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 9
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Yours truly,
JOHN M. ELLIS.
CANANDAIGUA, MICHIGAN, AUG. 14, 1873. Jaffrey Centennial Committee of Arrangements :
GENTLEMEN :- Your kind invitation for mne to be present at the Centennial gathering of my native town, reached me in due time. It would give me great pleasure to be with you on that occasion ; to meet friends from whom I have been long separated, and whom I may never see elsewhere. But my present surroundings and duties will compel me to decline your invitation and remain at home. If tradition be not at fault, it is just one hundred years since my grand-father, Phineas Spaulding. in the Southwest part of the town, broke the forest that after- wards made him a pleasant home. Then, the only highway was a footpath through the tangled wildwood, and trees that had been marked and scathed by the woodman's axe or hatchet; the only guide to those denizens of the forest, from one point to an- other,-to meeting and to mill. Theu, too, the slow footed ox, yoked and hitched to the old two-wheeled cart in summer, and the heavy sled in winter, was the only pleasure carriage for week-day or for Sunday. and the only mode of conveyance from neighbor to neighbor, or from town to town. Horses were few, and mostly used for riding on the back. It was no uncommon thing for man and wife to be seen riding both on one beast; he in front on the saddle and she behind on the pillion. Young
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JAFFREY CENTENNIAL.
ladies with their beaux would thus ride for recreation and for pleasure, till the pillion gave place for another horse and side- saddle, and then they traveled side by side. Sixty years ago, on the spot now occupied by your commodious Hotel, stood the dwelling-house of Dea. Elcazer Spofford, which, with outbuild .. ings, and grist and saw mill down by the river, were about all that could be seen for buildings, where your pleasant village now stands. Spofford's mills were known for their superiority of workmanship over everything else of the kind, for many miles around. One little anecdote as touching the old saw mill I can remember in my boybood days.
When it was first in operation, as one gate shut and another opened, moving the heavy carriage with its ponderous log to and from the saw, a colored man standing by in amazement, ex- claimed : " Massa Spofford, don't you think you could invent a machine to hoe corn ?"
Those were primitive days ; times when our grand-fathers and grand-mothers had to toil for their daily food, and right glad were they, if they could bring the two ends of the year to meet, with a few spare dollars for deposit against the time of need .- In those early days, almost every house held its instrument-not the modern piano, but the old fashioned spinning wheel, and while the foot pressed the pedal, the fingers instead of gliding over keys of ivory to the tune of Yankee Doodle, or God save the King, or perchance the more solemn strains of Old Hundred or St Martyn's, were busy in drawing the thread from the pine distaff, to be wrought into cloth for the clothing of the house- hold. I will venture the assertion that you cannot in your town today, find a young lady under twenty years of age, that can spin a skein-of fine linen, or in her grand-mother's old hand loom weave a yard of cloth. I say this, not by way of disparagement to any one, for I well know that modern improvements and ma- chinery have done away with most of that kind of labor. To- day you have your pleasant homes, your good roads, your car- riages of comfort and of ease, and instead of the lumbering stage coach that used daily to pass through your village, from Keene to Boston, is seen the iron horse, puffing and blowing on his feed of fire, and drawing in his wake a burden that many stage teams could not move an inch.
I have hastily gleaned at a few things in the century that has passed, but who among your gathering today will be present to .read the history of the century to come ? It would be no pre- sumption to answer not one.
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JAFFREY CENTENNIAL.
In conclusion, I will offer the following sentiment : " Old Jaf- frey :- May her virtue and morality keep even pace with her internal improvements for a hundred years to come." .
Very respectfully yours.
LYMAN .SPAULDING.
BARRE, VT., AUGUST 18, 1873. Mr. Julius Cutter :
MY DEAR SIR :- Ever since the reception of your invitation to be present and participate in the celebration of the Centennial Anniversary of the incorporation of the town, I have hoped to meet you there. But the debility from which 1 am just now suffering. reminds me that quiet is better suited to my condition.
You may know that during ten years and a half I was er- gaged in examining the teachers and caring for the children of your Common Schools, I knew all the young people of school age ; and, before I left town, I copied all their names and ages from the registers. Were it permitted, I should like to respond to the sentiment, " Our Common Schools." We have been nur- tured there, and we are all the alumni or alumna of that insti- tution. You meet as graduates from the people's college .- Though you differ in your religions and political preferences, here you are brethren.
The early inhabitants of Jaffrey so recognized the necessity of schools, that, ninety-eight years ago last April, at the second annual town meeting that was holden under the charter, an ap- propriation of eight pounds was voted for the support of a school. Ever since that time, it is known that the town has every year, except one, voted a sum of money for a like purpose. The first school-house was built at the expense of the town, in the year 1778. It stood just across the road from father Ainsworth's house, and remained there till the year 1809. Within twelve years after this first house was put up, there were nine others in town.
Could you examine a catalogue which contained the names of all who have shared in the advantages of your schools, and could you read their history also, you would see a record of which you might justly be proud.
I remain, Very truly yours, LEONARD TENNEY.
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JAFFREY CENTENNIAL.
AMHERST, JULY 18, 1873.
