USA > New Hampshire > Strafford County > Rochester > History of the town of Rochester, New Hampshire, from 1722 to 1890, Vol. I > Part 15
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Scarcely thirty years had elapsed from the close of the Revo- lution, when the United States was confronted with another war with England. A long series of insolent aggressions on the part of Great Britain forced us at length to the last extremity of appeal to arms. Party spirit at this time became very intense. Feder- alists and Democrats abused each other in the most approved style of political animosity. The Federalists were strongly opposed to the war, and denounced the embargo and other acts of the administration in no measured terms. Rochester at this time had a strong Democratic majority, and as before and since was ready to do her part in defense of the country. No extended history of the war can here be given, nor even many items concerning the part taken by Rochester. The present sources of information are very meager. Our town records contain only two items re- ferring to this war: -
"July 20, 1812. Town voted to give each militia man belonging to this town who has already been or may hereafter be detached to go into the army under the present six months establishment the sum of ten dollars per month including the sum voted by the United States."
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WAR OF 1812-15.
" Sep. 29, 1814. Voted to raise $100 for procuring arms & ammunition of war for defense of this and adjacent towns, in the present critical & alarming times."
The following persons from Rochester served as soldiers in this war : -
CAPT. ANDREW PIERCE'S COMPANY.
John Nutter, Lieutenant,
Name. Rank. Time of Service. May 24, to July 3, 1814. 66 66
Ebenezer Plummer, Corporal,
66
66
Ephraim Plummer, Private, 66
John Roberts,
Thomas Roberts,
Israel Whitehouse,
66 66
66
CAPT. VINCENT MESERVE'S COMPANY.
John Place, Corporal, May 25, to July 3, 1814.
CAPT. JOHN D. HARTY'S COMPANY.
Benjamin Hanson, 4th Corporal, Sept. 28, 1814, 60 days. Phineas Hoit, Drummer, Sept. 29, 1814, 66
Samuel Spinny, Private,
Oct. 4, 1814,
CAPT. JOHN HAVEN'S COMPANY.
Name.
Rank.
Time of Service.
John Haven,
Captain, Sept. 12 to Sept. 29, 1814.
Samuel Jackson, Private,
66
66
66
William Pearl,
66
66
66
George Varney,
66
66
66
66
Joel Varney,
66
66
66
..
66
Benjamin Roberts,
Israel Whitehouse,
"
These are all that can now be identified, though there were prob- ably others, and some of these may have been only transient inhabitants of this town.
The annexation of Texas, with a boundary not fully settled, led to the Mexican War in 1846. There is nothing upon our records to show that Rochester had any connection with this war. It would be strange, however, if no native of this town was in service at that time. But neither records, nor traditions, have been found to indicate that Rochester was represented in the Mexican War. The only evidence extant is an item from the "Dover Enquirer": - " Died in Rochester, Dec. 1, 1848, after a lingering illness, Joshua Locke, age 23, a soldier of the Mexican War." He was probably a native of some other town, as his history cannot be traced here.
66
66
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ROCHESTER.
At the close of the last century, Rochester was a large town. Of New Hampshire towns, Portsmouth alone exceeded it in popu- lation, and an idea of its extent in territory may be formed by referring to the charter. The line of Barrington, before Strafford was severed from that town, formed our western boundary, while on the east, the Sahnon Falls river flowed along the whole length of the town, a distance of more than twenty miles. Between these limits, according to the charter, Rochester extended from Dover so far north as to include ten miles square. At this time the whole tract was a wilderness. Land was limitless and of little . value, and surveyors were not merely careless, but intentionally liberal in their measurements. The first division lots, designed to contain sixty acres each, are found to contain several acres in excess. The territory was ample for three large towns.
