USA > New Hampshire > Grafton County > Wentworth > History of the town of Wentworth, New Hampshire > Part 11
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During the year 1849 Thomas N. Pearson made a survey through the town and permanently located the route for the railroad. It followed closely the line of Baker's River entirely through the town. Work of construction was begun. The section from Rumney to
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HISTORY OF WENTWORTH, N. H.
Warren, a distance of about six miles, was let by con- tract to Harrison Messer. On the 12th day November, 1849, the first ground was broken in town, at the cut near Calvin W. Clifford's house and also near Daniel Eames. This was considered as an occasion of rejoic- ing, as it settled the question of the final building of the railroad, an event in the minds of many quite doubtful. Mr. Messer employed from one hundred and fifty to two hundred laborers, mostly Irishmen, through the next year, finishing his contract in the spring of 1851. Two Irishmen were killed by bank slides during the winter of 1850 and 1851. With the certainty of the building of the railroad there was a great rise in the price of real estate throughout the town, more especially of the wild lands and most near the village; lands covered with timber, either spruce or hemlock, met with ready sale, and at prices nearly if not quite double what they would have sold for five years previous.
During the early spring of the year 1851 the build- ing of the railroad was finished through the town. On the 27th of May the annual meeting of the com- pany was held in the meetinghouse in the village. A very large number of people from the region around was attracted together at the novelty of seeing the first train of passenger cars enter the town. It was considered a day of public rejoicing by the friends of
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BUILDING OF RAILROAD
the enterprise. A cannon was fired on the hill overlook- ing the deep cut south of the depot, and the thunder of its discharge echoed and reëchoed from mountain to mountain and from hill to hill while the shrill notes of the steam whistle and the tremendous snort of the iron horse reverberated through the village. About twenty-five hundred people were present, some twelve or fifteen hundred being brought on the cars. The train from the south numbered twelve long passen- ger cars. On the 2nd of the June following regular trips ran daily to Warren, and on the 10th of May, 1853, just five years from the building of the first section (from Concord to Sanbornton Bridge), the cars ran to the terminal at Woodsville near Wells River.
In order to secure the building and completion of this road the citizens of Wentworth contributed largely, much beyond their means as a rule. Many shares were also purchased at a discount from the con- tractors of the road as well as taken in exchange for pay and building materials so that in the end a large amount of stock was owned in town. That the sinking of so much money in this enterprise was a cause of much embarrassment after a few years was painfully evident. The losers, however, had partial consolation in the fact that the town collectively had been bene- fited through the general rise of real estate and the
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186 HISTORY OF WENTWORTH, N. H.
increase of business within the town. It is believed the amount of stock owned by investors in town on the completion of the road amounted to about six hun- dred shares, equal to $60,000 par value .*
* Dr. Hoyt.
r
CHAPTER II
SCHOOLS - THE WENTWORTH ACADEMY - CHURCH HISTORY - THE REV. INCREASE S. DAVIS - MEETINGHOUSES
SCHOOL HISTORY
The history of public schools in Wentworth, as well as all other New Hampshire towns, may properly be divided into three periods.
During the first of these periods, which lasted until 1827, all schoolhouses were built and the schools established and maintained by the town.
By the statute of 1827 and its various amend- ments, school districts became corporations, with power to own land, build schoolhouses, vote appro- priations and elect officers who were placed in full charge of the affairs of their respective districts.
The district system, while possessing some good features, was always productive of much inequality, as it gave the larger and wealthier districts great advantages in the matter of schools.
The third period dates from 1885, when, by state law, all school districts covered by the general statutes were abolished and the town system again established.
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HISTORY OF WENTWORTH, N. H.
All schoolhouses and school supplies now became the property of the town, which also at about this time, began to furnish all text books required by the pupils.
A Board of Education in each town was now placed in charge of school affairs. This system with minor changes has lasted until the present time.
Previous to the organization of the town in 1779, it is fair to assume but little if any action had been taken by the early settlers in regard to schools.
As soon, however, as the town was organized, which made it possible to impose a legal tax, we find money was raised for the support of schools. In the year 1780 the town voted to raise six pounds, payable in corn at the rate of three shillings a bushel, for school purposes. The present value of the sum so raised would be about twenty-nine dollars. But we have reason to believe that this assessment was not paid to the town, for in the warrant for town meeting in the year 1782, we find an article "To see if the town will reconsider the vote of the town the two . years past for school money." The voters of the town refused to reconsider but did instruct the constables, Joseph Smith and Enoch Page, not to "Strain * for the school rates until after the first of September next," without doubt expecting by that time the
* Meaning to distrain.
