USA > New Hampshire > Cheshire County > Richmond > History of the town of Richmond, Cheshire County, New Hampshire, from its first settlement, to 1882 > Part 13
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Harvey Martin.
Harvey Martin has for many years done black- smithing in connection with his carriage work.
CARPENTERS.
Paul Boyce, Stephen Harris, Paul Jillson, Luther and Nicholas Cook, Israel and George Martin, Samuel and Timothy Pickering, and nearly all of the latter's sons, Henry Rice, jr., Benjamin David, Lucius and Hosea Aldrich, Orrin, Edson, and John Starkey, George and Henry Taylor, Nathaniel Naromore, and Nathaniel Naromore, jr.
SHOEMAKERS.
The town in the early time was quite well supplied with shoemakers; some of the craft were in each part of the town. In the south-east part, Jonathan Cook did a considerable portion of the work. In the
OLD BAPTIST MEETING HOUSE. See page 185.
UNION STORE (Middle of Town). See page 167.
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north-west, John Bolles took the lead. and in the centre, Moses Allen, sr., was the principal work- man. Some of the early shoemakers went with their kit from house to house, and made up the year's stock for the family from leather bought of the tanner. Previous to 1800, the bottoms of boots and shoes were sewed on. A pair of calf-skin boots were supposed to last nearly a lifetime. The best in general use for , the misses to go to meeting in was calfskin. Some more favored occasionally had morocco, but this was a luxury not shared by all.
In later times are remembered the following who worked at the trade, viz .: George Handy, Amos Bennett, Aaron Tenney, Ballou Swan, Stillman Twitchell, Stephen Bolles, Ephraim Bennett, Carlos Jewell, Alonzo Ballou, John Butterfield, Edwin P. Tenney, and John Wheeler.
OLD BAPTIST MEETING-HOUSE.
The old Baptist meeting-house, which is still stand- ing and used as a town-house, was built about 1781, and was first occupied by the town for holding town- meetings, in August, 1782, and has been continuously so used since. It was erected by the old Baptist church, on land conveyed to them by Hezekiah Man, who soon after removed to Swansey, but at this time was living in the Bill Buffum house. The building is thirty by forty feet, of solid oak timber of huge dimensions, and would last another century if pro- tected from the weather. The interior arrangement was patterned after the style of the period, with high pulpit, in front of which was the deacon's seat. It had square box pews, and galleries on three sides,
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with no fireplace or other provision for warming. The town altered and repaired the house in 1884, at an expense of $150. The body pews were removed and benches substituted instead, was plastered over- head, a chimney built, and a stove put in. This ex- penditure, with the exception of shingling once about ISTO, at a cost of $25, is nearly all the town has had . to pay for the town-house for a century.
Clustering around this ancient edifice are many historic associations. The foundations were laid in faith and hope by men who, in addition to the labor of making homes in the wilderness, had but just passed through the fiery, trying ordeal of the Revo- lution. It has stood unmoved and unshaken for a century, and is to-day a fit monument to perpetuate the memory of the fathers. The house was dedi- cated to the worship of God, but this did not preclude the use of it for other proper and necessary purposes. The builders were not narrow and bigoted, and did not regard it a defilement for the transaction of town business. No necessary, legitimate business with them was pollution. All necessary work was relig- ious work. In this they manifested a liberality in advance of the age. Many changes have been rung within the walls. The pious, devotional intonations from the sacred desk have alternated with the coarse ejaculations and clamors of contending factions. A phonograph that could reveal all the words herein spoken would make a volume incomparable in the literature of the world for its fullness in diversity of sentiment and in quaintness of style. The exterior is a familiar sight to all who have lived in town, and many of the older inhabitants remember the interior as it was. To all, this is a connecting link with the
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first settlers, and should be preserved in remembrance of their many virtues.
BURIAL PLACES.
