USA > New Hampshire > Strafford County > Rochester > History of the town of Rochester, New Hampshire, from 1722 to 1890, Vol. I > Part 17
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ROCHESTER ACADEMY.
In the spring of 1820 a petition was put in circulation, addressed to the Trustees of the Newmarket Wesleyan Academy, asking for the removal of that institution to Rochester. Being one of the county towns, Rochester was a place to which, during the sessions of the court, visitors were drawn from all parts of the county then comprising the present counties of Strafford, Carroll, and Belknap. It was therefore well adapted to become the seat of a flourishing school. The subscribers obligated themselves to pay certain sums, amounting to about $1,200 to secure this insti- tution. Joseph Hanson subscribed $150 ; Moses Hale, $125; Wm. Barker, $120; Charles Dennett, James C. Cole, Jabez Dame, $100 each; John Roberts, Jr., John Plumer, 3d, David Barker, Jr., Hatevil Knight, Jonathan H. Torr, William Hurd, $50 each; and others smaller sums. The town also voted the use of the Court House to Wesleyan Academy. The failure of this effort seems to have been due to objections raised by some influential persons against a school controlled by a religious denomination.
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"The Proprietors of the Rochester Academy" were incorpo- rated June 30, 1827, and held their first meeting September 19. The only business transacted was a vote to call a general meeting of persons interested in the subject. Afterwards committees were appointed to recommend suitable measures, and to circulate sub- scription papers. Two papers were prepared, one to raise money for erecting a building, the other to establish a fund for the support of the school. Twenty-five dollars was agreed upon as the price of a share, the payment of which constituted any person a proprietor. Rochester people were appealed to more especially to provide for the building as they would reap peculiar advan- tages from the effort,
"in the addition of good society, in affording their children a good education with diminished expense, in the increased value of their real estate, and in the rare and distinguished ornament to their village of a respectable school." The subscribers were as follows : - David Barker, Jr., Nathaniel Upham, Jeremiah H. Woodman, 4 shares each ; Charles Dennett, John Greenfield, Moses Hale, Joseph Hanson, Jr., William Hurd, John Roberts, Jr., William B. Smith, 2 shares each ; Benjamin M. Akerman, George Barker, Simon Chase, James C. Cole, James Cross, Joseph Cross, Peter Folsom, Benjamin Hayes, Jr., Richmond Hen- derson, Charles Hoyt, Joseph D. Hurd, Nathaniel H. Hurd, Lowell Kenney, Hatevil Knight, David Legro, Lydia March, John McDuffee, Jr., Louis McDuf- fee, Ivory M. Nute, John Nutter, Jr., Sarah Odiorne, Benjamin Page, Elijah Roberts, John Smith, Jonathan H. Torr, Simon Torr, W. & E. D. Trickey, Daniel Waldron, Isaac Willey, John York, one share each; and Samuel Meader 12 dollars, making in all $1412.
The proposed fund for the support of the school was not secured. A lot just below the court house, where Wallace's Shoe Factory now stands, was presented by the town and at first accepted by the proprietors, but not being considered an advantageous location it was abandoned, and the lot on which the Academy now stands was purchased of John Roberts, Jr., to pay for which four dollars was assessed on each share. The subscriptions were nearly all expended in buying a lot and erecting a two-story brick building, which was completed in 1828.
James Towner, A. M., who for some years had been a very acceptable instructor at Wolfeborough Academy was secured as first preceptor. The school was formally opened October 31, 1828, with an elaborate address by Rev. Baron Stowe of Ports- mouth. The preceptor was a man of literary culture, and under his management the school was large, many of his former pupils having followed him to his new field of labor. The only quali-
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fications required for admission were "to be able to read and spell well and to write a legible hand." The more advanced branches pursued were such as were then necessary as a prepara- tion for college. The teacher's salary was $500. After two years Mr. Towner left Rochester because the scanty funds of the Academy could not insure a suitable support. He removed to the West and died there. His successors were as follows: -
Charles William Woodman a native of Rochester, a graduate of Dartmouth in 1829; formerly Judge of Probate, and afterwards Judge of the Court of Common Pleas, now a lawyer in Dover. He taught the Academy one or two terms.
Lewis Turner, a graduate of Bowdoin, took charge of the Acad- emy in February, 1831, and remained two terms. Instruction in French announced.
-
- Ingersoll, afterwards a lawyer in Bangor, Maine.
