USA > New Hampshire > Grafton County > Wentworth > History of the town of Wentworth, New Hampshire > Part 8
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HISTORY OF WENTWORTH, N. H.
later years became a citizen of New Jersey and dis- tinguished there in railroad, financial and political circles, and Louise J., who after a successful career as school teacher married John Atwell, a Wentworth man by birth living in Peacham, Vt., are best remem- bered in town. His second wife was Ann Blodgett Burns of Rumney, who outlived her husband.
Jeremiah Blodgett was a man of striking per- sonality with a keen and active mind. Many still living recall his tall, gaunt figure, bony frame, piercing eyes and, if occasion required, torrent of speech or anecdote which he could, and did, disburse at any time or place or in any kind of society. As a story teller he was without an equal. It was, however, as a political leader that he became most famous. Always a staunch Democrat he never did anything by halves, and the furtherance of his political ideas became with him the main object of his life. He greatly loved chil- dren and possessed their esteem and good will even in his old age to an unusual extent.
Among the offices filled by Mr. Blodgett during his long and active career, we enumerate: Representative from Dorchester, 1842-43; deputy sheriff, 1846-1856; member constitutional conventions of 1850 and 1876; representative from Wentworth, 1870-71-72; member Governor's Council in 1875 and 1877. Mr. Blodgett was always a man of simple tastes and not active in
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THE NEXT TWENTY YEARS, 1870-1890
business affairs, especially his own business which was apparently to him a matter of small concern. He owned and lived in the house in the upper part of the village now owned by Grover Breck. Mr. Blodgett was always a strong, robust man, enjoying excellent health until a few weeks before he died. His funeral was largely attended, the services being at the church. He, with most of the members of his im- mediate family, are buried in the family lot at the village.
About 1873, the precise date seems hard to deter- mine, an organized effort to establish a free public library was made. Popular subscriptions were solicited which met with a very fair response from the towns- people. There were also many donations of books. A fair lasting two nights was held in Stanyans Hall, then newly opened to the public. This fair was con- ducted in the usual manner; candy and articles of needlework were on sale. Several paintings, or perhaps only good imitations of such, and a large, gorgeous wreath made of worsted and handsomely framed were disposed of by a sort of lottery. Local actors presented "Ten Nights in a Bar Room." Among those in the cast were Ebenezer Gove, Oliver Cole and George Sherwell. This play was the first taste of theatricals that many children present had ever had, and they were impressed accordingly. In one way or another
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HISTORY OF WENTWORTH, N. H.
enough money was raised to get about 500 books, in- cluding those donated.
In due time the library was opened in an upstairs room in the wing, or ell, of the W. A. Flanders house. The library was kept here until the town bought the small building, at one time used as a law office by J. C. Story. The building was then moved to its present location near the church, where it now stands, being used by the selectmen as their office.
Here the library was kept until the opening in 1917 of the splendid Webster Memorial Library. The town library was given up, or more properly merged, with the Memorial Library. Albert L. Davis was for a long time the librarian of the old library. New books had been bought from time to time as means admitted, and the townspeople derived much pleasure and, we trust, profit also by reason of this library, which for more than forty years was the literary headquarters of the townspeople.
Mention has been made several times of Stanyans Hall. As this hall played quite a part in the lives of the village people, for at least two generations, and is now gone, it deserves a description. The main building. was the old Academy building erected in 1848 by William Gove and others. This edifice was some 35 by 50 feet on the ground, of one story, but quite high- posted. A walk led from the front, or main entrance,
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to the street at a point about opposite the cemetery gate. Jonathan Stanyan bought the old Academy property about 1873. He at once proceeded to convert it into a public hall, a purpose to which it was well adapted. Mr. Stanyan was a first-class carpenter. The planning and finishing of this hall was almost a hobby with him, and on its interior he lavished his utmost skill.
