USA > New Hampshire > Cheshire County > Jaffrey > Jaffrey centennial : proceedings of the centennial celebration of the one hundredth anniversary of the incorporation of Jaffrey, N.H., August 20, 1873 > Part 4
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*Consideration 260 pounds, lawful money, - 102 acres of land. part of lot 20 in the first range.
+Girls " hired themselves ont" to spin. When the cloth was fulled and dressed, the tailoress of the neighborhood came, cut, and made up the clothes. - When the hides were tanned, the shoemaker, in his rounds. came once or twice in the year, and made up a stock of boots and shoes for the family, staying perhaps a week for the purpose.
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kins, such as no cooking stove, invented or to be invented, can ever produce, -and there was no watering of the milk.
On winter evenings apples were roasting and sputtering upon the hearth, - and there was a mug of cider there. Checkers and jack-straws were seen occasionally, and some card teeth were set.
My brothers caught minks, and musquash, partridges and pickerel, rabbits and woodchucks, -- and in haying time, I took up bumble bees' nests, getting poor pay for my labor.
In order to economise time, I give this brief sketch of a single household, instead of a more elaborate statement which I was preparing respecting farming life generally in the town ;- and in the hope that the personality may be excused, in considera- tion of its brevity. Any one by pursuing things to their natu- ral antecedents and conclusions, may judge somewhat of the whole from these few particulars. Exceptions of course .*
Half a mile onward was the house of the Widow Turner .- The widow relished a joke, and perhaps I may be pardoned for telling a short story, which she told herself. She had taken her grist to be ground at the mills of Samuel Twitchell, Esq., the father of the celebrated surgeon Dr. Amos Twitchell, just with- in the limits of Dublin, riding, of course, upon the top of the bags. The Squire who was somewhat of a humorist, had a hired man named White, certainly not beautiful to behold. The wid- ow's description of what occurred further was in this wise :- " When I got there the Squire was in the yard, and I said to him, ' help me off my horse, Squire ;' which he did. Then I said to him, ' now kiss me Squire; ' and he turned and calied ' White, White, White; ' as if he was calling some great dog, and there came out of the mill the ugliest looking critter that ever I set
*The manufactures of cotton were those of the household, operated by hand power. Edmund Snow, of Peterboro', manufactured hand cards for cotton and wool, punching the holes in the leathers, and preparing the teeth and distributing them among the different families in the region round about. to be set by the young people. who in that way put " store pay " in their purse. At the Peterboro' Centennial in 1839, my brother Isaac gave some account of his achievements in setting these card teeth. Perhaps it was in this way that he was led to take an interest in the estab- lishment of cotton manufacturies in Peterboro' and elsewhere.
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my eyes on, and the Squire said, 'Come here, White, and kiss this woman ;- I always keep a man to do that drudgery for me.'"
A short distance farther, at the extreme Northeast corner of the town, was Samuel Saunders, a very good carpenter as well as a farmer. Here the road turned short to the South, and pass- ing the house of Elijah Wellman, connected near the line oi Pe- terboro' with the Southerly branch, which was left soon after passing Lieut. Adams's. A house has existed South of Well- man's, occupied by Andrew Holmes, but I think of a later date.
Turning back to the Southerly branch, and taking the direc- tion to Peterboro', there was near the fork the house of Roger Brigham. Then came the house of David Sawtell, then Parker Maynard, then Samuel Patrick, then Mr. Snow.
Samuel Dakin, Esq., Attorney at Law, who afterwards re- moved to New Hartford, in the State of New York, purchased land North of Capt. Adams, in the middle of the town, and built the house now occupied by Dr. Fox, about 1805. My father, having bought a corner lot of Mr. Dakin, erected the house at the Northerly end of that street, and I became an inmate of the school-house at the corner of the burying ground. There is a reminiscence of discipline connected with this house. The rules of the school forbid whispering of course. Having a desire to say something to a young Miss who sat near me, I forgot the rule I suppose, and she must have joined in the transgression, for the eagle eye of the teacher, Miss Maria Blanchard, detect- ing this violation of order, we were forthwith sentenced to sit each with an arm around the other's neck. I do not give this as an instance of the ordinary discipline. On the contrary it was an unusual, as well as a cruel punishment, and may there- fore be regarded as unconstitutional. But to prevent misappre- hension, I have taken occasion to say, that I have since seen the time when I should have borne such a dispensation with a much greater degree of philosophy .*
*The school books were Webster's Spelling Book, with a grim frontis- piece, supposed to represent that ambitious lexicographer, Webster's Third Part, American Preceptor. The Columbian Orator, Young Ladies' Accidence, Murray's Grammar, Morse's Geography, and Pike's Arithmetic.