F. Goodwin of South Berwick, Me., afterwards an Episcopal minister in Brooklyn, New York.
Levi Nelson Tracy, then a student, afterwards, in 1834, a grad- uate of Dartmouth. He possessed much energy of character, teaching and singing himself through college. He died at Hart- ford, Conn., in 1846, aged 39.
Cyrus W. Hamlin taught here three months in 1832. He was a young man of only nineteen or twenty years, the first scholar in his class at Bowdoin, of rare piety, and as remarkable for his modesty as for his intellectual attainments. He is now well known as having been for many years one of the foremost missionaries in Constantinople. Besides being a scholar, he is a practical man of much mechanical ingenuity, by which he rendered much ser- vice to the English during the Crimean war. He has since been President of Middlebury College.
A. P. Chute, also of Bowdoin, came in September, 1832, and was recommended as " eminently qualified to promote the moral and literary improvement of his pupils."
George Pickering Mathes followed. He was a native of Dur- ham, prepared for college at Rochester Academy under Mr. Towner, and graduated at Dartmouth in 1834. He died at Dover in 1836, while a law student in the office of Daniel M. Christie.
About this time the Trustees gave up the control of the insti- tution, and thereafter each preceptor took upon himself the respon-
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sibility of conducting the school. The Trustees were J. H. Wood- man, Nathaniel Upham, Rev. Isaac Willey, David Barker, Jr., Moses Hale, Joseph Cross, James C. Cole, Nehemiah Eastman of Farmington, Daniel M. Christie of Dover, Rev. Josiah T. Hawes, Jeremiah Kingman of Barrington, and Rev. Enoch Place of Straf- ford. Sept. 4, 1829, Hatevil Knight was chosen to fill the vacancy occasioned by the death of Nathaniel Upham. Sept. 3, 1830, John Greenfield was chosen to fill the vacancy occasioned by the resignation of Rev. J. T. Hawes. J. H. Woodman was president ; Moses Hale, treasurer; and Rev. Isaac Willey, secretary. No other Trustees were appointed.
In September, 1835, John C. Ingalls was announced as Prin- cipal; Alonzo Jackman, Teacher of Mathematics; Betsey Dow, Instructor in French and Painting. "French, Greek, Geometry, Trigonometry, Surveying, Navigation, Book-keeping, Belles-Let- tres, Botany, Logic, Painting, Music, Latin, Logarithms, Chro- nology, Stenography, Rhetoric, Declamations, Conic Sections, Moral Philosophy, Chemistry, exercises in Calisthenics, and the formation of affable manners," are among the attractions offered. Students assembled every morning at sunrise for reading the Scriptures and prayer. Mr. Ingalls remained two and a half years.
In January, 1838, Harrison Carroll Hunt, a native of Ash- burnham, Mass., took the school. He was a highly successful teacher, remaining for about three years. While here his name was changed to Hobart. He graduated from Dartmouth in 1842; became a prominent lawyer and politician in Wisconsin; was speaker of the Wisconsin House of Representatives, a member of the State Senate, and Democratic candidate for Governor; was Lieut. Col. of a Wisconsin Regiment in the Rebellion, and was one of the captured Union officers who escaped from Richmond by tunneling the Libbey prison. He has since practised law in Milwaukee, Wisc.
In November, 1841, the school was taken by Jeremiah Hall Woodman Colby of Sanbornton, who graduated at Dartmouth the next July. He studied law with Daniel M. Christie, and settled in Manitowoc, Wisc., where he died in 1853. " His standing as a lawyer was high, and his character exemplary."
From March, 1844, to the latter part of 1845, David Fogg
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Drew, son of Dr. Stephen Drew of Milton, was principal. After graduating at Dartmouth in 1842, he read law and practised five or six years, when he studied medicine, and settled in practice at Lynn, Mass.
He was succeeded by Joseph W. Drew, who remained about two years, and was assisted by Miss Caroline Knight. Mr. Drew was a native of Dover, graduated at Dartmouth in 1844, read law one year, studied medicine two years, went to California in 1849, removed to Oregon in 1850, where he held important U. S. offices, and was afterwards a clerk in Washington, D. C. In February, 1847, he announced "instruction on the piano by a competent teacher."
In May following " Rochester Institute " was advertised by Rev. G. C. V. Eastman who had " ten years' experience as principal of boarding and day school in Connecticut." He described Roch- ester as "pleasant, healthy, and easily accessible, containing few incentives to vice, and having a large proportion of educated and refined society."