The town in its corporate capacity has never had a cemetery over which it has exercised exclusive juris- diction. The one at the middle of the town appears to have received some supervision of late on the part of the town, as is evinced by the building therein a few years since a town receiving tomb ; but otherwise than
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this, the town has heretofore taken no action in the mat- ter. In all parts of the town may be found burial-places. About a dozen of these places have been counted up, selected chiefly as a matter of convenience by those living in the neighborhood of each. The means of carriage and transportation were such that the early settlers availed themselves of such places as were suitable and near at hand for the final repose of their dead, and of those thus early selected quite a number continue to be used. The noticeable feature
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of all is the comparatively few head-stones there are in each in proportion to the number of graves. The custom adopted by the Friends in the early time, of having no stone to mark the resting place of the de- parted, was copied by most of the inhabitants, and very few can be found bearing date prior to 1800. It may be seen that if only a moderate proportion of the graves had been marked, a very great aid would have been rendered the compilers of the genealogy of the families of the town. Many of the burial places appear to be uncared for. Not many living here now have a direct interest in the matter. Many families which once used these have disappeared, and none are left in charge of the trust. Individual action soon dies out and becomes extinct. The municipality is the only power capable of managing such matters through long periods of time, and to this should be confided the supervision and care of all places where the forefathers sleep. These grounds should present an inviting rather than a repulsive aspect, and should be fit places for visitation for purposes of meditation and spiritual improvement.
The Cass burying-ground is as ancient as any. This spot was given by Daniel Cass, sr., soon after the settlement of the town, and has largely been used by his descendants and connections, together with some of the members of the James Ballou family, and some others.
The Quaker yard was donated to the monthly meeting of the society of Friends about 1790 by Jede- diah Buffum. The first burial there was a daughter of the donor, Esther, the wife of Daniel Man, about 1780. The remains of Gideon Man, sr., and some others were removed from their first place of sepul-
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ture, south of the corner store, about 1809, by reason of the graves being within the lines of the Ashuelot turnpike.
The middle-of-the-town cemetery was bought by Jedediah Buffum of Hezekiah Man for a burial-place about 1780. This has been used for more general interment than any other, and has a receiving-tomb, built by the town in 1866. The ground is dry and elevated, and well adapted for the purpose; and, by enlargement, might be made a place more fully to answer the need of the town in the future.
The burial-ground on the hill in the north part of the town was probably set aside for the purpose quite early by Capt. Abner Aldrich. The date of the oldest head-stone is 1787, and this may have been a number of years after the ground was thus used.
The Benson yard was bought of Capt. Isaac Ben- son and Peleg Bowen, in 1807, by Joseph Newell, Thomas Bowen, Noah Bisbee, and others, for the sum of $88. Like the other cemeteries, it has never been laid out in lots, but has been free to all who may want to occupy it. The Benson family tomb is in one corner of the ground, and was reserved by Benson in the sale.
The Whipple-hill cemetery, located on land for- merly of Capt. Ebenezer Barrus, is one of the older places of interment. Two hundred and ten have their resting-place there, of which one hundred have graves that are marked.
The Whipple-family yard is nearly opposite the other, and is on the north side of the road. It con- tains forty graves, of which only thirteen are named.
The Deacon John Cass burial-ground, on the farm of Perley Amadon, contains a few graves mostly of
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the Cass and Kelton families. It is now seldom used.
Capt. Amos Boorn had a place for family inter- ment near the north-west corner of his farm. About twenty are here buried. The premises are now owned by Calvin Martin.
The Silas Ballou lot, a small enclosure south of Dennis Harkness', on the west side of the road, con- tains the earthly remains of Silas Ballou, the poet, and wife, together with those of Elijah Harkness and wife, and others of his family.
The Seth Ballou lot, north of the old Seth Ballou place, is the last resting-place of a few of his family and some others.
The Ellis family yard is on the Deacon Ellis place, now owned by Henry Bullock. This contains about twenty, mostly unmarked graves.
The north-west burial-ground is on the south side 'of the road west of George H. Taylor's. In this was deposited the remains of members of the Scott, Page, and Thayer and other families of the neigh- borhood.
Nathaniel Taft's family lot, located north-east of his house, contains a very few graves, mostly of his family.
There are some other places where two or three are buried together, of which we have no definite knowledge, and unknown they must remain until the last trumpet shall blow.
TIMES OF UNCOMMON SICKNESS AND DEATH.
Certain years are remembered as times of uncom- mon mortality, times in which whole neighborhoods were attacked by some prevailing epidemic, caused
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largely by miasmatic influences and atmospherical changes. Fevers of various types were formerly quite prevalent, the typhus was almost yearly a visi- tor in some households ; its ravages were often fear- ful and always to be dreaded. The treatment by the best practitioners of that time, of fevers especially, was such as would now be considered inhuman and barbarous, by the faculty of any school of medicine ; that many died is no wonder - that so many lived after such depletion, is a wonder.