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Pursuing the road Northwesterly from the school-house, there was at the foot of the hill, a house occupied by Widow Hale, then one occupied by Hugh Gragg, and a few rods Westerly, at the junction of the old road running Westerly to Marlboro' and the road running Northerly to Dublin, there was in the corner, the house of Dr. Adonijah Howe the elder, the beloved physi- cian. He afterwards built a much larger one just North, which you have known as occupied by Daniel Cutter. The place is now designated as the Shattuck Farm. Jonathan Gage lived off Northeast from this point, on a private road. A house has since been built, farther on the Dublin road, by Joel Cutter, and be- yond this point was another fork, - the left hand, running to- wards the mountain, led to the houses of Joseph Cutter, junior, John Cutter, second, and Daniel Cutter who afterwards, occu- pied the house built by Dr. Howe.
All these were sons of Joseph Cutter, Esq. A Southerly branch turning off near Joseph Cutter, junior's, led to the houses of Jo- seph Mead, Mr. Brooks, David Cutter and Jacob Hammond.
The principal road, which turned to the right at the fork, led Northerly over the hill to a house owned by Joseph Thorndike, Esq., afterwards by John Conant, Esq., who has made himself widely and favorably known by his very liberal donations to di- vers public objects. It is now owned by the president of the day, - who speaks for himself.
The travel over the hill has since been diverted to the other branch, by a slight alteration, - in consequence of the modern discovery, (especially unknown to Turnpike proprietors in for- mer days,) that in. some cases it is no farther to go around a hill than it is to go over it, and that the larger load can be drawn on the level ground. Beyond, on the road to Dublin, were David Corey, Mr. Bullard and Mr. Johnson.
Of the other highways in the town, and the persons living upon them, my early recollections are of course less particular. I have a note of most of the inhabitants of the different sections, but for the location and even the names of many of them, I am indebted to Mr. Ethan Cutter, whose early opportunities for ac-
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quiring a full knowledge of the different localites were of the best, and whose memory of them is of the same character. Were there no reason but lack of time, I must leave this part of the subject to others who may be heard today, craving indulgence for subjoining a few notes respecting the Third New Hampshire Turnpike.
This Turnpike was incorporated in December, 1799, running from Bellows Falls, Vermont, to Ashby, Mass., fifty miles, and cost, it was said, fifty thousand dollars. It occupied portions of the old road in various places, -near the mountain, near the middle of the town, - and eastward of it. It struck off from the old road at John Cutter's tannery, and at Spofford's mills, and run by Col. Benjamin Prescott's tavern, in the East part of the town, and through " Tophet swamp " into New Ipswich.
The three men just named were marked men in their day. Mr. John Cutter carried on a large tannery, for that time, and made it a profitable business, which has since been enlarged. His children were among my old school-mates, and I am pleased to see some of them with us today. With the exception of Joseph Cutter, Esq., he has probably more representatives in town than any other of his contemporaries.
Deacon Eleazer Spofford, who purchased of Mr. Borland, his farm and mills, in 1778, was a tall gentleman of a grave de- meanor, pleasant smile, and a kind heart, -I think universally beloved. He led the singing for very many years. If he had an enemy in the world, that enemy must have been an unrea- sonable man. He lost a young son in the burning of Rev. Mr. Ainsworth's house, in 1786. His mills were complete for that day. In the grist mill was a 'jack,' which if it was not the pro- genitor, was the prototype, of the modern elevator in hotels and stores. It was worked by water power, to carry the wheat, as soon as ground, to the bolter in the attic. A ride on it, with his son Luke, then miller, afterwards clergyman, was a treat to the boys who brought wheat to be ground .*
*Dr. Spofford says " He had for many years the best flouring mills in that part of New Hampshire."