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SCHOOL HISTORY
crops of corn might be in condition to harvest. In some kind of produce, usually corn or wheat, most often all of the school money was paid previous to 1800. It will be remembered that Governor Went- worth made in the charter a reservation of one share, equal to three lots of land, "For schools for the benefit of the town." This grant constitutes the school land of the present day, the income of which is, or should be, applied to the benefit of our schools throughout the town.
The first schoolhouse was built in 1790. It stood about on the spot where now stands the dwelling house of Robert Mclaughlin in the village. During the early period, schools were kept in private houses, a room in the house being rented for the purpose. Usually the owner of the house received a small sum for use of his rooms and for fuel furnished. Thus in 1796, an item reads "Pd. Capt. Whitcher for house rent and wood, thirteen shillings and sixpence." There are many similar items in the selectmen's accounts previous to 1800.
The first division of the town into school districts was made in 1785. In that year the town was divided into five districts, as follows, as nearly as can be judged at the present time:
District No. 1. - From Warren line on the east side of the river to where Charles Gove now lives.
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HISTORY OF WENTWORTH, N. H.
District No. 2. - From the Gove place on the Main or Cross road, so called, to Rumney line.
District No. 3. - That part of the town south of Baker's River on the Dorchester road, including the settlement on the South Branch.
District No. 4. - That part of the town on "Wentworth Hill," so called, now Atwell Hill.
District No. 5. - That part of the town from Aiken's Bridge, including "Ellsworth Hill" and the west side of the river to Warren line.
Only two schoolhouses appear to have been built in these five districts.
The second division into school districts was in the year 1798. Three more districts were added at this time, viz., Ellsworth Hill, the region on the South Branch and the district on the "West Side," so called.
In 1795, the school teachers named in the accounts for that year were Ebenezer St. Clair, Frederic Maltby, Jonathan Eames and Ezekiel Akin; of these, Eames and Akin were townsmen; the other two were evidently imported for the occasion. As the town ex- pended during that year the sum of $77.68 for teachers' salaries out of a total revenue for all pur- poses of only $228.63, it must be admitted they were doing about as much as they could for the town schools. It is probable a school was kept in each dis- trict in the course of the year, but the terms were
.
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SCHOOL HISTORY
short. It is doubtful if any district had over six weeks schooling at this time, some not more than four weeks probably, for the entire year.
Changes were made from time to time in the boundaries of the districts, as for instance in 1806, a new West Side district was laid out to begin at War- ren line on the West Side and made to include all on that side of the river as well as most of the village. The schoolhouse was nearly where Marshall Brown now lives.
District No. 7 at this time extended from Charles Gove's house to Rumney line on both sides of the river. Two schoolhouses were used, one near Turner's, the other near the Joshua Foster buildings on the west side of the road. (The reader will bear in mind there was then a bridge across Baker's River at the lower end of Harry Turner's field.)
In 1829 the Sanders Hill District was established and given the name of No. 3. The schoolhouse for the south part of the town was about this time removed from near the old Fiske farm, across the South Branch and located near the Ben B. Foster place.
In the year 1830 District No. 8 was formed to accommodate the people of Rowentown, and Zebina Page, the prudential committee for the new district, drew $16.47 school money for the year.
District No. 9, or as it was called generally, the
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HISTORY OF WENTWORTH, N. H.
"old red school house" district, was established in 1835. It included the part of the village on the east- erly side of the river and down by Gove's to the Rolfe farm. The schoolhouse, of which not a vestige now remains, stood at the foot of the small hill just south of the town hall on the east side of the road.
In 1842 District No. 10 was formed on the Buffalo Road; it included all that part of the old District No. 7, east of Baker's River. The schoolhouse was on the east side of the road about fifty rods south of Mrs. King's house. This schoolhouse was burned by an incendiary in 1861. The remainder of District No. 7, lying west of the river, was about 1842, by act of legislature, united with a portion of Rumney, forming a Union District. The schoolhouse was located on Rumney Plain near the town line and is the present Grange Hall.
In 1844, in accordance with an act of the legislature for defining the boundaries of the school districts, the town was redistricted and their limits described as follows, viz:
District No. I. - East side of the river from Warren line to the Amos Rollins place, so called. School house where it is now. District No. 2. - West side of the river including the part of the village north of the dwellings of George S. Deane and Stephen Dole, commencing at Warren line.
District No. 3. - Sanders Hill. School house where it now stands. District No. 4. - Wentworth Hill. The school house stood where it now does and it is now known as Atwell Hill.
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SCHOOL HISTORY
District No. 5. - Ellsworth Hill, with school house where it is now.
