USA > New Hampshire > Strafford County > Rochester > History of the town of Rochester, New Hampshire, from 1722 to 1890, Vol. I > Part 14
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70
After the cloth came home from the fulling-mill, the tailor was sent for to cut garments for the family. He came with his goose ("whipping the goose" they called his trade), and between his shears and the busily plied needles of the women, the family were in due time clothed. The boys now felt proud in their new jackets with brass buttons. No sooner would the tailor be gone than the shoemaker would be sent for. He came with his tools tied up in his leather apron, and measured the feet, cut the leather, and made up the shoes for the household. His business was called " whipping the cat." Three shoes were a day's work. At the earliest period they were sewed, but pegs soon came into use. Then every shoemaker made his own pegs. From the end of a
10
138
ROCHESTER.
stick of maple or birch a piece was carefully sawed of just the right thickness for the length of the pegs. It was then split into thin strips, and the edge of each strip shaved to a sharp edge, after which the pegs were split off singly, all sharpened ready for use. Machine-made pegs were introduced about 1817-18. As each family laid in a supply of cloth for the tailor, so each secured a supply of upper and sole leather for the cordwainer. Thus the family were clothed, unless perhaps the men wanted hats. The hatter did not go round. But any one could be sup- plied with hats of the latest style, by calling upon Haynes & Ela at "the Plains," who commenced hatting as early as 1806, and perhaps earlier.
The long winter evenings of those days have been so often and so vividly described that imagination easily pictures them like present realities. We can see the large chimney-place, - almost large enough for a tenement for a small family, - with its broad hearth, the back-log of green oak or maple, often requiring two strong men to bring it to its position, the fore-stick, the top-stick, the crackling, blazing brushwood. Whittier has embalmed the scene in his vivid verse : -
" We piled with care our nightly stack Of wood against the chimney back; The oaken log, green, huge, and thick, And on its top the stout back-stick ; The knotty fore-stick laid apart ; And filled between with curious art The ragged brush ; then, hovering near, We watched the first red blaze appear, Heard the sharp crackle, caught the gleam On whitewashed wall and sagging beam, Until the old, rude-furnished room Burst flower-like into rosy bloom."
From each side of the chimney-place rose the music of the wheel, where mother and daughters would vie with each other to see who could spin the most. Before the first snow fell the boys would be sure to provide a good cart-load of pitch wood split from old stumps, which better than candle or kerosene gave light to the whole household, by which the women saw to work, and the boys to study their lessons. The younger children were often amused by the mother's stories, who,
139
LIFE OF EARLY SETTLERS.
" while she turned her wheel, Or run the new-knit stocking heel, Told how the Indian hordes came down At midnight on Cochecho town."
While the mug of cider " between the andirons' straddling feet" was slowly warming and the apples "sputtering" on the hearth, the men talked over the day's work, and the morrow's plans, and drank and talked, and talked and drank, and replenished the mug from the hogshead in the cellar as often as it was exhausted. So the evening wore away, till at nine o'clock the family went to bed. The red log had crumbled to pieces, the men had knocked the ashes from their pipes, and it only remained to rake up the hot coals and cover them over that the fire might keep till morn- ing; for there were no lucifer matches then, and the flint and steel and tinder-box were very patience-trying. In summer the fire would sometimes go out, and one of the boys would be dis- patched half a mile or more perhaps, with a closely wound linen rag to borrow fire of a neighbor, or if the distance was short live coals would be obtained. This helped to keep up an intimacy between neighbors, and short calls for borrowing fire became proverbial.
The cooking of those olden times by the huge fire-place it is not necessary minutely to describe. There were the Indian cakes tilted upon the flat irons on the hearth. There was the turkey suspended by a tow string from a gimlet in the mantel-piece, so that twisting and untwisting by its own weight it kept revolving before the fire till all sides were well browned; or else, as at Mr. Haven's, transfixed by a long spit which rested on pins in the andirons, so that a girl, in the middle of the room, turning a long handled crank kept the meat revolving. Then there were the
We potatoes roasted in the ashes, - not bad eating they say. can see the girls shaking them back and forth through a long stocking-leg to clean off the ashes. And there was the hasty- pudding boiled in the kettle on the crane, and the baked sweet pumpkins and milk, a delicious dish. Then pea and bean por- ridge, the great staple of life, the chief article of food morning, noon, and night. The boys were fond of it, whether it was -
" Pea porridge hot, pea porridge cold,
Or pea porridge in the pot nine days old."