No records now show how many were swept away at particular times by any prevailing distemper. About 1780, numerous cases of fever occurred, of which many died. In 1790, many children died ; Jonathan Cook lost four children that were nearly grown up. Again, in 1795, a malignant disease pre- vailed to an alarming extent among children. This epidemic prevailed to a greater extent in Royalston, and was there more fatal in its results ; all the chil- dren of some quite large families died. Some neigh- borhoods were fatally attacked by typhus in 1812; Whipple hill, in particular, was the scene of its rav- ages. Numbers then died, among whom were Darius Adams, who lived on the Cheney place, and Eben- ezer Barrus, 2d.
The year 1865 is now spoken of as the "year when so many died." About fifty took their departure dur- ing this year; some died of consumption, some of fever, and some of old age. No epidemic prevailed, but typhoid dysentery was quite common, of which many died. They were visited, it seems,
" By the pestilence that creepeth in the darkness, And by the plague that wasteth at noonday."
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ACCIDENTAL DEATHS.
The percentage of deaths by accident in this town may fairly be regarded as exceptionally small when compared with some other towns of no greater popu- lation, in which in a single day more lives have been destroyed by some fatal casualty than has occurred herein during its entire history. The town has never been visited by the terrible cyclone, strewing its path with death and destruction, nor has any conflagration shrouded in its fiery embrace the members of any household ; nor has other elemental strife caused wholesale destruction of life or property. During the times of settlement, when the primeval forest was being levelled, no death is chronicled, as might be supposed, from the felling of trees. A few cases of the kind, at a latter date, are still remembered. The history of the town is not blotted by a single murder or homicide within its borders, with the exception of the one traditionally related of savage warfare on a traveller passing through town.
The first in the list of accidental deaths of which we have gained any definite knowledge was the sud- den death of Jacob Boyce, who was kicked by a stallion in Royalston, by which the femoral artery was severed, and he bled to death immediately, in June, 1796.
Daniel Thurber, son of Hezekiah Thurber, was drowned in Cass' pond while attempting to swim the narrows between the points north-west of the old Baptizing place, about 1800.
Jacob Martin, son of Moses Martin, was killed by being thrown from a horse while descending the Swan hill, near the great rock, about 1813.
Chester Martin, son of Ezra, was killed by falling on a stone in going to school about 1830.
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Calvin, son of Calvin Bryant, was killed while getting over a fence in Swansey, Jan. 7, 1828.
Willard, son of Joseph Buffum, was thrown from a wagon and killed about 1830.
James Ellis, son of Deacon Martin Ellis, was thrown from a wagon while descending a hill in Templeton and killed, July 19, 1813.
Jedediah B. Taylor, son of Elias Taylor, was killed while felling trees in the woods, Feb. 16, 1826.
Hannah Cook, daughter of Luther Cook, was struck by lightning and instantly killed in the house now occupied by Calvin Cook, Sept. 25, 1829, the only death by lightning known in town.
Gardner Boorn, son of Stephen Boorn, while blasting rocks on the new road south of Benjamin Kelton's for Colonel Buffum, was killed by careless management of a rock explosion in 1832.
Jacob Martin, son of Wilderness Martin, was in- stantly killed by the kick of a horse on the side of his head, May 29, 1840.
Henry Harrison Rice, son of Henry Rice, fell from the frame of a saw-mill building, near the old Crane place, and died from the injury received, June 26, 1851.
Wheaton C. Jillson, in felling a tree in Wheeler's woods, near Cass' pond, was killed by the tree re- bounding, Sept. 9, 1865, aged 55.
Cyrenus Taft, son of Peleg Taft, jr., was instantly killed while working in the woods on Attleboro' mountain by the rebounding limb of a tree, Feb. 5, 1864, aged 40.
Paul Martin, son of Wilderness, living in Fitz- william at the time, died on account of a wound re- ceived in felling a tree in that town, in 1865.
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Oscar Bennett, son of Amos, was killed by being run over by a wagon drawn by a span of horses, Sept. 30, 1854, aged 24.
Amos A. Flint, who was living on the Daniel Cass place, in the east part of the town, was instantly killed by a circular-saw in Handy & Bowen's mill, April 14, 1869.
Two children of George W. Taylor, and one of Sumner P. Taylor, were killed by the falling of a cart body, Sept. 1, 1856.