District No. 6. - South Branch District. School house near Ben. Foster's. .
District No. 7. - Union School District. Wentworth and Rumney.
District No. 8. - Rowentown District. School house near Francis O. Boyd's.
District No. 9. - From the houses of George S. Deane and Stephen Dole in the village to Charles Gove's and from Plato Eames' land on the east side to Christopher N. Palmer's house on the Buffalo road.
District No. 10. - Buffalo District. From the house of David N. Currier to Rumney line and the Cross Road.
In 1855 District No. II was formed by a division of No. 2. This district extended on the west side from the Warren line to the town farm. In 1856 District No. 9 was divided and the part lying north of the village bridge was added to District No. 2. In 1858 parts of Districts Nos. 6 and 8 were united with Dor- chester for school purposes, forming a Union District with that town.
After the year of 1856 no material changes were made in the districts and no new districts were established. The above arrangement lasted until 1886, when all the districts were abolished by act of legislature.
In many districts the schoolhouses were used as occasion required for community purposes. The Free Will Baptists for many years used the Ellsworth Hill
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HISTORY OF WENTWORTH, N. H.
and also the Atwell Hill schoolhouses for their meetings. The schoolhouses were also used for social gatherings, public meetings, funerals and at times for exhibitions.
In fact, the "little red school house" was no small factor in the life of people born prior to 1880, as many now living can testify that the happiest hours they have ever known were lived in and around the humble, but never to be forgotten spot, where study and play combined to make impressions that never fade from the mind. Few memories outlast those of the schoolhouse of our childhood,
"Its door's worn sill betraying The feet that, creeping slow to school, Went storming out at playing."
Up to about the year 1820 the schools were in charge of the selectmen; they hired and paid the teachers who were usually men. There is no mention made of a school superintendent until about the above date when payments were first made a super- intending School Committee. The amount of these payments varied from year to year but for a long time averaged around $3.00. Caleb Keith, Enoch Page, Jr., Luke Aiken, Samuel Johnson and Thomas Whipple, Jr., were among the earliest superintend- ents. If "Master" Page, as he was called, was as vigorous a superintendent as he was a teacher, he
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SCHOOL HISTORY
earned his money. He never took any chances of spoiling the child by sparing the rod and for more than forty years his name was one to conjure with, at least among the children. Dr. Hoyt for some time served as superintendent of schools and was much interested in the Academy, taking an active part in its management. Among others who have served as super- intendents can be mentioned Rev. J. H. Seagrave, Samuel G. Currier, Amos M. Cogswell, Edward G. Tenney, John B. Foster and Dr. George B. Emerson.
Beginning with 1887, a Board of Education has been in charge of school affairs.
In 1918 the town was made a part of a so-called supervisory district, the schools being thus placed in charge of a salaried superintendent. These officials have been Carl T. Rhoads, Clarence M. Harris, William J. Nelson and Edward A. Janes. Mr. Janes came in 1927 and lives with his family in the Dr. Fraser house in the village. He is in charge of the schools of Wentworth, Warren, Orford and Piermont.
Four schools are now being kept in town, viz .: Atwell Hill, The Foster School, the Buffalo School and the Village; the latter has two teachers, being divided into primary and grammar sections.
Beginning with 1887 a Board of Education has been in charge of school affairs; an incomplete list of these is given below:
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HISTORY OF WENTWORTH, N. H.
1887 - Samuel G. Currier, John B. Foster, Francis A. Randall. 1888 - Samuel G. Currier, John B. Foster, Thomas Huckins. 1889 -- Samuel G. Currier, Thomas Huckins, Willis A. Whitcher. 1890 - Thomas Huckins, Willis A. Whitcher, Joshua E. Foster. 1891 -- Willis A. Whitcher, Joshua E. Foster, Franklin Eaton. 1892 - Joshua E. Foster, Franklin Eaton, Thomas Huckins. 1893 - Franklin Eaton, Thomas Huckins, Charles C. Whitcher. 1894 -- Thomas Huckins, Charles C. Whitcher, W. E. Piper. 1895 - Charles C. Whitcher, W. E. Piper, Edward G. Tenney. 1896 - Edward G. Tenney, Isaac S. Crosby, Fannie Boyd. 1897 - Isaac S. Crosby, Fannie Boyd. .
1898 - Isaac S. Crosby, Fannie Boyd, Charles T. Gove. 1899 - Isaac S. Crosby, Fannie Boyd, Charles T. Gove. 1900 - Isaac S. Crosby, Charles T. Gove, John B. Foster. . 1901 - John B. Foster, Charles T. Gove, Persis M. Plumer. 1902 - Charles T. Gove, Persis M. Plumer, Ben B. Foster. 1903 - Persis M. Plumer, Ben B. Foster, Virginia R. Eaton.