PULPIT.
DEACONS' SEAT.
Porch.
BENCHES.
BENCHES.
Porch.
FRONT. - NO PORCH.
MEETING-HOUSE OF 1780, AS REMEMBERED BY HON. J. H. ELA.
141
LIFE OF EARLY SETTLERS.
The meeting-house then stood upon the common with the front end toward the road leading to Dover over the hill. It was un- painted and without a steeple or bell. They voted a steeple in 1803, but it was not then built. The following is the action of the town in reference to a bell : -
Dec. 30, 1822. Voted not to raise money to purchase and hang a bell in belfry of the Meeting House. Sept 1, 1823. Voted to raise $475 to purchase and hang a bell, &c. Sept. 22, 1823, the town voted to reconsider the previous vote and to dismiss the article.
The bell, however, was added by the Congregational Parish in 1823. March 9, 1824, a ballot was taken to see if the town would pay for ringing the bell at the meeting-house. There were 121 yeas to 120 nays. At an adjourned meeting the article was dis- missed. The Congregational Society was accustomed to pay the expenses of having the bell rung.
Near by stood the pound, and some years the town chose the same man pound-keeper and " Saxton," and voted that he should lock and unlock and sweep the meeting-house in consideration of his fees as pound-keeper. There was a large gallery extending round on three sides of the house. The pews were high, square boxes, while the middle of the house was devoted to free benches. The plan on the page opposite will give an idea of the ground floor. The lofty pulpit with its sounding-board was at the center of the upper side, instead of one end, and looked down the broad aisle to the main entrance. Furnaces and stoves were unknown, and the congregation sat and listened to a two-hour service in the unmitigated cold. Think of this, ye shiverers of to-day, who sit over warm draughts of air from hot furnaces, and yet are always complaining of the cold. A stove was not introduced till near the close of Mr. Haven's ministry, and that was procured more for his comfort than that of the congregation. Small foot- stoves of perforated tin or sheet iron containing a pan of live coals were brought by the old ladies to keep their feet warm. If they came from a distance, they could fill their pans at some neighboring house. The old bald-headed men wore flannel caps, and the deacons occupied a bench directly in front of the pulpit. Facing the congregation, they presented an imposing and venerable appearance. It was the custom for the deacon to " line the hymns."
142
ROCHESTER.
Deacon Chamberlin would give forth the first two lines in a sol- emn manner : -
" While shepherds watched their flocks by night All seated on the ground,"
which the singers would sing after him, when he would continue
" The angel of the Lord came down, And glory shone around,"
and so on through cach hymn. At first, the music was entirely vocal, but a few instruments were introduced soon after the time of which we are speaking. The first was the bass-viol bought by subscription, and played for many years by John Smith, the blacksmith. Of course such an upsetting of the ways of their fathers and mothers as a " fiddle" in the church was not suffered without commotion. Some averred that it made the music sound like dancing tunes, while others as loudly declared that it was a great improvement. Afterwards flutes, clarionets, and melodeons were introduced. The oldest leader of the choir and teacher of singing now living is Thomas Wentworth.
Throughout the meeting the services are orderly, and the au- dience generally attentive. But our unaccustomed eyes are startled to inquire who this man is with a black rod, moving quietly about, now touching gently some snoring or nodding person, and now punching roughly some mischievous boy. That is the tithing- man with his badge of office. An ancient law prescribed that the tithing-man should have a "black staff two feet in length, tipped at one end with brass or pewter," to be provided by the select- men at the town's expense. Tithing-men were regularly chosen for nearly a hundred years, -from 1737 to 1829. The number was several times changed by law, varying from one to eleven. Their duty was to prevent work or travel or amusements on the Sabbath, and to preserve order both in and around the meeting- house during church service and also during intermission. They were to see that there was no loafing at public houses on the Lord's day, and to stop all travelers, though in cases of sickness or errands of mercy justices of the peace could grant permission to travel. The law required tithing-men to be "of good substance and sober life." The office finally fell into ridicule and disrepute.
143
LIFE OF EARLY SETTLERS.
The last person who held it was Eben D. Trickey in 1828. The next year the town voted to dispense with tithing-men.