The lower section of the town increased in population much faster than the more remote parts. It was long apparent that a division would be necessary, but the subject was agitated many years without result. So large a territory was the occasion of many inconveniences to the people. Some were doubtless political, or such as related to the management of town affairs. But the most influential consideration was in connection with public wor- ship and taxation for the support of the ministry. The Puritans, driven by persecution to seek freedom of worship in America, impressed a religious character upon the governments which they formed. Church membership was made a condition for the exer- cise of political rights. Early charters show that the support of the ministry was a prominent object in the organization of towns. Town privileges consisted largely in voting for a minister, voting and paying taxes for his support, and building and repairing the meeting-house. Towns had a regular progress or growth based upon the idea of supporting a gospel ministry. Wild land granted by the Crown or the State was called a "township." When the number and ability of the inhabitants became sufficient to build a meeting-house and support a minister, they were incorporated as a "town," with authority to assess taxes for these objects. As towns increased in population, and it became difficult for the more distant settlers to attend the same meeting, the "town " was divided into "parishes," never very thoroughly organized, but which, by sufficient growth, in their turn became "towns." Thus, Somers-
151
DIVISION OF ROCHESTER.
worth was a parish of Dover before it became a town; Milton was the "North East," and Farmington the "South West " parish of Rochester, before they were incorporated as towns; while the present town of Rochester was often called the "First Parish," to distinguish it from the others. In this state of affairs a large proportion of the inhabitants were annually taxed to support a ministry the benefits of which they were unable to enjoy or un- willing to pay for. This inconvenience was the beginning of a desire for division, the progress of which can be easily traced till separation was accomplished. The subject was earnestly discussed as early as 1774, in connection with the attempt to build a new meeting-house. As related in a preceding chapter, it was agreed to divide the town into three parishes, one third of the whole number of acres to constitute the first parish. A division line was run, and the house was finally built by the first parish only. No division, however, was observed in raising money for the sup- port of the minister, but Mr. Haven was authorized by vote of the town, to divide his preaching among the different parishes in proportion to their taxes. In 1783 the upper parts of the town petitioned to be set off by themselves but without success. In 1787 the accounts of the first parish were separated from those of the town, and the minister's salary raised wholly in that parish, the inhabitants of the other parishes being taxed in like propor- tion, and their tax paid over to them to hire their own preaching, but after one year the old method was resumed.
In 1788 a petition for disannexing two ranges of lots from the southwest corner of the town and annexing them to Dover was presented to the Legislature by Joseph Pierce and others. Roch- ester sent an agent to the General Court to oppose the petitioners and the plan was defeated. The town was petitioned to consent to a division in 1790, and an effort was made to get a vote to divide the town into three towns, but without success. The dissatisfaction was now becoming mutual, and even the first parish petitioned for some different method. Before 1794 it had been unanimously voted to divide the town into three towns, and a committee had run out the lines. In 1794 a committee from out of town was appointed to run the line between the supposed first and second parishes. They reported the same line already fixed by Jonathan Dame, which was accepted. In 1797 a petition from
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ROCHESTER.
the South West parish for a division was dismissed, but in the following year, the consent of the town was voted, and on the first of December, 1798, Farmington was incorporated as a town, its population being about 1000. After the separation of Farm- ington, there was little to bind the North East parish to Roch- ester. The town approved the petition presented to the Legisla- ture, and on June 11, 1802, Milton was incorporated with a pop- ulation less than 1000. Claims and property questions between the old and new towns were settled by committees appointed for the purpose.
It seems proper at this point that some facts should be given relating to the settlement and history of Farmington and Milton previous to their separation from Rochester. These new towns could easily throw off the burden of taxation for the ministry. Puritanism had largely lost its power. The old church system, which had been the foundation of all things political as well as religious, had lost its hold. The war of the Revolution had given its remains 'a severe shock. Patriots who had fought against English taxation found religious taxation irksome. Meeting-houses were indeed built in these towns, soon after their incorporation, but meeting-houses, in those days, were town halls. According to ancient custom the house at Farmington was erected on a high hill near the center of the town, about two miles below the present village. After remaining unfinished about fifty years it was moved to Rochester, and is now the currying shop of E. G. & E. Wallace. As early as 1797 meetings were held in barns at Farmington, by Benjamin Green, then preceptor of Berwick Academy, afterwards a lawyer and judge. He is said to have been a man of witching eloquence, whom the people from great distances flocked to hear. No church was formed till 1819, when James Walker from Concord preached alternately at Farmington and Milton. In 1834 a meeting-house was built a short distance below Farmington village, by several denominations unitedly, but no regular preaching was sustained till 1840, and then only by aid of the N. H. Missionary Society, so great was the declension from the puritanism of the fathers. By the division of the town many individuals, whose names had long been associated with the history of Rochester as honored citizens, fell within the limits of the new towns, among whom may be named Dea. James Knowles,
153
FARMINGTON.
