USA > New Hampshire > Hillsborough County > Wilton > History of the town of Wilton, Hillsborough County, New Hampshire, with a genealogical register > Part 24
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The next morning after arriving at Genesee, the troops were ordered out at day-break to destroy the corn which we found growing there, which having done, we commeneed our return, moving forward as rapidly as possible. When within two days' march of Tioga, we were met by a detachment of troops with provisions, of which we were much in need. We then marched to Wyoming, thence to Easton, and from that place, on the same route we had taken in the spring, to Danbury, Connecticut, where the troops went into winter quarters. Captain Frye with a detach- ment of troops, myself among the number, was stationed at Fairfield. where we were in some degree compensated for our toils and suffering's during the summer, by comfortable accommodations and sumptuous fare. I remained here until March, 1780, when I obtained my discharge.
In February, 1781, I enlisted the second time, for three years, and in the . ensuing May joined the regiment in the vicinity of West Point. From this place we removed a few miles and went into tents. We then made a forced march down the river to King's Bridge, in view of the enemy, where we received the French troops and returned to the vicinity of Tarrytown. The whole army then marched by night to King's Bridge, and the next day returned again to Tarrytown. The main body of the army then marched towards Yorktown, leaving a portion of the troops under the command of Gen. Heath. Soon after. the Indians appeared on the Mohawk, and the two New Hampshire regiments were despatched in that
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direction-the First Regiment to Saratoga and the Second ascended the Mohawk. While at Saratoga we received the intelligence of the sur- render of Lord Cornwallis, on which occasion we had a day of rejoicing. We remained there several months, when we marched to Newburgh and went into winter quarters. Nothing further of special importance of- curred, so far as myself was concerned, and about the 20th of December. 1783, the war being ended, I was discharged.
LETTER CONCERNING MR. GRAY'S NARRATIVE.
Mr. B. A. Peavey, a resident of Schaghticoke, New York, after reading Mr. Gray's narrative in the Farmers' Cabinet, wrote him, about 1840, the following letter :
I have related the story to a number of the aged people in hopes of finding some one who might be acquainted with some of the events. The first man I conversed with was Major Vanveeton, aged between seventy and eighty, who heard the story with apparent interest. When I men- tioned the man who was shot by the Indians, said he, " Mr. Gray is right ; his name was Siperly. I can show you the very spot where he fell. The man who came riding back was Old Poiser." A few days after this Mr. Vanveeton went and pointed out the spot to me where Siperly fell. It was on the bank of the Tompanock Creek, where a point of the hill presses the road close to the creek. The Indians had secreted themselves and shot Siperly from his horse as he was returning to his farm from the vil- lage. Immediately after the death of Siperly, Major Knickerbocker of the settlement sent his negro to the North River, about three miles dis- tant, where some of the neighbors were engaged in placing their property aboard of boats to secure it from the enemy, that he might inform them of the death of Siperly. Major Vanvecton's father and Solomon Acherth started for the settlement. They had proceeded about half way when they were fired upon by Indians; Vanveeton received two balls in his thigh, which passed through his tobacco box in his breeches pocket, and he fell, unable to help himself. Acherth shot one Indian with his own gun and killed him, then took Vanvecton's gun and wounded another. lIe then ran and was closely pursued to the river; he leaped down the bank, plunged into the river and succeeded in crossing in safety.
Major Vanveeton brought out the tobacco box, which he had preserved. It was a round sheet-iron box, four and a quarter inches in diameter. The balls had out their bigness through the cover as they struck. On the other side they left a quarter of an inch between, making two holes.
In regard to the bull yon shot while on sentry, Black Tom, who was then about 12 years old and lived in the settlement, says he recollects the bull being shot, but does not know who owned it.
Vanveeton, the father, who was shot, lived about 80 rods south of the place where you were stationed, and near the south side of the plain, which contains about 1250 acres. This plain was the seat of the Schaghti- coke tribe of Indians, who had 1000 warriors on the ground one hundred and twenty-five years ago. Three or four, who still linger about the neighborhood, are all that remain of the tribe.
CHAPTER XXIX.
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.
REV. JONATHAN LIVERMORE .- BY EBENEZER HILL.