At the northerly end of the hall he built a stage. There was a high ornate proscenium arch. This arch was painted to outdo any rainbow, and lettered around the top "Stanyan's Music Hall," in characters of fearful and wonderful design. A small parlor was built outside and back of the hall at the upper end. At the south end of the main building Mr. Stan- yan added a large ell which contained a sizable dining room and kitchen. Large folding doors opening wide, if needed, separated the hall from the dining room. Over these doors was a tiny balcony reached by a flight of narrow winding stairs. The hall floor, of the best hard wood, was scraped, polished and waxed to perfection. In these days when everybody dances, and some do but little else, that type of floor would be fully appreciated in any community pretending to be up to date.
As long as Mr. Stanyan lived he maintained the hall in the pink of condition. It was used by the Re-
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HISTORY OF WENTWORTH, N. H.
form Club for their meetings, by traveling shows of various kinds, home talent theatricals, by the lodge of Good Templars, for public balls and public gath- erings as occasion required. After Mr. Stanyan's death the interest in the hall declined. It was last oc- cupied as a tenement, and finally burned.
The years, whose events we are now attempting to depict, saw the arrival in town of a race destined to become very numerous, the well known but by no means highly respected "decemlineator," or so-called Colorado Potato Bug. Without dwelling on this rather distasteful theme, it is proper to record the fact these beetles first appeared around the village in 1877. The townspeople were warned in advance of their ap- proach. Their arrival was awaited with a degree of interest and curiosity, but this feeling soon changed to disgust on better acquaintance. The bugs have ap- parently come to stay, for they still abide with us, as every farmer and gardener can testify, sometimes to their sorrow.
Ezra C. Knight was born in Landaff and came to Wentworth about 1876. He, in company with his son- in-law, Isaac N. Crosby, began the manufacture of bobbins. The firm of Knight and Crosby did a sub- stantial business in the village for some thirty years, when at its peak, the firm employed some ten hands and turned out about 2,000,000 bobbins a year. The
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THE NEXT TWENTY YEARS, 1870-1890
waste wood from this bobbin mill furnished a cheap and very good fuel for many households as long as the mill ran.
Isaac Crosby, with his family, lived in town for some years after the bobbin mill had ceased to run. He served on the Board of Education several years, was representative in 1901. .
Mr. Knight was quite prominent in political as well as in business circles during the years he lived in town, and representative in 1895.
The census of 1880 showed a population in town of 945, only a small decline from 1870, but, unfortu- nately, the worst was yet to come. The years from 1880 to 1890 were in a material sense uneventful in our town. Such changes as were made were not, as a rule, in the line of expansion. Brown's Mill became, as the years went by, less and less active. The Colburns, with Joseph A. Colburn at the head of the firm, did quite an extensive business in lumber and grain at Colburn's Mills, and B. W. Brown was in Rowen- town, doing a lumber business there. The farms did not increase in either number or value during this period, and horses supplanted oxen to a great extent on the farms and in the woods.
The greatest change that came to the townspeople in the decade of which we are now speaking was in the manner of conducting the public schools. The district
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system was abolished in 1886. The Prudential Com- mittee of the old or district system now became a statesman out of a job. All school districts in town were now consolidated, a Board of Education acting for the entire town being placed in charge of school affairs.
Text books were improved, made more uniform and furnished free to all pupils for school use by the town. Previous to this time all text books were pri- vate property and, when not borrowed, as was some- times the case, belonged to the scholars, or perhaps more properly in their respective families. In some cases the old text books had come down from other generations, having done their duty for a long time and for successive numbers of the same family. The use of slates in school was universal, note paper was scarce and but little used, and the blackboards less a feature fifty years ago than now.
The pupils of fifty years ago were, on the whole, better penmen and admittedly better spellers than our eighth-grade scholars of the present day. The conclusion is, and must be, that pupils are not as well drilled in these two rather important branches of study as formerly.
Another great change in the manner of conducting the town business came a little later, but may as well be mentioned here. This was no less than the abolition
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THE NEXT TWENTY YEARS, 1870-1890
of all highway districts. A road agent, or agents, were now elected to care for the highways. The highway tax was made payable in money as other taxes were paid. There was no more of the annual turn-out in June of each year to work on the roads. This also tended to take away from the individual personal re- sponsibility and from the communities a large part of their capacity for local self-government. The process of divesting first the people of the various school and highway districts in towns of their power to control such matters locally is being extended to towns as a whole. This tendency has increased steadily, and is in full force at the present time.