Hon. Aaron Wingate, and Jonas C. March, sketches of whom are elsewhere given.
The village of "Farmington Dock" is situated on what was formerly known as the " Old John Ham Farm." The first house was a log house occupied by one Berry, on the lot where the Eastman house now stands. The first frame house was erected nearly opposite, where H. B. Edgerly now lives. John Roberts, who was born on Dover Neck, May 19, 1752, had this house so nearly completed that he moved into it, at the time of his mar- riage in 1782. Here he reared a numerous family, and his de- scendants are among well-known citizens of Rochester. He died July, 1837. The second frame house was built by Jonas C. March upon the Eastman lot, sometime before 1792. Nehemiah Eastman afterwards owned the house and sold it about 1812 to Josiah Edgerly who moved it away, and it is now Josiah B. Edgerly's house. Mr. March built a store near his house, and was succeeded in trade by Hiram Ward, - Ward, Roberts & Co., Read & Fabins, John W. Gookin, Jeremy Wingate, and others. This store was burned a few years ago. The "Dock" is indebted to Mr. March for its peculiar sobriquet. He dealt extensively in lumber, and at Ports- mouth, where he had previously resided, the word " dock" was a familiar appellation given to yards near the water where lumber was deposited. On the confines of the swamp back of his store, Mr. March had such a lumber yard which the teamsters and traders called " March's Dock." From this the name was naturally trans- ferred to the village. The word first occurs in the town records in 1792. After the March house and store, others were erected in nearly the following order. Benjamin Jones built a "half house " which was afterwards the rear part of Barker's store, called the " Old Smith Store," on the spot now occupied by the Congre- gational Church. The next was Eleazar Pearl's house, where the Peter Pearl house now stands opposite the Ridge road. A blacksmith's shop was then built by Benjamin Jones, on the corner of the Ridge road. This was afterwards Lemuel Rand's dwelling house, and at one time Dr. Libby's store. Dr. Libby was probably the first physician in Farmington. He located there about 1800, entered the army in 1812, and left Farmington in 1816. Lemuel Rand built a house called the red house, on the Ridge road, where M. L. Hayes afterwards built. About 1800,
11
154
ROCHESTER.
John Wingate, Esq., built a house, and a blacksmith's shop where he carried on his trade. The shop stood on the corner of the street, and the house, now the Hiram Barker mansion, was on a part of John Ham's field back of the Roberts lot. This was long noted as " Wingate's Tavern," where " Squire Wingate dealt out justice " and supplies for the hungry and thirsty. He was a stanch Federalist, and a great admirer of Gen. Washington. A branch of the Washington Benevolent Society held its meetings here in a room which he had fitted up for the purpose. During the War of 1812-15 party spirit ran high and Federalism was very unpopular in Rochester. At one time a company of Dem- ocrats having imbibed rather freely, found this room, and seeing the cabalistic letters W. B. S. on the chairs concluded they be- longed to some accursed Federalist society. In their rage they were proceeding to demolish the chairs and hurl them through the windows, when the " Squire" suddenly appeared on the scene, and] persuaded them to desist by telling them they all could see that W. B. S. stood for Wingate's Best Seats. In front of the tavern was an open square long known as " Wingate's lane." It has since been narrowed, one part now forming the street which extends to the river. Benjamin Canney soon after built on the new street nearly opposite Wingate's. Capt. Josiah Edgerly built a cabinet shop where J. B. Edgerly's office is. This shop is now a dwelling back of the store which Eleazar Pearl built near his house in 1807-8, and where Gilbert Horney traded about 1815-20. Dr. Hammond's house built by a Mr. Horne, on the Ridge road, and subsequently owned by the widow of Levi Hayes, was more recently used as a boarding-house known as Central Cottage, and is now converted into a hotel.
MILTON.