DEAR SIR :- Yours of the 28th ult. giving me notice of the Cen- tennial Celebration at Jaffrey, on the 20th prox. and of a senti- ment to which I am invited to respond, has been received.
I have delayed answering hoping to be able to so arrange my business engagements, that I might be present on that occasion, but I find it will not be possible for me to attend. I have an engagement which takes me to Chicago, at that time, which can- not be postponed. I regret very much that I cannot have the pleasure of meeting the good citizens of my native town on that day, and enjoying the festivities of the occasion, but my time be- ing previously engaged, is not at my own disposal.
Wishing you a successful and pleasant Celebration on the day appointed, I am,
Very truly, your obedient servant,
F. H. Cutter, Esq., Jaffrey, N. H.
E. S. CUTTER.
YATES CITY, KNOX COUNTY, ILLINOIS, AUG. 8, 1873. To the Committee of Arrangements :
DEAR SIRS :- Your kind favor, invit- ing me to be present with you upon the occasion of your Cen- tennial, has been received. but it finds me engrossed in business arrangements, such that I cannot conveniently accept your invi- tation ; a privilege which I should most dearly love to enjoy .- This being the case, I tru-t you will allow me to express a thought that seems full in my mind, and thus add my mite to your festivities.
More than twenty-five years have passed since I broke bands with the dear old town and friends, and launched out upon the unknown future to pursue my journey through life; yet I have not forgotten the spot that gave ine birth. The broad. prairies and boundless harvests, fill my soul with gladness and my heart with thanksgiving, but my mind continually runs back with de- light to my old native New Hampshire hills, with Jaffrey for its centre, and the gray old Monadnock for its chief corner stone.
Oh Memory ! What volumes fill thy space as I contemplate the past. I live over again the days of my youth; I think of the sports of No. 11; of the achievements in " Melville ;" I won- der at my efforts in No. 6, and feel surprised at my success in No. 3; I contemplate the pleasures of our social and religious
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JAFFREY CENTENNIAL.
privileges ; our lyceum and singing schools ; our annual trainings and musters and 4th of July celebrations, and wonder if it took them all to help make me a man ? Aye, and I answer to my- self, yes ! and more too, for it requires the determination to be a man. In the days of the Cæsars, it was the height of ambition to become a Roman citizen. How much more for every one born upon American soil, to be in truth an American citizen .- Reflecting upon the efforts that were made use of to fit us who are upon the present drama of life, by our fathers and mothers who have mostly gone to their reward, let it remind us of our duty to those whom Providence has placed in our charge, the young of the land.
Honored as old Jaffrey has always been for the virtue and general intelligence of its citizens, with how much pleasure can you turn to your young and youth and feel that a brighter future is before them than we enjoy. The generous munificence of one of your townsmen, has placed greater privileges and brighter prospects before you, and as the town has so far already hon- ored itself, what may not the most sanguine expect hereafter ?
The sun never shone upon lovelier hills; man was never fanned by purer breezes ; streams never rattled down precipices freer than do these in your own, my own native town. The arts and sciences lend their aid, and your old men and your old wo- men, your young men and your young women, yes, and your youth, may, if they will, be honored and praised throughout the land.
Permit me then, to close by offering this sentiment : " The good old town of Jaffrey ; Wherever her sons or daughters rove, may her memory to them be as bright as her waters are pure and their honor as lasting as Monadnock itself."
Yours with much respect,
D. COREY, JR.
CAMPTONVILLE, N. H., AUG. 15th, 1873.
Gentlemen of the Committee :
Your invitation to attend the Centennial Celebration at Jaffrey, on the 20th inst., has been received. I regret that engagements at home will prevent my attendance up- on that interesting occasion.
Though not a native of Jaffrey, I went there to reside at so carly a period of my life, that whatever is pleasant in youthful recollections of home and carly friends are centered there.
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JAFFREY CENTENNIAL.
My acquaintances with Jaffrey commenced in that transition period when it was changing from an almost exclusively agricul- tural town, to one of manufacturing and educational facilities as well.
The early fathers of the town, such as the first Col. Prescott, the first Dr. Howe, Judge Parker, Capt. Joseph Cutter, John Cutter, tanner, I remember as silver haired men at that time, who soon passed away, and gave place to their descendants of the second generation, who worthily carried forward the town in its career of prosperity and literary advancement. To men of this generation the town was indebted for the establishment of Melville Academy, an institution which exerted an extensive and abiding influence for good, and carries to a high degree the standard of education among the sons and daughters of Jaffrey. And, although this institution has ceased to exist, it is a matter of congratulation that the munificence of one of her citizens has continued to Jaffrey the means of a good High School education to all her youth in the future.
I have been pleased to note in occasional visits, the rapid pro- gress of Jaffrey in material prosperity, and hope she may con- tinue in her onward march of improvement.
In conclusion, I would say that I have dwelt for a time in the far South, where the Orange blooms, and the Fig and the Pome- granate put forth leaves and fruit ; I have resided in the middle region of our Country, where the Grape and the Peach and the Nectarine flourish, I have traveled Westward to the centre of that great valley where the Mississippi rolls its vast volume of waters, where waving fields of grain furnish food for a conti- nent, but I have yet to see the land which on the whole, the dwellers round the base of the Monadnock, need envy its pos- sesion as a home.