The state officials, including the various boards and commissions, now discharge many and in some cases most of the duties which our citizens formerly felt competent to do for themselves, a change not by any means for the better in some respects. This movement appears further to be directly counter to the principle on which our government is founded, namely that a free people are entitled to be self-governing, with, of course, due regard for the rights of others.
It would be a fitting close to this chapter to allude very briefly to the men who were most in office during the years 1870 to 1900. They were in practically every case representative citizens and by virtue of their office at any rate influential in public affairs. Space
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HISTORY OF WENTWORTH, N. H.
does not admit the mention of all who filled the vari- ous offices from year to year. We will, however, speak of some who were among those prominent during this period.
Mention will first be made of Lorenzo W. Currier. Mr. Currier during his lifetime saw more service on the Board of Selectmen than any other citizen of the town has ever had, being on the Board thirteen years in all and ten years as chairman. He was representa- tive in 1879, town treasurer several years and modera- tor for around twenty years continuously. His brother, Capt. Samuel G. Currier, held many town offices, was representative in 1875-76 and again in 1889.
Franklin Eaton served as first selectman and town treasurer in 1874-76, as well as treasurer of Grafton County in 1876-78.
Amos M. Cogswell, station agent from 1870 to 1885, served as first selectman in 1880-81 and several years as superintendent of schools.
The veteran William H. Moore, previously men- tioned, upheld the family tradition by serving as chairman of the Board 1882-85.
John L. Downing, Noah B. Foster and John B. Foster, from the south part of the town, all saw much service on the Board and in minor town offices. Sam- uel B. Burnham, also from the south part, was fre- quently a selectman and representative in 1873-74.
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THE NEXT TWENTY YEARS, 1870-1890
William H. Davis was town clerk all the time and representative in 1885. John A. Davis was town treasurer some thirty years in all, and representative in 1883. Charles Turner, after having previously served as selectman, was made chairman of the Board in 1890. Either Hiram D. Morey or J. D. Osgood was a deputy sheriff much of the time.
The census of 1890 showed the population to be 698, a loss of 247, the largest decline of any ten-year period in the history of the town. It is probable that the closing out of the large business formerly done at and around Brown's Mills accounted for a substantial part of this large loss in population during the years 1880 to 1890. It is also true that hill farms everywhere were being abandoned. The number of acres of wood- land are increasing, while the acreage of cleared land tends to grow smaller and beautifully less as the years go slowly by.
The wild deer, after having been extinct for more than a generation, were now protected except for a short open season in the late fall. As a result, about 1890, they began to appear in the wilder portions of the town, to the great delight of the boys.
CHAPTER VII-1890-1930
LOSS OF THE TOWN RECORDS - THE CREAMERY - THE TOWN HALL - THE WORLD WAR - GREAT FIRE OF 1921 - THE CLOSING WORD
THE FINAL FORTY YEARS, 1890-1930
This very modest history has been brought so far and to the year of grace 1890 without the help, aid and assistance of any town clerk's records because of the simple but sufficient reason that no such records exist.
Information has been gathered from Dr. Hoyt's invaluable manuscript, the selectmen's account books 1779 to 1858, files of New Hampshire registers, the records of the secretary of state, adjutant general and state treasurer, journals of the legislature, 1776 to 1927 gazetteers, histories of all kinds, and other sources too numerous to mention.
From now on, the way is in some respects clear and plain, there being town records and also tax lists in existence from the year 1890 until the present time.
The melancholy story of how the old records came to be destroyed will now be related.
In February, 1890, a very disastrous fire broke out
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THE FINAL FORTY YEARS, 1890-1930
in the night in the store building of Eaton and Davis. The fire originated, it is thought, in a room used as a barber shop in the second story. This fire destroyed the old hotel and all that went with it, the store build- ing of Eaton and Davis, with their stock of general merchandise, and the two-story building adjoining, owned and occupied by the jeweller, Charles E. Mason.
The town sustained in this fire a heavy material loss, but the verdict of the future will probably be that the loss of the town books and records, which were kept by the town clerk in a small office room over the store, was the greatest real disaster that befell the town at this time. The deplorable loss of the town clerk's records, as well as many other valuable town books and papers in this fire of February, 1890, is a loss that can never be replaced.
