in 1790.
In 1790 the population of Peterborough was, 861
" 1800 1,333
“ 1810
1,537
" 1820 66 66.
1,500
1830
1,983
“ 1840 66
2,163
1850 66
2,222
" 1860
66
2,265
" 1870
2,228
It will be seen by the above, that the population of Peter- borough has remained nearly stationary for the last forty years. The manufacturing interests have increased while the agricultural have greatly diminished. Many farms are so
243
MISCELLANEOUS.
run out, by the deterioration of the land and expense of culti- vation, that they have already been abandoned, and many more will be when the houses on the same become tenantless. We know not how these lands are to be revived, as long as the agricultural products of the West can be brought to us by a cheap transportation, so as to undersell our products raised on the hard soil and by the dear labor of New England. -
The population on all the old farms in town is constantly decreasing, while that of the villages scarcely increases in the same proportion.
In the Centennial Address of 1839, the emigrants from Peterborough, scattered through all the various parts of our country, were estimated at four hundred and eighty. Mr. W. S. Treadwell has, for a number of years, been carefully engaged in ascertaining the number of emigrants since that time, and has found it to be nine hundred and sixteen.
CHAPTER XXI.
CONCLUSION.
Difficulties of the Work. - Changes in Town. - Number of Families Left or Extinct. - Present Descendants. - Comparative Merits of the Descendants with their Ancestors. - Character of the Adopted Citizens. - Number and Character of the Professional Men.
This work is now completed, and no one more than myself can feel how inadequately it has been done. I was too late on the stage for the undertaking; and it should have been a life work, rather than the eking out of the end of a hard pro- fessional life. The actors of these early times have passed away, with no record left; their immediate descendants have all disappeared, equally recordless, and the present generation are far advanced in age, with little ability to aid the historian. They were all too indifferent to dates, and too vague in their relations, to be reliable without farther and accurate research. It is true, nowadays, that very little importance is to be attached to tradition, the facilities for writing and printing having become so numerous and easy that no one thinks it necessary to charge his memory with the details of events that may be so well expressed and preserved in this manner. Those men, with their great memories and with their full store of facts, having all passed away before I began my labors, I have had to grope my way as best I could, coming far short of what I desired, or what should have justly been expected in this work.
The changes in town have been very great. Many of the families, large and influential a century ago, have now all left
245
CONCLUSION.
town, and many of them have become extinct; while many others have become reduced to a very few individuals.
It is believed that, of the following families, there is not now in town a single descendant bearing the family name: Cuningham, Swan, Alld, Wallace, Stinson, Gordon, Mitchell, Todd, Stuart, Duncan, Ferguson, Milliken, Taylor, Powers, Evans, Young, Huston, Wiley, Ballard, McCloud, Hammill, Chubbuc, Finch, Crane, Loring, Holmes, Hale, Holt, Parker, Penniman, Allison, Haggett, Barker, Chapman, Mussey, Hugh Wilson, Whittemore.
The names of the descendants of the first settlers and of the early inhabitants of the town, which follow, in a few instances include a considerable race left, but many of them are reduced to a very small number :-
Robbe, Scott, Smith, Morison, Steele, Moore, Treadwell, McCoy, Hovey, Smiley, Diamond, Brackett, Ritchie, Upton, Laws, Leathers, White, Wilson, Field, Thayer, Hunt, Blair, Weston, Howe, Little, Hadley, Nay, Pierce, Carter, Barber, Puffer, Gowing, Miller, Felt, Davison, Turner, Spring, Gray, Porter, Grimes. The changes of residences, and of families from the old homesteads, have been very great; but very few places remain in the hands of the descendants of the early settlers.
The farms now owned by the descendants of the first set- tlers, or of those who took up their farms in a wild state, are as follows :-
The farms of Nathaniel H. Moore, Thomas Davison, John Field (occupied by his daughter's family), A. A. Farnsworth, James Wilson, Brackett heirs, Sally Spring, heirs of I. D. White, J. S. Diamond, Stephen D. Robbe, Silas Barber, Al- vah Puffer, William Hadley, Frank Smiley, James Scott.
I think it may be within the truth to say that between .
one-fifth and one-sixth only of the inhabitants of to-day are the descendants of the early settlers and early resi- dents of the town. In looking over the town, through the agricultural, mechanical, mercantile, and professional part of the community, they all seem new men. Where are the descendants? They have either died out, or gone to new
246
HISTORY OF PETERBOROUGH.
homes ; and we hope they have infused their good principles, learned and imbibed here, into other communities. The adopted citizens, who have been here longer or shorter pe- riods, are good inhabitants, and do much to sustain the high character of the town for talent and probity. They are superior to the average of other communities for talent and business capacity, and will do their part faithfully in sustain- ing the character of this ancient town. They know its pio- neers only through history; but they are proud of such an inheritance, - proud of the men who left, so unmistakably, the impress of their virtues upon the town.