We have less complete information in regard to the first set- tlements in Milton. At an early date the Plumer and Jones families, and others of considerable influence, settled upon the Ridge, and the intelligence and character of these men, with the valuable farms they possessed, made this at all times an important section of the town. Immediately after the separation from Roch- ester, measures were adopted for building a meeting-house, which was located on the Ridge, and is now used for a town hall. The
155
MILTON.
valuable mill privilege at the Three Ponds naturally made this the trading center, and a considerable village gradually sprang up, its growth being accelerated, at periods, by the prospect of large manufacturing establishments. Among the earliest traders were Joshua Hartford, John Fish, and a Mr. Hovey. In 1810 Simon Chase, who had been a clerk with Joseph Hanson in Rochester, commenced business there, being the only trader at that time. There was a fulling mill operated by John Fish, and the houses of Hartford, Gerrish, Fish, Palmer, and perhaps one or two others. Samuel Palmer and John Fish engaged in several diving-bell adventures, endeavoring to raise the cargoes of sunken vessels, one at Portsmouth, and one upon a western lake, but were unsuccessful in both. Various kinds of manufacturing have been established at Three Ponds, at different times, among which were several cotton mills. At one time the manufacture of shoes was quite extensive. But, notwithstanding the fine water privi- leges and railroad conveniences, these attempts have until recently met with poor success. Since 1883 business has become more prosperous. A shoe shop and a leather board factory have been built, and are conducting an extensive and flourishing business.
CHAPTER X.
EDUCATIONAL AND LITERARY.
" Education alone can conduct us to that enjoyment which is at once best in quality and infinite in quantity." - Horace Mann.
"Education is the only interest worthy the deep controlling anxiety of the thoughtful man." -Wendell Phillips.
VERY early in the history of the Province of New Hampshire a law was enacted requiring public schools to be opened in all settlements of sufficient population. The preamble of this law is in the characteristic style of Puritan theology which was always quick to perceive the agency of the Devil, through all his disguises of hypocrisy and ignorance : -
"It being one chief point of that old deluder, Satan, to keep men from the knowledge of the Scriptures, - as in former times by keeping them in an un- known tongue, so in these latter times, by persuading from the use of tongues, that so at least the true sense and meaning of the original might be clouded by false glosses of saint-seeming deceivers; *- that learning may not be buried in the grave of our fathers, in the church and commonwealth, the Lord assisting our endeavors, -
"It is ordered, that every township in this jurisdiction, after the Lord hath increased them to the number of fifty householders, shall then forthwith appoint one within their town to teach all children as shall resort to him to write and read."
Notwithstanding this law there was, as now, a class of persons who did not realize the great importance of public instruction, and felt it too great a burden to maintain the schools required. Consequently the law was not thoroughly enforced. It was ob- served or neglected according as the leading men of a town appreciated the advantages of education.
Though numbering many more than fifty families, the settlers of Rochester, amid the hardships and sufferings of an Indian war,
* The modern opposers of "dead languages" would do well to study these words and see under whose leadership they would have been classed by our fathers. - [Editor.]
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EDUCATIONAL AND LITERARY.
did not even agitate the question of schools. But in the interval of peace in 1750, the subject was brought directly before them for decision. They voted to have a school, and appointed Timothy Roberts and Isaac Libbey to hire a school-master. No regard was paid to this vote, and in 1751 they openly defied the law by voting not to have a school. There was evidently, however, a determi- nation on the part of some of the citizens that the statute should not be disregarded. They caused a special meeting to be called to see if the town would vote to hire a school-master three or four months. Again voting that they would not have a school the meeting dissolved. In less than three months another meeting was called to choose agents to defend the town which " lies under a presentment for want of a school being kept, and to be heard and tried at the next court of quarter sessions." If ever the excuses of poverty and grievous taxation were true and weighty in justification of such neglect, they were in this case; yet the law was inexorable and they were compelled to pay the fine. The courts had a deep sense of the importance of this subject, for grand juries were particularly charged to present all violations of school laws. No town can justly plead that it is unable to support schools : the richest community cannot afford to do without them, -much less those that are poorer and stand more in need of the elevating and enriching influences of education, for they are a source of intelligence, enterprise, and happiness.