In those days there were no wagons for traveling, no chaises, no carriages. The people came to meeting on horseback or on foot. But far more than now, it was then esteemed a valuable privilege to attend meeting. Sunday was the only day when the people met from all parts of the town. The meeting was a social institution and the intermission was a favorable opportunity to make acquaintances, and talk over all the news of the week. There being but one meeting in town a majority were compelled to travel long distances. Those who had horses rode horseback, the wife seated on a pillion behind her husband with arm encircling his waist. There was a horseblock near the meeting-house to aid the women in mounting and dismounting, and a long shed oppo- site for the shelter of the horses. Young persons generally walked. They thought nothing of walking three or four miles to church, or even farther. The girls (they were always girls till they got married) came barefooted, or wearing old shoes and stockings till they arrived near the meeting-house, when they sat down in the shade of a tree, or went into some house near by, and drew on their clean white stockings and new shoes which they had brought in their hands. On returning home they changed again at the same place. The boys came barefooted bringing their shoes to put on in the same manner. An old oak was standing a few years ago, a little below the village, which was almost revered by the old people as the place where in their youthful days they were accustomed to make these changes. Chaises were the first vehicles for traveling. The first in town was owned by Capt. Benjamin Page. In 1806 Capt. Page, Lawyer Tilton, and Joseph Hanson, were taxed for chaises. Next year Moses Hale had one. They had large round windows behind, and were great curiosities, so that the boys ran after them in the streets. Twelve chaises were taxed in 1811. At funerals, instead of hearse or wagon, bearers carried the corpse on a bier to the place of burial, and if the distance was long, a sufficient number was provided to relieve each other at intervals.
The Inn situated near the brook was another representative village institution suggesting a different class of thoughts from fulling-mill or meeting-house. Habits of smoking and drinking
144
ROCHESTER.
were deplorable. People who used tobacco cultivated their own weed to a considerable extent. Small patches could be seen grow- ing here and there all over the town. At the stores could be found tobacco braided or twisted and rolled into immense balls, from which it was measured off to customers and sold by the yard. One William Pigeon carried on the business of tobacconist for a short time in 1806. No particulars are known, and it is no ground of regret that he did not succeed. There have been two brandy distil- leries in this village, which, happily, succeeded no better than the tobacconist. An Englishman named King first carried on the business a short time, where the factories now are. The other distiller was Benjamin Tebbetts, and his place of business was where the Silas Wentworth house stands near the Town Hall. He was so good a customer to his own still, that the business proved unprofitable. More facts in regard to the drinking habits of those days will be given in a subsequent chapter.
If we are candid and thoughtful, we cannot review the lives of the generations gone before us without being more strongly impressed with the sense of our own duties. We live not for ourselves, nor for our own day, but our lives will bestow happiness or misery upon those who follow to occupy our places. For them we are preparing institutions; for them we are strengthening the institutions which our fathers have given to us. From this point of view, what then are we doing? It is not wealth, it is not manufactures, it is not keenness in trade, it is not railroads, it is not development of mere business resources of any kind, that will make men of our children. These things may make a city where there is but a village, they may make five-story blocks where are now humble shops, but unless other and higher objects are first sought they will make only narrow minds and selfish hearts. Solomon tells us, "By knowledge shall the chambers be filled with all pleasant and precious riches."
BARRINGTON ..
Picker
Long
Pond.
singlass
Locks Mills
Barrington
Time
North
1424 West Seven Miles 106 Rods. 11
-
Neck Road.
lins
the
Farmington
North 414 East)
Dover line 741 Rods)
Cochecho
River.
Mederboro Road.
Imal
Squ
Blackwater Road.
To Col. David Place
Post's Road
O Duid Pise
.
John Plummer Es
Walker's Bridge
1 John Mc Duffee.
Tavern.
& Norway Plains
Mills & Bridges
Road to
Ten Rod Road.
Squimanagonic
Road.
Main
Joseph Haven
Stephen Wentworth
OJanbez Dame Esq
Joseph Clark Esq
David Barker
Little
Bridge
Simeonlo Torr Esq.
and 34 Rods.
Chesnut
Salmon
Falls DISTRICT
Rivel
A I
140 Rodal
MILTON.