Jarvis McDuffee, who had been an instructor in the U. S. Navy, announced himself as Principal of Rochester Academy for the Fall Term, 1847, but a " veto" announcement appeared on the part of the proprietors. The female department was continued under Miss Knight, the former assistant. By some arrangement, however, Mr. McDuffee held the principalship for a few terms, and afterwards removed to Exeter, where he became a farmer.
The Spring Term of 1848 was taught by James Wingate Rol- lins and Miss Knight. Mr. Rollins was from Somersworth, grad- uated at Dartmouth in 1845, taught South Berwick Academy two years before coming to Rochester, afterwards read law with Hon. William A. Hayes of South Berwick, Me., and settled in Boston, Mass., where he still practises.
In March, 1849, Rev. A. B. Worthing was principal, with J. B. Wentworth, associate. This was the last term taught by a male teacher. In fact the Academy may properly be said to have ended its existence here. Miss Caroline Knight however continued a private school for both sexes till 1872. She was the third daughter of Hatevil Knight, and was born in Rochester, May 17, 1806. She early manifested superior mental and moral endow- ments. With a determination that pressed through difficulties
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which would have disheartened most girls, she acquired a supe- rior education for those days. In 1826-27 she taught school in Exeter. When the Academy opened in 1828, she returned home and was assistant pupil for a time with Mr. Towner, for whom she ever retained a high regard. In 1830-31 she taught in the Academy at Hopkinton. She afterwards taught in Canandaigua, N. Y., where she improved the opportunity to gain a better knowledge of French under a native teacher, and of Mathematics under the well-known Prof. Robinson, who testified to her superior ability in that department. In 1840 she returned to New England and taught two seasons in North Conway, when she opened a private school for girls in her father's house. This continued till she took the position of assistant to Mr. Drew. When the Odd Fellows bought out the shareholders of the Academy, she secured enough with her father's share to retain the use of one room where she continued to teach till failing strength compelled her to retire. She was a self-denying Christian woman who devoted her life to doing good. She gave instruction not only in the common branches but also in Latin, French, Algebra, and Geom- etry for twenty-five cents a week, and even this was sometimes abated that the poorest might be able to avail themselves of the privilege of instruction. Her work was of a high order. One
who was specially interested in education remarked that Rochester could never establish a public High School while Miss Knight continued hers, for she used all the material. Her religious influ- ence was positive and wholesome. Many of her pupils, some now in high positions, can still testify to the deep and lasting impressions there received. In 1854 she adopted two children whom she trained and educated for lives of usefulness. One known as Mary M. Knight is now Mrs. Alvan S. Pratt of Wor- cester, Mass .; the other, John H. Wardwell, graduated at Dart- mouth College in 1870, and is now a teacher at Medford, Mass. He still owns the old Knight house built in 1790, where his adopted mother died, Aug. 8, 1882, in the same room in which she was born 76 years before.
For about twenty years Rochester Academy was a flourishing and useful institution, the benefits of which were felt and appre- ciated by the people of this and neighboring towns. No catalogues were published, so that it is now impossible to obtain accurate
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information in regard to the number of pupils, names of grad- uates, or courses of study pursued. As each principal conducted the school according to his own ideas, its character for the time depended upon his ability and aptitude in his vocation.
Among the many students of this institution may be named the following : - George Mathes already noticed; Elijah Martin Hussey a graduate of Dartmouth in 1852, now a lawyer in New York city; George L. Hayes a graduate of Bowdoin of more than ordinary ability, who died in Kentucky a few years after graduation ; Theodore Chase Woodman a graduate of Dartmouth in 1835, a lawyer of Bucksport, Me., has been a member of the Executive Council, and Speaker of the Maine House of Repre- sentatives ; Rev. Worster Willey for many years a missionary among the Cherokees; Hon. Edward Ashton Rollins a graduate of Dartmouth in 1851, Speaker of the New Hampshire House of Representatives, U. S. Commissioner of Internal Revenue, and who gave funds to build the Rollins Chapel at Hanover where he died Sept. 7, 1885; Sylvester Waterhouse, Ph. D., a graduate of Harvard in 1853, professor in Washington University, St. Louis, Mo .; John P. Newell who graduated first in his class at Dartmouth in 1849, a successful teacher at Derry and Manchester, of which city he has since been Mayor; John Noble of Great Falls a graduate of Harvard, a teacher in Boston, Clerk of the Supreme Court in Mass .; Tolman Willey, an able lawyer in Boston; J. H. York, M. D., a successful physician in Boston; Hon. J. H. Ela; Hon. J. H. Edgerly; and many others. Many ladies also now exerting a salutary influence in society were educated here at least in part. Among them was Caroline Bodge a graduate of South Hadley, who with great self-denial taught for several years in the most ignorant parts of New Jersey. She was teacher of Latin in the female seminary at Rockford, Ill., and afterwards principal of a female college in Wisconsin where she died.