Mr. Livermore was born at Northborough, Massachusetts, De- cember 7th, 1729, O. S., and entered a student at Harvard Col- lege in the year 1756, N. S., and graduated in 1760. Previous to his entering college the importance of the Christian religion had deeply engaged his attention. Serious impressions having been made on his mind, it was his prevailing desire to become a preacher of the gospel of Christ. His main object for acquiring a liberal education was to qualify himself for that sacred work. After he left his classical studies he soon became a preacher, and was or- dained to the work of the gospel ministry in Wilton December 14, 1768.
In his public performance he was distinguished as a plain, prac- tical preacher who was determined to deliver what he himself believed to be the truth, though in the event it might subject him to evil consequences. In his sermons he labored more for correct- ness of sentiment and useful observations than for the embellish- ment of composition. In his private walks he was strictly honest in his dealings, affable, pleasant and instructive in his conversation, and always much concerned that the people of his charge should be found in the way of their duty. He continned in his ministry at Wilton but little more than thirteen years ; during which time his labors were crowned with singular success, one hundred and fifty- two persons being added to his church. Towards the close of this term, in consequence of the war with Great Britain, the situation of Mr. Livermore, as well as that of clergymen in general, was ren- dered extremely unpleasant. One circumstance grew out of another
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BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.
until at length he found it expedient to take a dismission. Ac- cordingly in the month of February, 1777, he resigned his office as pastor and teacher of the church in Wilton.
An ecclesiastical council was convened, who approved of the separation, while they supported his ministerial character by recom- mending him to other churches. After this, remaining sound in the faith, he preached occasionally in various places, as oppor- tunity presented, and, when not called to an active part himself, he constantly attended public worship on the Sabbath to hear the dis- courses of others. His treatment toward his successors in office was uniformly kind and friendly. As a husband, he conducted with exemplary affection. As a father, his tenderness and care for his children were expressed by providing for their support, for their education and by endeavoring to train them up in the virtue and admonition of the Lord. As a friend, he was one in whom con- fidence was never misplaced. On the evening of his death, as his custom was, he read a portion of Scripture, commended himself and his family to God by prayer and then retired to rest. In about two hours after, without any apparent struggle, except a little difli- culty in breathing, he slept the sleep of death.
REV. ABEL FISKE .- FROM THE FISKE GENEALOGY.
The second minister of Wilton, Rev. Abel Fiske, was born of respectable parents at Pepperell, Massachusetts, May 28, 1752. In 1774 and 1777 he received the honors of Harvard College. He studied theology with Rev. Mr. Emerson of Concord, Massachu- setts in 1775 and 1776, and during part of the time was master of the Grammar School in that town, where he was beloved by his pupils and respected by the inhabitants. November 18, 1778, he was ordained in Wilton. His faithful discharge of the pastoral functions, and his steady adherence to the principles of order and good government greatly endeared him to his flock, and obtained him the high regard and confidence of his numerous friends. His death, caused by a paralytic affection of the throat, happened April 21, 1802. Ifis intimate friend, Rev. John Bullard of Pep- perell, preached an affecting sermon at his funeral, from Acts, 20: 37,38.
REV. THOMAS BEEDE .- BY SAMUEL BARRETT STEWART.
My grandfather, Thomas Beede, third minister of the First Church, was born in Poplin, New Hampshire, November 28, 1771.
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HISTORY OF WILTON.
Little is known of his antecedents except that they were French and English, and that his father was a respectable farmer. In his school days he wrote his name with an accent, Beede. There were two older sons, who married and settled in Sandwich, and three daughters, who married and lived in Gilmanton, whither the family had moved, and where Thomas was accustomed, during his minis- try in Wilton, to pay an annual visit to his mother, who lived to the venerable age of ninety-two years.
From boyhood Thomas inclined to books, and in his efforts to get an education appears to have had what sympathy and encourage- ment the limited means of the family permitted. He used to relate that it was his habit to sit up in bed and study by candle-light long before the time for farm work to begin. In this way he fitted him- self for district school-keeping. Ile acquired, also, an elegant style of penmanship that not only brought him a little profit but graced his letters and manuscripts through life. By such means and by other economies which only ambitious and persevering country boys know how to make, he finally made his way to Harvard College. He entered in his twenty-third year, and was graduated with the class of 1798. Among his most distinguished classmates were Channing, Tuckerman, Judge Story, Stephen Longfellow and others. His college life in company with such men must have been most delightful, if we may judge from the reminiscences preserved of it in various memoirs. Among his own letters is a pleasant account of the half-century reunion in 1848 at the house of Judge Fay. Forty-eight members graduated, but only eighteen were then living, and but fifteen were present at the meeting. The dignity of mind and nobility of feeling for which he was always distinguished must have made an early impression upon his classmates, as upon the death of Jeremiah Bowers, a junior, he was selected to deliver a funeral oration. Its beautiful and impressive spirit certainly fore- cast his future profession. Another of his traits was a way of looking at things practically, as appeared in an incident of his com- mencement forensic, where he frankly declares against "tiring the patience of a polite and respectable audience with Latin theses, and, as we are now doing, by the length of our forensic disputation," a practice now, happily, abandoned.