We are so accustomed to laud our ancestors, that we are wont to attribute to them, besides their own good qualities, others which they did not possess. They were, undoubtedly, an extraordinary race of men; but, with all their excellences they had large failings.
They were unlearned men, with strong and vigorous intel- lects, with large common-sense, with a keen observation, and an inquisitive turn of mind, so they could learn orally what it is so hard for us to acquire by long discipline and teaching. They could listen well, if a man had anything to say worth hearing. Their judgment and sagacity easily detected all shams, so no one could gain a hearing who was not worthy. With books they had little to do except the Bible; and they drew from this, as from a great storehouse, in all the exi- gencies of life.
Many persons are in the habit of extolling the ancestors as vastly superior to their descendants. To this I can give no assent. In the course of my investigations, I have carefully looked through all the branches of the descendants down to the present time; and am more and more satisfied that they are in every way worthy of their parentage, and that there has been no deterioration, but rather an improvement, upon the whole.
In comparing the talents and virtues of the fathers with their children, we must take into the account the different spheres in which they were placed. The qualities and noticns of these much-lauded men would be as much out of place at
247
CONCLUSION.
the present time as that of their children would have been in their day.
The times then required just such men, sagacious, honest, faithful, sincere, and upright, devoid alike of all the graces and refinements of modern society. They were clothed coarsely and lived upon a plain diet, free from all the modern luxuries. More independent men were never known; they felt themselves in their homespun the equals of any of God's creation. A few of them, as is always the case, towered above the rest, but there was, beside, much material that did little honor to the settlement. We do injustice to ourselves as well as to the truth, when we assume that all our ances- tors were of this highest type of manhood. The same diver- sity existed then as now. There were then, as now, the good, bad, and indifferent.
It is often asked what we have to put against such men? I say a worthy list of descendants, such a list as we may well be proud of. In many families there has been a decided ad- vance in their descendants. Many worthy men have done honor to the town, while their parents were little respected. They must have grown up under the influences that sur- rounded all our youth a century ago, and in this way they ac- quired correct principles and virtuous habits which were little known or inculcated at the paternal hearth.
This was true of these men, but how is it with the descend- ants of the best and most influential families? Have they sustained the characters of their fathers? I think they have. Not that they have exhibited the same kind of talent; that would be preposterous to expect, and such qualities now are not required.
The first settlers required peculiar qualifications for the work they had undertaken. They needed shrewdness, sagac- ity, and common-sense. They needed hardihood, boldness, and courage, for all the exigencies and trials of frontier life. High culture and refinement would have been entirely out of place, and would have been regarded as signs of effem- inacy. The hardier virtues flourished, and admirably fitted the men for the peculiar duties of their times. At a later
248
HISTORY OF PETERBOROUGH.
period, a new order of talent was required; men no longer became prominent by mere physical prowess, or by the robust and hardy endurance of such dangers and perils as was re- quired in the early settlement. In the new generation came up the enjoyment of greater advantages in education (the town had fifty college graduates to 1876), of more comfort- able modes of living, of much improved dwellings, of many luxuries and indulgences not known before, of books, news- papers, and all the refining methods of a higher civilization. Did they deteriorate under these influences ? The age im- posed upon them duties requiring a different order of talents, and in the discharge of their duties, they showed themselves as competent and able as their fathers had ever been.
We should not be considered as disparaging the talents and virtues of our ancestors by saying, that the great distance in time between them and us magnifies their good qualities, so that they appear to the best advantage, and that the memory of their virtues and their excellences has been preserved, while the foibles and deficiencies of their lives are little known.
I wish briefly to enumerate the professional men the town has sent forth. It has furnished some fifteen or sixteen clergymen, all of them respectable and useful men, one of them president of a college, and two of them honored with the title of D. D.
A large number of lawyers, about thirty, have gone forth. They proved men of ability and knowledge, and some of them became very eminent in their profession. Two of them have held the highest judicial office in the State, and one held the same office in another State; some of them have been Repre- sentatives in Congress, and one has been Governor of the State. It has furnished about twenty physicians, many of them very efficient men, who have been eminent and useful in the sphere of their practice, three of this number having held the important offices of medical professors in the New Hampshire and Ohio Medical Colleges, and two of them hon- ored with the highest literary title, of LL. D.
We have had, besides these professional men, two Gover-
·
249
CONCLUSION.
nors from our town, and those who have held other responsi- ble offices in the general and State government.
We have never lacked good material, at any time, for our town offices, the business of which has always been efficiently and correctly done.