In 1846 the proprietors voted to lease the upper story of the Academy building for ten years at twenty dollars per annum to Motolinia Lodge I. O. of Odd Fellows. This Lodge eventually bought out the rights of the various subscribers to whom the property reverted when it ceased to be used for a school. Having erected a much larger building in the front yard the Lodge sold
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the old academy which is now fitted up into a two-tenement dwelling facing on a new street called Academy street.
The first and most important cause which led to the decline of the Academy was the want of a Fund by which talented teachers might be secured and retained. Being without this permanent, independent basis, the division of the County into three, and the removal of the courts from Rochester, dealt the final blow. This change occurred when the institution was in the height of its brief prosperity, and not only diverted patronage to other insti- tutions but was the beginning of an entire revolution in the char- acter of our population and society. In the early years of the school such men as Mr. Woodman, David Barker, Jr., Judge Tebbetts, the Uphams, and the Hales, not only appreciated edu- cational advantages for their own town, but their extensive acquaintance as lawyers and public men would naturally increase the patronage of the school. The courts having been removed, the death of any one of these men was a loss not to be repaired. The change of Rochester from being almost exclusively an agri- cultural to a manufacturing town ; the establishment of Academies at Lebanon, Me., and at Strafford; improved High Schools at Great Falls and Dover; the introduction of more advanced studies into the public schools; the increased facilities for traveling to and from institutions of established reputation and ample funds ; all combined to diminish the prosperity of this school.
After the decline of the Academy, though possessing abundant elements of material wealth and prosperity, Rochester was for many years sadly deficient in the means of affording a good education to the young. Many citizens appreciated the value of such advantages, mourned over the deficiency, and used their best endeavors to rouse others from their apathy and to provide the much-needed facilities for education. After long delays their efforts were crowned with success in the establishment of a Public High School with excellent accommodations far superior to the " Academy " in its best days.
SOCIAL LIBRARY.
An essential element in the education of this town is "The Rochester Social Library Company." Next to churches and schools, libraries are the most important factor in the education of any
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community. When this company was formed libraries were even more a necessity than now. Books were scarce and costly. As for newspapers, a few families received the "New Hampshire Ga- zette," and later, the "Dover Sun." But the great variety of weekly, monthly, and quarterly periodicals, which we now esteem lightly because so cheap and common, was then unknown. The press did not teem with productions which railroads and coaches could convey to every door, but the family reading was narrowed down to the Bible, the Almanac, a school book or two, and in families that could afford it, a few religious works, reminding us of Whittier's lines : -
" The Almanac we studied o'er, Read and re-read our little store Of books and pamphlets scarce a score."
Almost every intelligent family of to-day has more books than could have then been collected from the whole town outside the libraries of professional men. Yet there was a general desire for information, and the people understood, perhaps even better than now, the great value of books. The excitement of the revolution which awakened and absorbed all their energies had subsided; the new government was firmly established and had ceased to excite speculation. Mental activity therefore sought new objects. and new channels, and the arts of peace were pursued with un- wonted ardor. In almost every town of New Hampshire will be found traces at least of a Social Library started at about this period. Rochester is one of the favored few which have kept up the institution to the present time.
On the twelfth day of March, 1792, a few persons assembled at the house of Col. John Goodwin and subscribed a paper in which they declared that learning tended to enlarge the views and soften the tempers of mankind; that it was more profitable and more pleasant when enjoyed in a social manner, and as social libraries had been found in other places to serve the cause of learning and virtue, they were agreed to form such a society in this town. Each member was to pay eighteen shillings towards the first pur- chase of books. Only ten paid their tax before the time appointed, and in all twenty-three paid before the end of the year, some by turning in, at a fair price, such books as they could contribute.