A son of Joseph N. Brown was killed by a span of horses in Winchester, Aug. 5, 1865, aged 14.
FIRES.
The town has not suffered greatly by fires, com- paratively few indeed have occurred of any magni- tude. There may have been some in the early time of which we have no account, but the first in list of burnings appears to have been as late as the winter of 1816-1817, when the house of William Garnsey was burnt in the night time. This was the old Jon- athan Gaskell house, which stood near where the house of Jesse Bolles now is.
The barn of Grindall Thayer was destroyed by fire about 1820. The origin of this was supposed to be incendiary ; Prentice Thayer was convicted of the crime, for which he suffered three years in state prison.
The old Deacon Amos Garnsey house was burned 1843. David Buffum, 2d, owned the premises, and was living in the house at the time.
David Martin's house, which stood where Otis Mar- tin resides, was burned about 1844. This was a very good two-story house.
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The old John Pickering house, owned at the time by Seth A. Curtis, was destroyed by fire about 1840.
Uberto Bowen's store took fire on the night of Jan- uary 9, 1853, and was reduced to ashes, together with most of the goods therein. This was the great- est loss, by any one fire, that has ever occurred in town.
A. Halsey Atherton had the misfortune, about 1875, to lose by the fiery element the old Atherton man- sion, built by Jonathan Atherton, his great-grand- father, quite early in the history of the town.
The Luke Aldrich house, situated next south of old Nathan Aldrich's house, was burned about 1879. The origin of this was supposed to have been incendiary.
Amos Lawrence was burned out 1878. This was the house where Uriah Thayer formerly lived. Most of his furniture and clothing was lost.
Hiram Bryant's barn was struck by lightning and consumed, while he lived on the Josiah Lawrence place.
The old Gideon Man barn, owned by Edmond H. Southwick, situated near the Four corners, was de- stroyed by lightning, together with the contents, 1882.
The whole loss on buildings for more than one hundred years has evidently been less than $10,000, while the premiums that would have been required to insure them in any good company at a moderate estimate for the time, must have amounted to more than $30,000, an argument in favor of strictly farm- ing towns insuring the buildings within their limits.
TOWN MEETINGS.
The town meetings in olden time were apparently of more account than in these latter days ; the assemblages were large, there were more to attend than now, and
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perhaps politics ran higher ; but aside from the busi- ness to be transacted, it was a sort of gala day, a time for amusement and sport. The jesters, wrestlers, and boxers were there in force; rings were made on the common, or else recourse was had to Rawson's hall which was often the arena for the athletes. The hall was alternately used for wrestling or dancing, as the company desired. Quite often some champion of the ring from other towns was present to chal- lenge the bully of the town. Considerable excitement attended the matches, which constituted an annual side show for many years. The gingerbread business was triumphant in these days ; the sale of this was a special feature of the day, usually one or more bread carts were there, and the store and stand were well supplied. This was the great gingerbread day, every one ate it with a relish, and each carried home as much as his bandanna would hold, for the wife and children. Rawson's store and most of his house was given up to the public; the floors were heavily sprinkled with sawdust, and usually as many were there as at the meeting-house ; and when an impor- tant vote was to be taken, a messenger was quite often sent to summons the voters. This absenteeism was owing largely to the fact that in the early time the house was unwarmed and hence uncomfortable on most March meeting-days. The town meeting was on the whole a tumultuous assembly, and the moderator at times needed stentorian lungs, and a free use of the gavel to keep order. The presiding officers who could not so well leave the house for warmth and refreshment, were well provided with ample means of support through the trying ordeal incident to their position ; a full mug of toddy was
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usually placed on a projection of the pulpit before which they stood, and an occasional sip seemed to revive their flagging spirits, and as the burdens of the day pressed with greater urgency, toward night recourse was more often had by all, to the same means of support.
The records of the town bear evidence of prudent and legal management generally ; occasionally, how- ever, is noticed some proceedings diverging from the ordinary course. In a report of the committee to settle with the selectmen, 1808, the following items of expenditure occur. " The Selectmen also gave Elijah Howard thirty dollars to encourage him to marry Hannah Alexander of the town's money." " The selectmen also took of town's money to settle Esq. Tyler's fine and cost for marrying Elijah How- ard and Hannah Alexander One hundred and six dollars." This liberality on the part of the town was . for the purpose of getting rid of a pauper by her marriage with some person out of town, a transac- tion at the time considered a justifiable deviation from the golden rule.