Our present home talent is not to be disregarded, nor will it suffer in comparison with that of a century ago. "Justitia fiat, cælum ruat."
We end our record in this Centennial year with many fore- bodings for the future, but we trust that with the new access of railroad facilities, our beloved and ancient town is not des- tined to sink into insignificance. May the future historian of Peterborough find clearer fields before him, and a better record of facts to resort to, and so make a more satisfactory history than this can be. We shall be content to have our book thrust aside, when it shall be superseded by a better one.
BUSINESS DIRECTORY OF PETERBOROUGH,
1876.
BANKS. - First National Bank of Peterborough, Savings Bank Build- ing : Frederick Livingston, President; C. P. Richardson, Cashier. Peter- borough Savings Bank: Albert Smith, President; M. L. Morrison, Treasurer.
DRY GOODS, GROCERIES, AND FURNITURE. - William G. Livingston, Grove Street ; Sylvester Tenney, corner Main and Summer Streets ; Asa Davis, Main Street; J. Fisher, West Peterborough; Smith Brothers, Tarbell's Block.
MILLINERY AND FANCY GOODS. - Mrs. F. A. Tracy, Grove Street ; Mrs. T. D. Winch, Town Hall; New York Store, Brennan's Block ; Miss Evleth & Co., French's Block.
BOOKS AND STATIONERY .- John H. Steele, French's Hotel Block; Miss M. J. Nichols, Town Hall.
ICE DEALER. - A. L. Shattuck, East Street.
MILKMEN. - D. Osborn, Concord Street; J. M. Collins, Union Street ; Holt & Hunter, South Peterborough ; G. F. Livingston, Grove Street.
32
250
HISTORY OF PETERBOROUGH.
LIVERY STABLES. - H. K. French, Main Street; John Rourke, Depot Street ; M. A. Smith, Union Street.
TEAMING AND JOBBING. - Townsend & Lovejoy, Main Street; A. T. Hovey, Concord Street.
MEATS AND PROVISIONS. - C. F. & G. S. Peavey, Main Street ; Eaton & Shedd, High Street; W. F. Pratt, Main Street.
FISH MARKET. - E. Goldthwait, Main Street ; C. Silver, Union Street.
BAKERY. - George H. Longley, Proprietor, Main Street.
REFRESHMENT ROOMS. - E. H. Pierce, Brennan's Block.
WATCHES AND JEWELRY. - A. F. Grimes, Dell M. Nichols, Main Street ; F. H. Coffin, Grove Street.
DRUGS AND MEDICINES. - John R. Miller, Main Street; George L. Forbush, Grove Street.
HARNESSES AND CARRIAGE UPHOLSTERY. - E. W. McEntosh, Main Street; G. W. Ames, North Peterborough; Frank Steele (Upholstery), Concord Street.
PAINTERS. - Lorenzo Holt (Carriage), Grove Street ; L. P. Wilson (House), Grove Street.
CARRIAGE-MAKERS AND WHEELWRIGHTS. - Geo. W. Farrar, Grove Street ; John D. Diamond, East Peterborough.
STONE MASONS. - Asa Davis, Pine Street ; John N. Thayer, Concord Street ; J. W. Macomber, South Peterborough ; Dennis O'Keefe, Granite Street ; Thomas Scott, High Street.
BRICK MASONS. - G. W. Marden, Concord Street ; William Lawrence, North Peterborough; Amasa Alexander, Union Street ; P. McLaughlin, West Peterborough.
TIN-WARE, &C. - Augustus Fuller, Main Street; Nichols Brothers, Main Street.
FLOUR AND GRAIN. - J. F. Noone, Stone Grist-mill, Main Street.
HATS, CAPS, AND CLOTHING STORE. - Marshall Nay, Grove Street ; John Wilder & Co., corner Main and Grove Streets.
TAILORS. - H. H. Templeton, Grove Street ; Osgood & Martin, Main Street.
SHOE STORES. - F. S. Bullard & Son, W. E. Baker, W. E. Dadman, Main Street.
MARBLE WORKS .- H. Brennan, Main Street; Spline & Wallace, Pine Street.
251
CONCLUSION.
BLACKSMITHS .- G. W. Farrar, Grove Street; E. A. Robbins, Depot Street.
PAPER MANUFACTURING. - Nay & Adams, West Peterborough ; J. J. Barker, West Peterborough.
CARPENTERS. - C. E. Jaquith, Grove Street; C. H. Longley, Union Street; George B. Priest, Concord Street; A. Abbot Forbush, Union Street ; Ira Forbush, Union Street ; Jeremiah Pritchard, Vine Street.
HOTELS. - H. K. French, French's Hotel, Main Street; M. A. Smith, St. James Hotel, Union Street.