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The first book mentioned was presented by Mr. Haven, and is entitled " The Principles of Natural and Political Law," - a work then esteemed of great merit. The following titles will show to admirers of the ephemeral literature of the present day, what our fathers considered a substantial nucleus for a public library : -
Butler's Analogy of Natural and Revealed Religion, Foster's Discourses upon the Principal Branches of Natural Religion and Social Virtue, Scott's Christian Life, Morse's Geography, Chesterfield's Principles of Politeness, Goldsmith's Ro- man History, Robinson's History of Charles V., Voltaire's Charles XII. & Peter the Great, Brydone's Tour, Robinson's America, Tom Jones, etc., etc.
Not one in twenty of those early volumes was in the department of fiction. The first book presented by an author was "A Com- pendium of Military Duty," the first of its kind ever published in this country. This was by Jonathan Rawson, an aid of Gen. Sullivan, and a lawyer at Dover. The society voted thanks, and elected him a member of the association.
The list of members on the first book of records evidently in- cludes many who did not sign at first, as well as some who soon dropped out of membership. It is as follows : -
John McDuffee,
Aaron Wingate,
Richard Furber, Jr.,
Joseph Clarke,
Benja Odiorne, John Brown,
Joseph Haven, Daniel McDuffee, Jun", Lt. William Palmer, Ephraim Blasdell, Samuel Palmer, Paul Dame, Lt. Edward Rollins,
Sam1. Chamberlain, Jun", Richard Dame,
Wm. W. Blasdell,
Revd. Robert Gray,
Thomas Bancroft,
David Place,
Daniel McDuffee,
Peter Cushing,
Josiah Edgerly, John Plumer, 3d, John Downs,
Moses Horn, JuDr.
Esther Copps, Joshua Lane,
Hannah Rawson,
Daniel Hayes, Jun",
Hezekiah Cloutman,
Thomas Roberts,
Beard Plumer,
Joshua Harford,
Joseph Walker,
Jotham Nute, Hateval Knight, James How,
Ephraim Twombly, Jun", James McDuffee, 3ª, Daniel Rogers,
Dearborn Jewitt, Moses L. Neal, Edward Cole, Levi Jones, Moses Roberts, Jun",
Isaac Brown,
Jonathan McDuffee, Col. Jonª Palmer,
Jacob Hanson, Daniel Dame,
Joseph Hanson,
Banabas Palmer,
John Haven,
Ephraim Kimball,
Jacob McDuffee,
John Plumer, Jun", Jonas Clark March, Daniel Hayes, 3ª, Amos Main,
Polly Bell (Dover),
Daniel McDuffee.
This list includes the most prominent and respectable citizens of that day, and it is evident from the first, that they felt they had founded an institution not merely for themselves but for posterity.
During the summer of 1792 the first purchase of books was
Thomas Tash, Jr., Esq™,
John McDuffee, 3ª,
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ordered, and the Rev. Joseph Haven was invited to deliver an oration before the Society. On the first of October this oration was delivered, and a copy was solicited for the press. It was published in the " Rochester Courier," but not until nearly seventy- five years had passed away, when all who voted at that meeting were sleeping in their graves. In the introduction he said : -
" We are now assembled in order to open a Social Library in this town ; and though it may be looked upon as a day of small things, our hopes are raised, and we expect, with reason, that from a small beginning, happy effects will follow ; that our society will increase, our library multiply, and literature so prevail, that this town will rise in honor and usefulness; have a better knowl- edge of mankind, and the important doctrines of christianity; that religion, virtue, morality, and the arts and sciences will flourish."
He then spoke of the general benefits of literature, as shown in the history of mankind, tracing the influence of learning from Chaldea and Egypt through Greece and Rome, the darkness of the middle ages, the crusades, and the great reformation, to our own land.
" Even in the wilds of America a seminary of learning was early founded, and many of note have there received their education, that the old world have been no less surprised at our knowledge than firmness; nor have we lacked men of great abilities to conduct us safely through our struggles with Great Britain. France for a number of years has been celebrated for the progress she has made in the arts and sciences ; and the consequence is like to be liberty, freedom, happiness, and glory. I hasten over other matters to attend to things that may appear more connected with the designs of this day. When we take a view of this town from its first settlement, we shall have little cause to look for the propagation of the arts and sciences. It was for many years a frontier town, struggling with poverty and a savage foe; [so] that the people could attend to but little but their safety and support. Necessity led them into the habit of neglecting the education of youth, which is not yet conquered or re- moved. The Amercan war, high taxes, and the distressed situation of the in- habitants of the town have been looked upon as sufficient excuses for the neglect of public schools. But now an institution is formed and a library founded, which we hope will give a greater thirst for knowledge, and tend to promote literature.
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