1904 - Ben B. Foster, Virginia R. Eaton, Jos. H. Merrill. 1905 - Virginia R. Eaton, Jos. H. Merrill.
1906 - Jos. H. Merrill, Calvin T. Shute, Leona C. Foster. 1907 - Calvin T. Shute, Leona C. Foster, Hiram M. Bowen. 1908 - Leona C. Foster, Neal D. Johnson, John P. Currier. 1909 -- John P. Currier, Isaac Crosby.
1910 - John P. Currier, Andrew C. Mumler.
1911 - Andrew C. Mumler, Charles H. Brown.
1912 - Charles H. Brown, Chairman.
1913 - Eugene C. Downing, Chairman.
1914 - Lettie G. Colburn, Chairman.
1915 - Meta Downing.
1916- Meta Downing, Eugene C. Downing, Charles H. Brown. 1917 - Meta Downing, Charles H. Brown, Eugene C. Downing. 1918 - Anna B. Brown, Chairman.
1919 - Eugene C. Downing, Meta M. Downing, Jesse H. Gordon.
1920 - Eugene C. Downing, Meta M. Downing, Jesse H. Gordon.
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SCHOOL HISTORY
1921 - Meta M. Downing, Jesse H. Gordon.
1922 - Jesse H. Gordon, Anna B. Brown, Meta Downing.
1923 - Jesse H. Gordon, Anna B. Brown, Meta Downing. 1924 - Elmer E. Ladd, Anna B. Brown, Meta M. Downing.
1925 - Meta M. Downing, Mertie M. Atwood.
1926 - None shown in town report.
1927 - Mertie M. Atwood, Alson L. Brown, Meta M. Downing. 1928 - Alson L. Brown, Meta M. Downing, Beatrice C. Down- ing.
WENTWORTH ACADEMY
The Wentworth Academy Association was or- ganized in response to a demand by the people of the town that some means should be provided to furnish higher education than could be obtained in the or- dinary common schools of the town. The association, which does not appear to have ever been legally incorporated, was organized March 31, 1848, and the building built the summer following, by subscription.
It cost, including the land for its site, about eleven hundred and thirty dollars. It was paid for by the selling of stock at ten dollars per share. The following is a list of stockholders with number of shares sub- scribed by each.
Five shares each Three shares each Two shares each
Peter L. Hoyt Asa Dolloff Fayette E. Kezer
Oliver S. Cole Milo E. Haines Abigail Eaton
Jonathan Judkins Alonzo A. Whipple Asa Goodell
Daniel J. Cole One share each
Amos Tilton
Samuel Herbert
Samuel S. Colburn Wolcott Dana
HISTORY OF WENTWORTH, N. H.
198 J. S. Blaisdell
Henry Johnson
Samuel Currier
John Currier Putnam Spaulding Enock Clark
David D. Kelley
Ezekiel Aiken
William D. McQueten J. E. Sargent
James K. Page Increase S. Davis
George S. Dean James H. Godfrey William P. Smith
Jeremiah Blodgett William Gove
Ezra Eaton
Jesse Eaton
E. C. Eames
William W. Bailey Joseph Savage Alfred P. Dustin
Mrs. Samuel Eames,
Newell Stanyan Jesse Stetson
three shares to pur- chase a bell.
Peter L. Hoyt, John Currier and William Gove were the building committee. The building was erected di- rectly across the street from the village cemetery. The first term of school commenced in September, 1848. Elliot T. Farr of Corinth, Vt., was principal. He taught three terms. Among others who filled the position of principal during the career of the Academy we can mention, Salmon A. Squire, Elizabeth A. Brewster, Samuel J. Edgerly, Isaac W. Hobbs, Samuel B. Page and Horace S. Abbot. The last year the school was in charge of John E. Davis of Rumney.
Shortly after 1870 the school was discontinued. The building was sold by the association to Jonathan Stanyan. Mr. Stanyan built an addition to the south end of the building, remodeled the interior 'and opened it to the people under the name of Stanyan's Hall, of which more will be related in another chapter.
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CHURCH HISTORY CHURCH ORGANIZATIONS
The following article is the contribution of Mrs. Aurilla M. Butts, the present clerk of the Church Society in Wentworth. It includes an exhaustive history of the Congregational Society, which, as the language would indicate, is in part a verbatim copy of some of the older records of the church. The records of the Universalist Society are not now to be found. Mrs. Butts' painstaking account is given below in full.