LAWYERS. - Scott & Clark, Counsellors of Law and Insurance Agents, Grove Street; Ezra M. Smith, Counsellor of Law, Main and Grove Streets ; D. W. White, Counsellor of Law, Main Street.
PHYSICIANS. - D. B. Cutter, M. D., Main Street ; Albert Smith, M. D., Concord Street; John H. Cutler, M. D., Main Street ; W. D. Chase, M. D., Concord Street.
CLERGYMEN. - Rev. George Dustan, Union Congregational ; Rev. A. W. Jackson, Congregational; Rev. C. F. Myers, Baptist; Rev. J. H. Hil- man, Methodist; Rev. Edmund Buckle, St. Peter's, Catholic.
MILITARY .- Cheney Guards, John D. Diamond, Captain, thirty-two men ; Section B., N. H. Battery, thirty men, Lieut. A. A. Forbush; Co. A., Ist Reg. N. H. Cavalry, L. P. Wilson, Captain, sixty mounted men ; D. M. White, Major 2d N. H. Reg .; W. H. Greenwood, Major Ist N. H. Reg.
PETERBOROUGH CORNET BAND. - C. E. White, Leader ; W. E. Davis, Treasurer; E. A. Towne, Clerk.
COTTON FACTORIES. - Phoenix Corporation, Jonas Livingston, Super- intendent ; Union Manufacturing Co., J. S. Moody, Superintendent, West Peterborough ; Peterborough Manufacturing Co., Main Street, E. B. Hill, Superintendent.
WOOLLEN MILL. - Joseph Noone's Sons, South Peterborough ; R. H. Noone, Superintendent.
MISCELLANEOUS. - News and Telegraph Office, J. H. Steele, French's Hotel Block; United States and Canada Express, H. K. French, French's Hotel Block; Postmaster, John R. Miller, Town Hall; Postmaster, Jus- tin Fisher, West Peterborough ; Surgeon Dentists, S. N. Porter, Main Street ; C. H. Haywood, Main Street; Peterborough Transcript, Farnum & Scott, Main Street ; Undertaker, E. O. Willey, Grove Street; Hair- Dressing, &c., J. Gil. Fish, Main Street; Photographs, George H. Script- ure, Main Street; Florist, F. F. Myrick, Grove Street; Organs and Pianos, J. M. Bruce, Grove Street ; Auctioneers, Vose & Scott, Concord Street ; Piano-Stool Manufactory, Joshua Briggs, Union Street; Barome-
252
HISTORY OF PETERBOROUGH.
ters and Thermometers, Charles Wilder, North Peterborough; Machine- Shop and Foundry, and Manufactory of People's Pumps, Granville P. Felt, Elm Street; Truss Manufactory, Howe & Carter, Main Street ; Basket Manufactory, Amzi Childs, Main Street.
STREETS AND AVENUES.
Concord Street, from Main Street, north.
Central
66 Vale, south.
Depot 66 66 Main, south, to School.
Elm
66
Union, south-west.
Factory
Winter, east.
Granite
Pine, south.
Grove
Main, south.
High 66
66 Main, north-east.
Laurel
Grove, west.
Main
Concord, north-west, to Union.
Pine
" Main, south-east.
Phoenix Avenue,
Grove, west.
Prospect Street,
Union, north-west.
Summer
Main, north.
School
Grove, to Depot.
Union
Main, north-west, to West Peterborough.
Vale
66 Grove, to Winter.
Vine
66
Main, east.
Winter
66
Elm, south.
John H. Morison
AN ADDRESS
DELIVERED AT THE
CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION IN PETERBOROUGH, N. H.,
OCTOBER 24th, 1839.
BY JOHN HOPKINS MORISON.
ONE hundred years ago this whole valley, from mountain to mountain, from the extreme north to the extreme southern limit, was one unbroken forest. The light soil upon the banks of the Contoocook was covered with huge and lofty pines, while the rocky hills and rich, loamy lands were shaded with maple, beech, and birch, interspersed with ash, elm, hem- lock, fir, oak, cherry, bass, and other kinds of wood. Bogs and swamps were far more extensive then than now; and the woods in many parts, on account of the fallen timber and thick underbrush, were almost impassable. The deer and the moose roamed at large ; the wolf and bear prowled about the hills ; the turkey and partridge whirred with heavy flight from tree to tree, while the duck swam undisturbed upon the lonely, silent waters. The beaver and the freshet made the only dam that impeded the streams in their whole course from the high- lands to the Merrimack; the trout, pickerel, and salmon moved through them unmolested, while the old Monadnock, looking down in every direction upon almost interminable for- ests, saw in the hazy distance the first feeble encroachments upon the dominion which he had retained over his wild sub- jects for more than a thousand years.
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