He removed to Bradford, Mass., now Groveland, in 1821, and died there in 1828.
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A grandson of Deacon Spofford was Chief Justice of Louisi- ana at the time of the breaking out of the rebellion, and another is now Librarian of the Congressional Library.
There must have been some controversy respecting the loca- tion of the turnpike. In a poetical New Year's Address, sent from Parnassus to New Ipswich, soon after, it was said that the muse could relate, -
"How Prescott and Merriam made a stand And bent the road to suit their land."
But she did not do it, and I can not.
Col. Prescott, as I remember him, was another of the tall men of Jaffrey, - of powerful frame, - and an influential man in the town. If any man could bend a turnpike, he might be expected to do it.
. The principal taverns on the turnpike were those of Sweetser in Marlboro', - Milliken, Danforth and Prescott, in Jaffrey, - and Merriam and Batchelder in New Ipswich, celebrated hous- es in their day.
It was one of the principal thoroughfares from Central Ver- mont to Boston, and the transportation over it in the winter was, of course, quite large, as the route through Rindge was not then a great highway. This winter transportation was generally by two horse teams, attached to square lumber boxes, so called, loaded on the downward transit principally with pork, grain, beans, butter, cheese, and other country produce ; and on their return trip with iron, molasses, rum, sugar, codfish, and other groceries. The dry goods of that day were principally of home manufacture.
Occasionally a severe storm, blocking the roads badly, would compel these teams to stop at the nearest of the taverns named, where the loggerhead was always in the fire in winter, and the landlord ready to make a " good stiff mug of flip."
Some of my auditory may not have heard the name before. It was concocted of home made beer, well sweetened,-a suitable proportion of West India rum, - and heated by the loggerhead to a proper temperature. When an egg was beaten in, it was called " bellows top," partly perhaps from its superior quality,
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and partly from the greater quantity of white froth that swelled up on the top of it.
With ten or fifteen teamsters gathered together by one of these snow blockades, and a fair allowance of flip, of course "the mirth and fun grew fast and furious;"-and when the storm was over, and the road began to be " broken out " the long line of teams, especially those ascending the hills to the West, was something to see.
The mail stage between Keene and Boston, for a long time, run over this road, - once a week, -twice, - daily, except Sundays, - then a despatch line, called the telegraph,* through in twelve hours, -superseded by the Railroad through Fitch- burg ; so that the crack of the stage driver's whip, and the blast of his horn, no longer echo among the hills.
The wayside inn, for the accommodation of the passing trav- eller, has fallen from its high estate, through the introduction of the railroads ; and from the same cause, along with the introduc- tion of other beverages, the institution of temperance societies, and the passage of prohibitory laws, the glory of Flip has de- parted, and its name is almost forgotten.
The turnpike was not a source of great profit, and was finally laid out as a common highway, the towns paying the proprietors a moderate sum in damages.
The beautiful and busy village of East Jaffrey, with its large cotton factory, and divers other manufactures, its hotel, stores, bank and dwellings, and with a railroad running through it, is comparatively of modern creation.
A short time since, I summed up my recollections of its peo- ple and business,-as I first knew it ;- Dea. Spofford, and his mills,-Abner Spofford, and his blacksmith shop,-and Joseph Lincoln, and his clothier's shop .- William Hodge and his farm constituted a Northern suburb.
I must not omit to mention Amos Fortune. He was born in Africa,-brought to this country as a slave,-purchased his free-
*This line was established by Col. French, then of Keene, now of Peter- boro'; and Col. Shepherd, then of Boston, now of Manchester.
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dom,-purchased and then married his wife,-came to this place in 1781,-and lived subsequently about a mile Northeast of Spofford's mills, where he had a small tannery.
At that time any person who had come to dwell within a town, and been there received and entertained by the space of three months, not having been warned to depart by some person appointed by the selectmen, was reputed an inhabitant, and the proper charge of the town in case he came to stand in need of relief. This power of " warning out " was given to the towns that they might protect themselves against pauperism; and in some towns the selectmen were so careful of the interests of the town, that they warned all new comers to depart,-so zealous, that in one instance, as I have heard, the town having settled a minister, the selectmen forthwith warned him out.