The present town clerk's record book begins with the business of the annual town meeting held on Tues- day, March 11, 1890, recorded in the plain round hand of William H. Davis, then town clerk.
The first thing recorded in the book is a petition of Francis A. Randall for the laying out of a road on Ellsworth Hill, over the land of Nancy M. and Henry B. Ellsworth and land of Lyman Ellsworth. It appears that the road was in time laid out as a lane, subject to gates and bars.
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HISTORY OF WENTWORTH, N. H.
At the next town meeting, held on March 10, 1891, the town voted to discontinue the road leading from the house of Samuel J. Pease through land of Rufus Blodgett to the Moses Nichols place, also the road from the Henry Ellsworth place to the Kingsbury place, so called, as far as laid out. These votes are mentioned here to show the reader the fate that has overtaken many of our back roads.
In 1891 an effort was made to improve business conditions, especially among the farmers, by the es- tablishment of a cooperative creamery.
The Wentworth Creamery Association was or- : ganized December 5, 1891, with a paid-in capital of $3,000. The stock was all subscribed for and held by the people of Wentworth and a few residents of Warren.
Elias M. Blodgett, W. E. Piper, James B. Brown and Harry M. Turner were elected the first Board of Directors. The town voted in 1892 to exempt for a period of three years the property of the Creamery Association from taxation.
This creamery was located on the old brook road in the deep valley directly back of the Doctor Hoyt house. The building was of good size and well equipped; for about twenty-five years the Association did a successful business and its products were of the best quality and always in good demand. The output of
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THE FINAL FORTY YEARS, 1890-1930
the creamery was mostly butter, but at times cream was also sold. The creamery was a help to the farmers and furnished them a market for milk for a long time. With the gradual decline of farms, however, and also the fact that many farmers began later to ship their milk by train direct to Boston, the amount of milk handled at the creamery declined to a point where operation was impracticable. About 1920 the cream- ery was closed, such of the equipment as had any value was sold and the building allowed to fall into ruin. A few of the farmers still continue to dispose of their surplus milk to the creamery at West Rumney, the Boston market not having in all cases proved to be a reliable one.
In 1893 there was incorporated in town a new re- ligious society under the name of the Free Methodist Society, Inc. J. A. Wright, Cicero A. Clifford, James H. Lund, Charles H. Hall and Charles F. Keniston were the charter members. The Society did not pro- gress apparently, and has been dormant for at least twenty-five years.
At about this period another innovation came into the lives of the townspeople. The telephone is less spectacular than was the telegraph, but destined to be of much more practical use.
On May 24, 1881, there was organized at Plymouth the Plymouth and Campton Telephone Exchange
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HISTORY OF WENTWORTH, N. H.
Co., with a paid-up capital of $2,790. The company was at first little more than an experiment. In six years they were only able to show a list of fifty-two subscribers and a gross income of $1,498.86 for the year ending June 1, 1887. But in spite of their poverty they soon began to seek for new worlds to conquer. On March 29, 1897, this company was granted by the selectmen of Wentworth the right to set poles and run wires within the highway limits of the town. This was the modest beginning of the present telephone system.
In 1902 the New England Telephone and Tele- graph Co. was chartered to run through the town along the highways, but is used only as a through line, not competing for the local business.
The present Telephone Company is a consolidation of the Plymouth and Campton with other small companies, and known as the White Mountain Tele- phone and Telegraph Co., with headquarters at Plymouth, the central office for the upper part of the Baker's River valley being at Warren.
About 1895 the last of the war debt was paid and the townspeople began to feel they could begin to afford a few luxuries for themselves. They had al- ready bought a road machine, and active agitation in regard to the building of a town hall was begun.
The warrant for the town meeting held March 8, 1898, contained the following article:
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THE FINAL FORTY YEARS, 1890-1930
"Art. 3. To see if the town will vote to build a Town House, raise money for that purpose and choose a committee to locate and build the same."
Under this article the town voted to build a town house, and raised $1,500 for the purpose. At the same meeting, Elias M. Blodgett, John D. Marston and John W. Lyon were elected a building committee.