The next year after the indictment there was a school of six- teen weeks. The master's name was John Forst, now written Foss. He was paid in all fifteen pounds, or - allowing for the depreciation of the currency -less than ten dollars in silver. He " boarded round," four families taking him each a month, for which they were paid by the town at a rate equal in silver to thirty cents a week. For a few years after this the town con- tinued to maintain a school, and then relapsed. Several persons threatened them with prosecution, in consequence of which a special meeting was called in 1755. They were determined not to sustain the school; they had avoided it thus far whenever they could, and now they stubbornly voted that there should be no school-master hired, but that they would pay the fine if recovered by presentment. The next year, however, they repented and hired a master. This irregularity continued for some time, until the
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ROCHESTER.
town was in more prosperous circumstances, or had learned that it was impossible to evade the law with impunity.
In reviewing these facts, there may be danger of being unchar- itable towards the men of that day. They probably felt they had all the burdens they could bear, and we should not criticise them ungenerously. Yet, who can but admire the perseverance and zeal of those who kept this subject continually before the people until schools were permanently established, and who, though aware of the extreme poverty of the town, realized that this was no adequate excuse for failing to provide suitable means for the mental and moral instruction of the young? Such are the men in all times, who are often an unpopular minority, but who com- prehend the true interests of their own and future generations.
In 1767 the town was divided "into six equal parts as nearly as could be," and each part had the liberty to hire a school- master two months. These were not school districts as afterwards established by law, but simple divisions for convenience. One of the six was on the Neck, one at Gonic, one at Chestnut Hills, and one on Salmon Falls road.
In 1774 a Grammar School was kept three months, after which the town voted not to continue it any longer. At that time the Grammar School was at the head of the public school system, as the High School is now. Every town of one hundred householders was required by law to maintain such a school. The master was to be "a man not vitious in conversation, and able to instruct youth so far that they might be fitted for the university." Dur- ing the Revolution, except one year, no money was raised for schools. At the annual town meeting in 1775 the usual sum had been voted, but after the battles of Lexington and Bunker Hill as " the prospect looked dark and gloomy with regard to the drout, famine and the wars," the Selectmen were instructed not to assess the tax. Before the war closed an attempt was made to get a vote to dispose of the first division school lot for support of the schools, but it failed. After the war, a Grammar School was not estab- lished till 1783, when the town was presented for not having one, and to avoid paying a large fine it was voted to hire a master. The next year, though money was raised, the Selectmen neg- lected or refused to use it for that purpose, and one article in the notification for the next meeting was, to see if the town
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EDUCATIONAL AND LITERARY.
would oblige the Selectmen to expend the school money for school purposes, or pay the cost of presentment for their neglect. After this schools were regularly maintained.
The schools of those early days have often been described. Whittier has given the key to the situation in the couplet, -
" Brisk wielder of the birch and rule, The master of the District school."
The teacher's chief business in those days seems to have been the wielding of the birch and rule. One of the early school- masters who flogged our fathers in this village was a Mr. Tanner, who the boys thought was rightly named. He had lost an arm in the war, but could administer the birch with the remaining arm, vigorously enough to satisfy even the parents, who had never thought of discussing the question whether corporal pun- ishment in school is or is not beneficial. He was very cruel, though his school numbered only twelve or fifteen pupils. After him came Master Orne, who taught in different districts for a long time. He flogged singly, and by classes, and by the whole school; just as officers review their soldiers, by squads, by com- panies, by regiments, and by battalions. The boys rebelled, but the parents sustained the master, for they knew no other way to have a good school. They went to just such a school when they were boys and girls, and why should not their children? So the old dyspeptic flogged on.
In the " Autobiography of a Landlady of the Old School," published by Mrs. Samuel Wyatt in 1854, we find the following account of "Teaching School at Meaderborough." The time referred to must have been before 1800 :-
" Before I was thirteen I had an invitation to teach a school in Meader- borough in the upper part of Rochester, N. H. I commenced the school under favorable auspices with eighteen or twenty scholars, young men and women, and three babies. Schools then were not as now filled up with all branches necessary to make a finished education in these modern times. The only branches taught were reading, spelling, and writing. But little was thought in those days of the education of daughters. To read and write, with a smat- tering of geography and arithmetic were considered the ne plus ultra of female education. The minds of girls were then considered to be inadequate to struggle with the higher branches of education which they now master so readily. The only books then used in school were Webster's Spelling Book, the Testament,
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