The regard the early settlers had for Gospel Ordi- nances may be inferred from the fact that, with a single exception, no tax was ever assessed either for preaching or for the building of a meetinghouse. Consequently the only religious instruction enjoyed was given by "itinerants," whose stay never exceeded a few months, often less than a week.
A few Calvin Baptists were found here in 1793. A Free Will Baptist Church was formed in 1808, which died out, but was reorganized in 1833. A Methodist class was formed in 1822-23. Universalists are named in the town records as early as 1801, but no society organized till 1837. The people, however, have been much used to the preaching of that order.
Congregationalists are named in 1808 and preach- ing of this order was had for short periods from 1815
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HISTORY OF WENTWORTH, N. H.
to 1825 by Revs. Hovey, Fairbanks, Blake and others.
In 1789 the town "voted to build a meetinghouse provided it be done without expense to the town," which vote was carried into effect in 1791. This house was burned April 4, 1828.
The present is a "Union House" and was raised in September, 1828, and dedicated in August of the following year.
The Congregational Church owes its existence, under God, to the labors of Rev. James Hobart, commonly known as "Father Hobart," and was organized September 21, 1830, consisting of eight members - three men and five women.
The first pastor, Rev. Increase S. Davis, was born in Brookline, Mass., May 6, 1797. Read theology under Rev. Jon. Homer, D.D., of Newton, Mass .; was licensed by the Orange Association of Lyme, N. H., November, 1827; ordained pastor of the church in Dorchester, N. H., October 9, 1828. He began his labors with this church on alternate Sundays in May, 1831, and was dismissed from the church in Dorchester, June 19, 1833, and installed pastor of this church June 20, 1833. He, however, seems not to have confined his labors to this people. From May, 1834, to May, 1839, he supplied the church in Orfordville one-half of the time. He then preached one year in Peacham, Vt. After his return he divided his time
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CHURCH HISTORY
between this place and Piermont till the third Sabbath in April, 1856, after which time he preached his farewell sermon to this people. He, however, was not formally dismissed till March 1, 1859. Up to this date the whole number having been received to this church was IIO.
There is no record that infant baptism was ever practiced in the church save in one instance Father Hobart baptised three children of Mrs. Dolly Hoit, December 30, 1830.
After a destitution of the means of grace for nearly two years, a few brethren at the opening of the year 1858 procured subscriptions for orthodox preaching to the amount of $200. Providence favored the measure and the pulpit was supplied nearly every Sabbath through the year by different ministers. The Holy Spirit made the Word efficacious and eight persons were received into the church by profession.
The church being thus encouraged and strength- ened resolved upon a reestablishment of the Ordi- nances of Religion. Accordingly in October of the same year Rev. Silas M. Blanchard was invited to preach six Sabbaths as a candidate for settlement. A call was then given him to settle as pastor of this church which relation was consummated by an ecclesiastical council March 2, 1859.
Mr. Blanchard was born in Windham, N. H.,
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HISTORY OF WENTWORTH, N. H.
March 9, 1820; united with the Presbyterian Church in his native town in February, 1836; graduated at Dartmouth College in 1842; taught four years in Hancock County, Ga .; commenced his theological studies at Columbia, S. C., and graduated at Andover, Mass., in 1849; was principal of Pembroke Academy two years; ordained by Londonderry Presbytery in Windham, October 27, 1853. Preached in Chichester four and one-half years, and in Bath sixteen months, from which place he removed to Wentworth and commenced his labors January 1, 1859.
November 20, 1860, an Ecclesiastical Council convened to consider whether, under existing cir- cumstances, the pastoral connection of Rev. S. M. Blanchard ought not to be dissolved. Pastors and delegates were present from churches in Hebron, Bradford, Vt., Lyme, Laconia, Plymouth and Haver- hill. After a season of prayer certain resolutions passed by the Wentworth church were read to the council, expressing as a unanimous opinion of the church that the interests of religion required that the pastoral connection of Rev. Mr. Blanchard should be dis- solved. Full statements were made by the committee assigning the reasons why they desired the dissolution of the pastoral relation. The council, after much deliberation, decided upon the necessity for dismissing the pastor.
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CHURCH HISTORY
For nearly two years, beginning in July, 1861, the pulpit was supplied by Rev. Joseph W. Pickett, a native of Andover, Ohio, and a graduate in the class of 1861 of Andover, Mass., Theological Seminary. In October, 1862, a call was extended to him to be- come a permanent pastor of the church, but was not accepted, although his labors had been fruitful. In May, 1863, his connection with the church ended, and his brother, Cyrus W. Pickett of New Haven Theo- logical Seminary was engaged to supply the pulpit until January 1, 1863.
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