Such general warnings were not practiced in this town, but Fortune was warned out in Sept. 1781, doubtless from an appre- hension that he might become a pauper. Like all other persons similarly notified, he disregarded the warning, and he lived here the remainder of his life. Dying in 1801, without children, at the age of ninety-one, as stated on his gravestone, (which, as I recollect him, an active business man, seems to me doubtful at least,) he by his last will, after a provision for gravestones, an- other for the support of his wife during her life, and a small legacy to an adopted daughter, empowered his executor Deacon Spofford, if there was any remainder of his estate, to "give a hand- some present to the Church of which he was a member, and the remaining part, if any there be, to give as a present for the sup- port of the school in School-House No. 8." The Church re- ceived under this bequest in May, 1805, $100,-partly expended in the purchase of a communion service,-still in their posses- sion ; and in September, 1809, the Judge of Probate ordered $233.95, the balance in the hands of the executor, to be paid over to the selectmen of Jaffrey, "agreeable to a special act of the legislature of the state of New Hampshire, passed on the 15th of June last." This act was passed because no person was mentioned in the will to receive and apply the fund. It is still
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held by the selectmen in trust for the benefit of the District .- We are aware that these sums represented much larger values at that time, than like sums do at the present day.
We have come together, with hearts full of thanksgiving to the Great Disposer of Events, that He has permitted us to as- semble here, to commemorate the organization of civil institu- tions and government in our beloved municipal homestead.
But an occasion like this cannot be one of unmixed joy.
" 'Time rolls his ceaseless course."
" Still it creeps on. Each little moment at another's heels, Till hours, days, years and ages are made up, Of such small parts as these, and men look back Worn and bewildered, wondering how it is."
" When in this vale of years I backward look. And miss such numbers, numbers too of such, Firmer in health and greener in their age. And stricter on their guard, and fitter far To play Life's subtle game, I scarce believe I still survive."
Death has removed, not only all the early inhabitants, and many who were familiar with the history of a later date, because principal actors therein, but many who, if less conspicuous, were not less dear to us : and we pause a moment to dwell with a rev- erential remembrance, - with filial affection, - with devoted love, -on the memory of those whose animated faces would have greeted us at this time, had they been spared to this day. Alas, -- for them, time is no more.
The sum of human joys and human sorrows, which have been felt within the limits of this town during the past century, can only be known to Omniscience. The joys have passed, and are passing, with little or no record of their existence. And so of many, perhaps most, of the sorrows. But there is a parcel of ground, of small extent, on the brow of the hill, and adjoining the Common, which contains records reminding us of the sor- rows of ourselves and others, which are of a more enduring character.
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There rest the remains of my beloved and venerated parents, my father dying at the age of seventy-eight, and my mother liv- ing until near ninety-seven. Other fathers and mothers, of like ages, are gathered there, shocks of corn fully ripe, and fit to be garnered; whom we must mourn, but with the consolation that they had done their duty in the community,-had fought the good fight,-had finished their course,-had kept the faith.
But these records tell other tales. There repose the husband and father, the wife and mother, who fell by the wayside, in the meridian of life ;- who appeared to have before them years of happiness and usefulness to themselves and others,-upon whom young children were dependent, and to whom friends looked for counsel and for guidance.
Brothers and sisters, young men and maidens, who were just entering upon the threshold of existence, with a life of useful- ness and honor and prosperity in anticipation, lie there side by side.
What agonies of grief, suppressed and irrepressible, have rent the hearts of survivors, as the mournful processions have passed within the gate, and consigned the remains of the beloved objects . . to their places of final rest.
Hallowed be the spot where the dust of the century is gath- ered together, and around which is clustered a century of the greatest of human sorrows.
Whatever of sadness may be in the retrospect, it is meet that we should celebrate the hundredth anniversary of an organiza- tion fraught with so much of usefulness to the persons who have lived within its limits.
We are here on a day that marks an era.