-- plan of the Town of Rochester taken from actual Survey of the outlines in conjunction with the Selection of the adjoining towns, and of the roads and divers so far us appears & necessary. The principal roads are the Main Road which branches into the leading roads to Wakefield, Mederforo' and Newdurham-ctico Salmon falls road which leads to the ponds; a place of some note in Milton And the Neck road which leads to Mederboro in Farmington- Jaken for the Town of Rochester March 1805 agreeable to an act of the General Court passed in 1803.
COPIED NOV. 1866. By
6.8.
form telisons. Riche Dance. Allen
7 Select
.L. Renault un tronco bel , MAH.
SOMERSWORTH.
Isinglass Bridge
DOVER.
Road to Barrington.
to
Hill Road
Dry
agonie Bridge
line
Friends & Church Mederboro.
Mederborg.
N. 46% E.
Somersworth line, 822 Rods.
Church
Newdurham Road
Court House
Moses L. Neal Erq. Tavern.
Salmon
Falls Road.
Maj Joshu. Allen
Survey.
H. Gioutward Tavern.
O
m
actual M
BERWICK.
LEBANON.
FARMINGTON.
Six miles
Tavern
a Friend's Church .
Pond.
HELIOTYPE PRINTING CO. BOSTON
CHAPTER IX.
FROM THE REVOLUTION TO THE REBELLION.
THIS chapter is designed to record some of the principal events affecting Rochester from 1783 to 1861, which cannot so well be presented under a more specific heading.
History continually repeats itself. One cannot read the history of the country during the years immediately following the Revo- lution, without being impressed with the similarity between that period and the present time (1868), - the distress of the people, the burden of taxation, the scarcity of money, the depression of business, the clamor for relief, and the methods proposed. In fact, if we change the dates, it would be difficult to realize that we were not reading the history of our own time. During the war the people had become accustomed to paper currency based on landed property as security, -a currency which was legal tender for all debts. They had seen this currency depreciated till it became worthless. They had been used to the attempts of legislators to establish prices under severe penalties. They had seen an attempt to prohibit auctions, because, it was said, they depreciated the currency, whereas they only showed its real want of value. They had known Congress issue a circular to be read in all the churches, declaring that paper money was the only kind of money "which could not take to itself wings and fly away." Frequent meetings were called to consult on practical
modes of relief. The resumption of specie payments had not furnished a remedy. In 1781, as if by general consent, the paper money had suddenly dropped out of circulation, and coin had succeeded; yet the crisis of suffering seems not to have been reached till 1786. In that and the preceding year, conferences of the people were held to devise means of redress. Naturally the first expedient which suggested itself was to return to paper money founded on real estate. The cry for paper money was
146
ROCHESTER.
incessant. The " greenbackers" of that day said that rich spec- ulators had a monopoly of everything good, while the poor were distressed for means to pay their debts, and loudly called on the people to assert their majesty. This clamor for paper money increased till in every town there was a party in its favor. The following specimen of their arguments reads as if written by the " greenbackers " of to-day : -
"Paper money would give a spring to commerce and encourage agriculture, the poor would be able to pay their debts and taxes, all arguments against issuing it are framed by speculators, and are intended to serve the wealthy part of the community, who have monopolized the public securities that they may raise their value and get all the good bargains into their own hands. The people have a right to call on their representatives to stamp a value on paper, or leather, or any other substance capable of receiving an impression, and a law should be passed to punish with banishment and outlawry every person who shall attempt by any means to lessen its value."
County conventions in favor of paper money were held. In this county, the convention was called to meet at Capt. John Goodwin's, in Rochester, on the 5th day of September, 1786. The town held a special meeting on the day previous, and voted to have a paper currency, and chose Capt. John Goodwin, Lieut. James Adams, and Josiah Folsom, delegates to the convention. Capt. Goodwin's house was near the house built by the late John R. Roberts at the lower end of the village.
On the 20th of September, the Legislature at Exeter was sur- rounded by a body of men formed in military order, armed with muskets, swords, and clubs, and marching to the music of the drum. The President tried calmly to reason with them. But their drum beat to arms, and the men were ordered to load their guns with balls. They raised a demand for paper money, for an equal distribution of property, and a release from debts. They were finally dispersed by the approach of militia.