Ilis mind had for a long time been settled upon the ministry, and, the summer after graduation, having been approbated to the "gospel ministry" by the Boston ministers, he preached wherever there were opportunities, all the while pursuing his studies and
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BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.
teaching school to meet his expenses. He taught in Cambridge, Roxbury, Lexington, Harvard, Milford and other towns. " My earnings," he says, "from 1790 to 1800, including seven years spent in acquiring my education, were $936."
Wilton was one of the towns where he had preached, and it would appear that a good Thanksgiving sermon (November 25, 1802), and those of the following Sunday, decided the people to settle him; for after the usual church meeting, a meeting of " Freeholders and other Inhabitants " (December 16, 1802, ) resulted in his receiving an invitation to be their minister. The vote was unanimous (112). A settlement of $600 was offered, and a salary of $425, to be paid annually. Some letters of explanation passed, and his acceptance was read January 22, 1803. The ordination took place on the second of March following. Rev. William Emer- son of Boston, father of Ralph Waldo, preached the sermon ; and the other services were rendered by Mr. Bullard of Pepperell, Mr. Clarke of Lexington, Mr. Goodridge of Lyndeborough, Mr. Bar- nard of Amherst, Mr. Hill of Mason and Mr. Humphrey Moore of Milford.
His ministry began very auspiciously, and it was longer than that of any other minister settled in the town. He was also the last minister settled and paid by the town. The first year's preaching. awakened new interest in the church ; there were eleven baptisms and fourteen admissions, which, he says in his first anniversary ser- mon, was a much larger number than had been recorded in any previous year.
During the winter of 1805 an event occurred that created, per- haps, a greater buzzing of tongues than the ordination or the old meeting-house raising : the minister was to be married. He was to marry Nancy Wilder, daughter of Benjamin Kimball, of Harvard. The Kimballs were cultivated people, with whom he had become acquainted while teaching. The occasion of the marriage was of double interest to the Kimballs as a sister of Nancy was to be mar- ried at the same time and place. The Wilton people, also, made great preparations to celebrate their pastor's wedding. When the day came the people all turned out upon a grand sleigh-ride to Am- herst to meet the bridal party on its way from Harvard. There were over one hundred sleighs, and merry indeed must have been the jingle of marriage bells. Dinner was served at the Amherst Ilotel, and the bride and bridegroom were escorted to their new
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HISTORY OF WILTON.
home on what came afterward to be known as Beede Hill. Here Mr. Beede had bought a farm and built a house. It was a good deal of an undertaking for him, but he had received some assurance of assistance from his father ; an accident, however, having suddenly terminated his father's life, and no provision having been made for him, he had always to struggle with an incumbrance upon the prop- erty. The house stood upon a hill that rises next to the meeting-house hill, and commanded a beautiful view in all directions. He planted trees of all kinds, fruit trees and shade trees, and some of them are still standing ; and there is an apple, cultivated by him as a favor- ite, known now as the " Beede apple," and grafted into orchards all about the town. Six children were born to them during the first twelve years, Nancy Wilder, George Kimball, Abigail, Hannah Rockwood, Thomas and Elizabeth, of whom now (1887) only Nancy and Thomas are living.