Let us rejoice that this town incorporation will be continued for the benefit and advantage of the generations who are advanc- ing to its possession.
Let us rejoice that we may go onward into the new century, though it be to some of us but for a short period, and to none of us to its close ; and that space is yet granted us to do something, not only for the comfort and welfare of those who are dear to us, but of the community around us.
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And now, assembled here as the surviving representatives of the first century of our incorporation, and standing just within the threshold of its successor, let us dedicate this new municipal century, in which the town and its in-dwellers are to do service for another hundred years, to the prosecution and extension of every good and beneficent work of its predecessor.
I feel assured that you will join with me when I say :- We dedicate it to the promotion of Religion.
Not a religion which leans upon the State for its support, and depends upon faith without works; - but that religion which sustains the State by the inculcation of truths which lie at the foundation of organized and orderly society, and supports the government by its works. Not that religion which has its great- est regard for forms and ceremonies, and the washing of cups and platters ; but that which sanctifies the heart and purifies the life .- Not that religion, if such there be, which enters into em- bittered controversies about dogmas, and disputes zealously about trifles ; but that religion which being first pure, is "then peace- able, gentle, easy to be entreated, full of mercy and good fruits ; " and which teaches the love of God with our whole heart, and the love of our neighbor as of ourselves.
We dedicate it to education and sound learning.
Not that learning which attempts from metaphysical nothings to make up a unit,-the votaries of which, multiplying them- selves by themselves, think that they sum up the infinite, and something beyond ;- but that learning which leads to the belief, in the language of the arithmetical aphorism of Parson Wiggles- worth, of Malden, that
" Naught joyn'd to naught can ne'er make aught, Nor cyphers make a sum,
Nor finite to the infinite, By multiplying come."
Not to that training which leads self-sufficient people to at- tempt to magnify themselves, by multitudes of projects for mak- ing a new world different from, and thus better, than that which God made ;- but to a system of education which has due regard to the nature of things, and to the constitution of mankind, and
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the ends which the Creator intended they should pursue; and which seeks by measures consistent with creation, as it exists, to perform the whole duty which the Creator requires, in the world as he has made it.
Not to that theory of education which proposing that all per- sons should be educated up to the utmost limit of which they are capable, becomes a practical and mischievous humbug ;- but to that theory which shall provide an education of the highest char- acter for all the members of the community, with reference to the needful discharge of the various employments and duties which must necessarily exist.
Not to that system of education which by "raising the stand- ard," as it is called, subjects the young to such. demands upon their intellect, in the time of their immaturity, as to impair if not destroy the physical powers, and thereby render intellectu- al acquisitions useless ; - but to that system which recognizes the physical as well as the intellectual, and seeks to develop both according to their necessities, -and this not by subjecting first the one and then the other to an extraordinary strain, but by a moderation that shall be known in all things.
Not to that education which casts odium upon labor, and in- duces young men and women to endeavor to escape from its wholesome, invigorating influences, by a resort to cities for the purpose of begging for a situation, where ease shall lead to pov- erty ; or which seeks, through political partisanship, for some petty clerkship under Government, leaving the successful incum- bent without occupation, or the means of an honest livelihood, when the office falls into the hands of the next eager aspirant, who has pushed him from his official stool; but that education which dignifies labor, and seeks to improve its modes of action,- which qualifies the recipient to occupy his place in life, whatev- er it may be, and with cheerfulness and alacrity to do the duty which the State and the community demand of him.
May I add a constitutional provision.
Not to that learning which endangers the compromises of the Constitution by attempts to maintain that the United States were a Nation before they were States, and that the Constitution was
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formed by that Nation ; - nor that other learning which would make shipwreck of Constitutional rights and safeguards, by theo- ries which sophistically give to the War Powers of the President and Congress a predominance over Constitutional guaranties, - but that learning which accepting the undisputed facts of history, arrives at the conclusion that the Constitution was adopted by the several peoples of the different States, whereby the peoples of those States became a Nation for the purposes manifested by it, - and that the war powers, designed to preserve, cannot be rightfully exercised to destroy, the liberties of the people.
We dedicate it to Philanthropy and Charity.
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