The committee proceeded to arrange for the build- ing. After some consideration they decided to locate the hall on the easterly side of the highway directly in front of what was known as the Nutting place, for- merly the home of the pioneer, John Aiken.
Mrs. Betsey, wife of Pethuel Downing, gave the town a sum of money sufficient to pay for the land and something more.
The building is about 40 x 60, two stories high and well built. A hall on the first floor is used for town meetings or other gatherings as needed; a small stage extends across the easterly end of the hall, so that dramatic or other entertainments can be given in town.
Arthur L. Kimball was appointed janitor about as soon as the hall was ready for use, and has continued to hold the office acceptably until the present time (1929).
The building was built in 1899; the town voted in that year to grade the grounds around the hall and not to finish the upper story.
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HISTORY OF WENTWORTH, N. H.
In 1901 the town voted to raise $400 to finish the upper story and $250 to furnish the same. They further voted to give the selectmen the right to lease the upper hall to societies. This action was no doubt taken in the interest of the Grange, as the hall with anterooms was shortly rented by the Grangers, who have occupied it ever since. There was also a vote taken in 1902 to raise $250 to build the present horse sheds at the town hall. The hall is a well-built and comfortable building, well suited for the purpose for which it was intended, and in size and equipment ample to meet the needs of the townspeople.
By the census of 1900, the town's population is given as 617, a loss of 81 during the decade. This num- ber, 617, is but 129 more than the figures for 1800, which were 488, the net gain in one hundred years being a fraction over one individual a year, which is hardly impressive.
Town Clerk William H. Davis died in office in 1903. His record book is neat, legible and complete, and would well serve as a model of its kind.
Telephones were becoming numerous, in 1904. Hiram M. Bowen was granted the right to set poles on the Atwell Hill Road; also about this time the Citi- zen's Telephone Co. was organized by Fred C. Glea- son of Warren and others to do business throughout the Baker's River valley. These various interests were
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MAIN STREET, LOOKING WEST BEFORE THE FIRE
TOWN HALL
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THE FINAL FORTY YEARS, 1890-1930
later consolidated and merged with the old or White Mountain Telephone and Telegraph Co.
The coming of the automobile is no more a part of the history of our town than of every town wherever the name and fame of Henry Ford are mentioned, or the Standard Oil Co. have ever disposed of any of its popular products. But since the coming of motor-driven vehicles has worked very profound changes in the business, industrial and social life of the nation, the record would be incomplete unless men- tion of them was made. The production of a horseless carriage has been the dream of inventors for more than two hundred years. Many models were produced ยท and a few of them actually ran. It remained, however, for the French nation to perfect and produce the first practical automobile as it exists today, using the gaso- line engine. Our countrymen were quick to appreciate and adopt the work of the French inventors.
By the coming of the year of 1900, automobiles had gained a foothold in the United States. It is not possi- ble now to say just what day the first one made an appearance in Wentworth. It is not unlikely to have been in the year 1899 when the first auto chugged over the roads of our town, scaring horses and terrifying all kinds of live stock; it was regarded by many of the beholders as a sort of a Juggernaut.
It was freely predicted that while autos might be
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HISTORY OF WENTWORTH, N. H.
used some in and around the cities, they would never be a success on the country roads.
The automobile has, however, almost driven the horse off the roads of the United States. The motor trucks and bus lines are now taking from the railroads a large part of the passenger and no small portion of the freight business of the nation, the iron horse hav- ing gone in many cases the way of old Dobbin. Trac- tors are building roads in summer and ploughing out snowdrifts in the winter, the main roads now being kept open for automobile traffic the year round.
It is hardly too much to say that every family now has an automobile and, as was formerly said of dogs, the poorer families have two.
There are now (1929) 108,000 cars licensed in the state, a number ample, no doubt, to take the whole population of the state joy riding at one grand trip. Highways are being built and rebuilt everywhere. The cost of these improved highways is staggering. Many lines of business are suffering because of the diversion of the large sums used to buy and maintain automo- biles and build roads for them to run on. The fore- going is as true of Wentworth as of other towns in the state, but not more so.
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