It was the custom of the times for young men aspiring to pro- fessional life to go to the minister for tuition and especially for col- lege preparation. Among those who were inmates of Mr. Beede's family, or who came to him for instruction, were Samuel Barrett, Ephraim Peabody, Warren Burton, Daniel Rockwood, Augustus Greele, Timothy Parkhurst, Abner Flint, Joseph Hale Abbot, Isaac Spaulding and several others. He fitted some of them entirely for college. He was very popular as an instructor ; his methods were clear and interesting and his spirit stimulating. An address signed by Abiel Wilson and others, expressive of their appreciation of his efforts in their behalf, shows the deep interest that he took in the education of the young people of the town. Among other things he suggested a " society for intellectual improvement." The meetings were held, at first, at his house, but the attendance grew so large that they were obliged to go into a hall. This was the beginning of a lyceum whose discussions he presided over, and before which he afterward gave frequent lectures. He exhibited a globe, and made it the subject of a lecture ; it was the first globe ever seen in Wilton. The Sunday Noon Reading Room for those who stayed to the afternoon service, opened mainly through the efforts of Samuel Abbot, Esq., and, also, Rev. Dr. Abiel Abbot's gift toward a ministerial library, may, perhaps, be reckoned as the fruit of his interest in general education. He gave several lectures on music in the winter season, and in March, 1810, there is a note of his having preached before the singing school. He was himself
The Beede
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BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.
very fond of music. The first Sunday School in the state was opened under his ministry in 1816, and the first sermon probably ever expressly prepared for little children by any minister in the town was given by him. Ilis subject was "Timothy," and under the characters of Eunice and Lois he alludes to his faithful co-workers, Sarah W. Livermore and Phebe Abbot.
In the fall of 1815 he volunteered a missionary tour through Ray- mond, Epping and the adjoining towns. It was a month crowded with work, preaching all days of the week in school-houses and elsewhere, attending funerals, visiting the sick and the aged, and in efforts to encourage the people to more interest in religious life and work. So, at least, runs his diary. From 1818, for seven successive sessions, he was chaplain of the State Legislature. He was a prominent Mason, also ; a member of the Royal Arch Chap- ter of New Hampshire, Grand Secretary of the Grand Lodge of New Hampshire, and Worshipful Master of the Clinton Lodge at its consecration in 1827. On all public occasions his services appear to have been very highly esteemed ; his speech was dignified and impressive, he possessed a commanding figure, and his style of discourse was marked for its grace and elearness.
To his various accomplishments must be added some considerable knowledge of medicine, and the fact that he made himself useful to liis poor and feeble parishioners by worldly advice as well as by spiritual consolations. He came very near to the people in all their common affairs, as he was a man with a practical understanding of all the economies of life. His ministry was in every respect paternal.
As a preacher he is remembered as having been gifted and impressive. The little trunkful of sermons we hold as a memorial of his work, show that he was given to brevity, at least. Usually he is homiletic ; he illustrates the Scripture, and is rather ethical than doctrinal. If his discourses lack anything it is imagination ; but that may be said of most of the sermonizing of that day. And there is a rather conspicuous absence of local allusions that would be so interesting to us today. A good many notes of sermons, however, show that he extemporized more or less, when probably his discourse was more direct to times and circumstances. In mat- ters of controversy a kind and temperate nature made him consider- ate of the opinions and feelings of others. Liberal in doctrine, he seldom indulged in violent antagonism to the old theology. His position was well understood, and his teaching was regarded as heretical by the older churches ; still he lived on good terms with
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HISTORY OF WILTON.
most of his neighbor ministers of the surrounding towns. In his valedictory discourse, in a brief rehearsal of the doctrinal character of his preaching, he says : " As for the Trinity, which of late years has almost turned the world upside down, I trust I have not been very troublesome to you, because on the most diligent examination I could not find it in the Bible. I have therefore thought it safest and most profitable to preach as Christ and His Apostles did." He adds that " on doctrinal points, especially such as are very disputa- ble, I have not thought fit to be constantly dwelling," and that " my aim has been to employ practical subjects."
His Wilton ministry closed before the anti-slavery agitation had really set in, but one of his young parishioners, who has seen the beginning and the end of the great conflict, and to whose yet unim- paired mind we owe so many reminiscences of the past, remembers "'at least one sermon upon the evil, influences of slavery, and that almost every Sabbath in his supplications to the throne of grace he asked that ' God would have in His holy care and keeping those that go down to the seas in ships and do business on the mighty deep,' and that 'slavery and oppression might cease from off the earth.'" His sympathies were large and humane ; and his pupil, Warren Burton, said of him that he was of " benignant countenance and gladdening smile," and that "he did not go on in exactly the old ways." Another pleasing testimony to the public esteem in which he was held is from the pen of Governor Isaac Hill :
" Thomas Beede. as a clergyman and guide, as the pattern of Christian peace and usefulness, respected by all, beloved by all. who was never known to utter a reproach, or to deserve or receive a reproach,-the name of Thomas Beede, not only in his own town of Wilton, but in all adjacent towns, is embalmed in the memory of the oldest inhabitants. Our residence was at first ten miles from Wilton, and the last thirty years forty miles ; yet we have had fre- quent opportunities to read, learn, mark and inwardly digest his many excellent precepts, and to admire both his social and religious char- acter. The usefulness of Mr. Beede was not confined to the desk : it was directed to the worldly, not less than the spiritual, welfare of the generation which has grown up since the commencement of the cen- tury. No clergyman of New Hampshire was better known in his native state than Thomas Beede; there are few men who have written and delivered sermons of greater practical utility, or better adapted to the improvement and edification of both youth and age ; few who have better or more frequently gladdened the hearts of the
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BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.