SINGING-SCHOOLS.
About 1835, one Twitchell, from Vermont, kept two or three terms in succession a singing-school in the hall of Wheeler's tavern, which was largely at- tended by old and young from different parts of the town. This was an era worthy of note in marking the development of musical talent in the town, and was productive of much good in a social point of view, in making better acquainted those residing in different sections, who rarely met except at spelling-
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schools in the various districts, or at other gatherings in the neighborhoods. The teacher was considered well qualified for the position. He pitched his tune from the tuning-fork. They sang "Old Hundred," " Hebron," "Peterboro'," and other good old tunes, and also practiced some anthems which were re- hearsed with good effect at the close of the school. A few years later, say about 1840, Abram Marshall, from Lunenburg, kept a number of terms at the Four corners. One kept over the old corner store is re- membered as having been well patronized, and on the whole eminently successful. Marshall, in personal appearance, was the reverse of his predecessor, Twitchell. Marshall assumed more importance, and had more of a commanding way, so much so that he was thought by some to be exceedingly egotistical. This opinion was largely shared in, undoubtedly, by Uncle Tim (Esquire Pickering) who made this remark in relation to Marshall's playing on a trombone at one of the May trainings: "This Marshall goes marching about with his horn, too-tee ! too-tee ! and he thinks it's moosic. I tell you it is no moosic at all. He is one of those cat-headed and monkey- witted creatures whose eyes are on the top of his head just like a great baboon." Passing over this severely sharp sarcasm on Marshall indulged in by Pickering, we come down to nearly the present time, when William Atherton of Winchester, son of the venerable Esquire Atherton, formerly of Richmond, occupied the field here for several terms, who has the reputation of being a systematic and successful teacher of singing. His last term was in the winter of 1883-4, in the hall of Jerry Allen, at the old Wakefield hotel.
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HOW OLD GROUT BEAT THE TOWN, AND AFTER- WARDS WENT TO RAISING POPPIES.
Nahum Grout, a well known citizen of the town of sixty years ago, was reputed to be a Federalist, perhaps the only one at the time in town. The ma- jority, in order to show either their disrespect for the man, or manifest their detestation for his political principles, chose him at the annual meeting, about 1812, hog reeve, the duties of which office was to ring all swine found running at large in the highway,
or else to put them into the town pound. Grout assumed the office with much complacency, and great dignity, withal, and at a proper and most favorable time began operations in earnest, as many of his political opponents soon found out, who had been ac- customed to turn their hogs into the public way. By the aid of efficient help, which he seasonably se- cured, Grout gathered a respectable drove as to num- bers, mostly belonging to such of his neighbors and townsmen as had been foremost in promoting him to the office, and lodged the animals securely, as he supposed, within the pound, and patiently waited the appointed time in expectancy of his fees ; but as luck
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would have it, the enclosure was insufficient to hold this kind of cattle, and the pigs all escaped from their imprisonment, and most of them, led by a peculiar instinct, returned to their several homes during the succeeding night. Again, in this emergency, Grout was equal to the occasion ; he sued the town for dam- age, as by their neglect he had lost his fees, and as complainant, caused the town to be fined for neglect in not providing such enclosure as the "law directs." Grout recovered in his suit, as may be supposed, much to the disgust of such as would have gladly humili- ated the man by the degrading nature of the office. The town was mulcted in the sum of nearly one thous- and dollars, and ever after Mr. Grout was allowed to remain unburdened by office intended as a stigma to his character and an insult to his name. Grout, elated somewhat, no doubt, by his success in the law, and considering that he had the requisite ability to make a fortune by introducing a new industry, hit upon the idea of planting his farm (now the St. Clair place), with poppies, for the purpose of making opium. His purpose was so far consummated, as to seed the land with these plants, which made a fair growth, considering that the nature of the soil and the method of cultivation varied somewhat from other parts of the world where the soporific herb is suc- cessfully cultivated. All the spare women in the neighborhood were employed in picking the poppies at the time of harvest. The yield however of opium, was disproportionate to the expense incurred, and the sanguine expectations which had wonderfully braced him up during the season of growth, in the end faded out, leaving the man forlorn, without hope, and with- out faith in any attempt to gain a living by labor, in
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