To still the clamor, the Legislature prepared a plan for paper currency, and sent to all the towns for their action. There were two questions submitted : - whether the Legislature could consti- tutionally make paper money legal tender, and whether paper money should be issued on the plan proposed. "In compliance with a request from the General Court," these questions were submitted to the town of Rochester at a meeting holden Nov. 20, 1786, and it was
147
ADOPTION OF CONSTITUTION.
"put to vote to see if there should be a paper currency made; and voted in the affirmative." It was "unanimously voted that the plan for making a paper currency be submitted to the determination of the General Court at the next sitting."
By the returns received from all the towns, however, both ques- tions proposed were decided in the negative, and this seems to have ended the paper money contest in New Hampshire for that time.
The following is taken from a Portsmouth paper : -
" Rochester, Feb. 5, 1787. A number of respectable gentlemen having met at the house of Col. John Goodwin in Rochester, in the County of Strafford and State of New Hampshire, by adjournment, have unanimously agreed to act agreeable to the Constitution of said State, and adjourned said meeting until the last Monday in February inst., at the house of said Goodwin, at 12 o'clock A. M. precisely, when they request all members chosen by the several towns in said County to meet at time and place to take into consideration such things as may be for the benefit of the Community, and they earnestly recom- mend to those towns in the County which have not sent members (chosen by legal town meetings) to attend said meeting for the above purpose, to choose proper persons to attend at time and place."
A sermon preached by Mr. Haven, April 29, 1789, contains the following words, doubtless referring to the " greenbackers" of that time : -
" If we take a view of the plots which have been laid against us by designing men, and how they have been prevented from working our ruin, if not baffled in their schemes, we shall see great matter of admiration and thankfulness. If we consider how our streets for a long time have been patrolled by armed men who have looked upon us as marked out for their prey, and yet how they have been restrained by the Supreme Ruler (for it is he that hath done it), we may justly wonder at all his goodness, and bless his name for this instance of his goodness. I mention these things because they are well worthy of our notice, and what we should ever truly be thankful for."
The adoption of the Constitution in 1788, was the occasion of great rejoicing throughout the country. Celebrations were almost universal. In Rochester, Thursday, Nov. 27, was observed for this purpose. Parson Haven preached a sermon, from which the following extract is taken: -
" We have been loaded the past year with temporal blessings. We have enjoyed peace, - an important blessing, - and a Constitution is adopted which fills the world with admiration, as we have no account of such an event before. The most have been forced upon people by a conquering power, but ours has been collected from the wisdom of the nation, where about three millions have been represented, and the matter has been debated once and again; no slaughter has ensued, nor even dangerous divisions. Has there not been an overruling power
148
ROCHESTER.
in this, and are we not now called upon to make our grateful acknowledgments ? This event is important, and a thing before unheard of, and we trust that the same God who has ever had us under his fostering care, has also in this. But some are afraid of this Constitution, and suppose it may be an evil. No doubt it may, for the wisest and best institutions have been sadly perverted, as I have observed before, not that I pretend to say that this is to be numbered among such, for now we do well to try the event, yet with all proper care to have men of wisdom, religion, and virtue put into posts of trust: if we can only have such, I dare say we shall be happy. Let our condition be what it will, still much depends upon ns. There is not any power anywhere lodged by this Con- stitution but originated first from the people, and if we are wise, we shall be cantions whom we delegate it to. We shall not look out for those to serve private ends but the public good, nor shall we let private friendship interfere, nor private interest bear too much sway. Notwithstanding all the fears and jealousies which have prevailed, we have a fair prospect of becoming of some consequence among other nations, and of being happy. If wisdom, virtue, and integrity, and a public spirit prevail : in short, if we observe the Christian reli- gion, we shall be a happy, a flourishing, wealthy, and renowned people. But if we give up onrselves to vice and folly, to cheating and defrauding, to ground- less and unreasonable jealousies, to contention and strife, to idleness and extrav- agance, to intemperance and debauchery, we shall banish our religion, and become the most miserable and contemptible people on earth. It is of consequence to us that we be good. Do we complain of our rulers ? When they are chosen by a free people they must be in a great measure characteristic of the people. This, perhaps, we do not consider. If we had a real and sincere regard to the Christian religion, if we were ourselves wise, virtuous, just, and good, we should seek for such men to represent us. But if we have no regard to Christianity, such as have none we may most likely think will best serve our own cause. But I shall dismiss this and attend to other things."
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.