disconsolate, assuaged the grief of the mourner and the distressed, and administered the comforts of a holy hope to the sick and the dying."
But, although Mr. Beede's settlement was in some sense for life, after serving more than a quarter of a century, it seemed to him best to resign his charge into other hands. He did so accordingly March 14, 1829. It was a great pain to part from so many loving friends, and from a home that had been the scene of so much domestic joy-joy chastened, however, by many trials. It had always been a perplexing struggle between a small salary and the needs of a large family. The necessary farm work had been a care and interruption to study, and the charge of resident pupils, an increase to the domestic burden. Still the home was exemplary, and the atmosphere of it bright and as yet unclouded by sorrow. It was the longest and the happiest the family ever enjoyed.
From Wilton Mr. Beede went, the same year, to Eastport, Maine, his family following in the spring of 1830. Nancy remained behind, having been married to Stephen Abbot (Buss). His ministry there, however, lasted only a year and a half, the family meantime being generally smitten with a malarial fever, from which they were fur- ther afflicted by the death of George, the older son, at the age of 21 years. From Eastport another move was made to Farmington, Maine, where Mr. Beede remained in charge of a Liberal Society for several years, at the same time doing missionary work in towns round about, far and near, as the Farmington Society was not strong enough to give him full support. Here Hannah and Thomas were married.
In 1837 there was still another move to Duxbury, Massachusetts, where he was settled among kind friends for nearly four years. Abigail died here, and, also, her grandmother Kimball. Ten years had elapsed since their removal from Wilton, and the family group was now widely scattered, and the hearts of the father and mother were heavy with repeated sorrows and changes. From Duxbury they went to Syracuse, New York, where their daughter Nancy Abbot lived, and, after two years of teaching and preaching, returned to Farmington to live the remainder of their days with their son Thomas. Elizabeth, their youngest daughter, who had always been an invalid, died on the journey, and was buried in Farmington. Two years later, February 11, 1844, Mrs. Beede herself passed to her rest. Mr. Beede continued to preach occasionally and to ren- der such services as his age and health permitted. A few months
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HISTORY OF WILTON.
previous to his death, a journey was made to his old home in Wil- ton ; and his heart was there gladdened by an affectionate reception from the many families to whom, for so many years, he had been a dearly beloved friend and pastor, and by whose descendants his name, embalmed in pleasant memories, is now held in deepest reverence. On Thanksgiving, while visiting his daughter Hannah, he was taken suddenly sick, and, after a brief illness, died Novem- ber 30, 1848.
Hannah married A. Il. Stewart, of Farmington, and the writer is their only child. "Protracted physical sufferings, extending over the greater part of her married life, enforced upon her a compara- tive isolation from society, but she was sought out and widely beloved. She possessed a cultivated mind, most refined tastes, a bright, uncomplaining spirit, and great moral earnestness. Every- thing beautiful in art and nature, in life and in character, appealed to her love and admiration. Her tuneful voice banished the soli- tude of invalidism, her care-taking and industrious mind the weari- ness of the months and years. She was patient, heroic, grateful, self-forgetting. Life was precious to her, and she made it both beautiful and useful, for it was a light shining through the house under whose mild and genial rays friends and neighbors were warmed with affection toward her, and toward the life made 'per- fect through suffering.'" She died July 9, 1881. Nancy W .. widow of Stephen Abbot, has for many years lived in Antioch, Cali- fornia. All her children and grandchildren also live in California. Thomas married Lucia M. Merrill, of Gloucester, Maine. They and their children and grandchildren now live upon the Pacific coast.
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