With best wishes to the Committee personally, and hope that an auspicious day may render the Celebration a success,
I remain, yours very truly,
CHARLES CUTTER.
To F. H. Cutter and others.
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JAFFREY CENTENNIAL.
MANSFIELD, OHIO, AUG. 11, 1873.
Committee of Arrangements ; - GENTLEMEN :- I received your card of invitation to attend a Celebration of the One Hundredth Anniversary of the Incorporation of the Town of Jaffrey.
Living in what was called the far West when I left my New Hampshire home, I can only send my regrets at not being able to be present on that interesting occasion, and visit
The land where a father dwells, And that holds a mother's grave.
My mind reverts to many scenes of youthful days, since re- ceiving your card. I often think of the daily labor of New England Farmers' boys, who, from my experience, go into the field at an early age, and get permission to go fishing only when it rains too hard to work out of doors, and there is no corn to shell. This, with brown bread and milk for supper, gives a boy a good constitution with which to fight the battle of life.
I often think of the days, when, for the want of something to read, I walked four miles to the old church to attend the Sab- bath School, get a Library book, and hear the good old man preach, who then dressed in the fashion of our revolutionary fathers. On my last visit to Jaffrey, I was glad to see that an- cient edifice in so good a state of preservation. May it stand another century, a monument to religion, morality and education.
During the late strife for the preservation of our glorious Union, there was talk, even in Ohio, of our Country being di- vided - the East from the West, as well as the North from the South. I thought of my admiration of the great West, the country of my adoption, and my love for New England, the land of my nativity, and often found myself repeating a verse I had cut from some paper about the time of leaving my native State, which I will offer as a sentiment ;
"New England, dear New England, My birth-place proud and free ; A traitor's curse be on my head, When I am false to thee."
Please remember me kindly to all the friends of my youth, in in the good old Town of Jaffrey.
Very truly yours, P. BIGELOW.
·
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JAFFREY CENTENNIAL.
CAMBRIDGE, AUGUST, 1873.
DEAR SIR :- I thank you for the invitation to your Centen- nial festival. If my health would have permitted, it would have given me much pleasure to have joined in the celebration. I have been told that I was born in Jaffrey, but it was so long ago, 1784, that none of the present inhabitants could testify to the fact ; but as it would be equally difficult to produce any evi- idence to the contrary, I may as well, on this occasion, claim the honor. I understand that my parents removed from Jaffrey to New Ipswich when I was about a year old, and the most that I recollect of Jaffrey, relates to my being sent there to school, about seventy-eight years ago. The school was kept by a for- eigner, by the name of Dillon, who had a great reputation for teaching penmanship, and was about as much celebrated for the use of the rod as the pen, and I dare say tradition may have preserved some anecdotes of his severe teachings in that line, which were of a nature to be remembered as long as any of his other lessons. At this school I was a class-mate with General James Miller, who got his education rather late in life, and we studied our English Grammar together, in the same seat, he at the age of twenty-one, and I at the age of eleven. I think Dillon never attempted to use the rod upon Miller; if he had, the fu- ture warrior might have commenced his campaign some years before the war of 1812. Among the school-mates that I re- member, were Dr. Abner Howe and his brother Dr. Adonijah Howe, who are, no doubt, well remembered and much respected by many of the present inhabitants of Jaffrey. Andrew Thorn- dike was one of the familiar names of that day, though consider- ably older than my school-mates.
Some years after my school boy days, I recollect climbing to the top of Monadnock, and finding on the highest pinnacle, a date, and what appeared to be the initial letter of three or four names, rudely pounded out, with much labor, on the solid ledge apparently by the use of no better implement than a stone. This may probably still be found there, though not without careful search, as the inscription though deep is rather indistinct. It may probably be a record of the first visit to the mountain after the settlement of the country, and would be a very interesting item in the history of your Centennial, if it had not already been published. I took a copy of it at the time, but have not been able to find it.
With best wishes for the continuance of the prosperity of my native town.
Your humble servant,
L. L. PIERCE. EsQ. SAMUEL BATCHELDER.
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JAFFREY CENTENNIAL.
The following is a list of the names of those who subscribed to pay the expenses of the Centennial Celebration, with the amount paid by each.
John Fox, $25 00 William P. Stevens, 2 00
Gurley A. Phelps,
1 00 Charles Stevens, 3 00
Ethan Cutter,
5 00 Henry Chamberlain, 3 00
Joseph P. Frost,
5 00 Anson W. Jewett, 5 00
Asa Nutting,
3 00 Gustavus A. Cutter, 3 00
Timothy Blodgett,
10 00 John S. Dutton, 3 00
Laban Rice,
5 00 Frederic Spaulding, 5 00
Jonas C. Rice,
10 00 Otis G, Rice, 5 00
Edwin R. Cutter,
5 00 Levi E. Brigham, 3 00
Benjamin F. Lawrence,
10 00 Jonathan J. Comstock, 3 00
Geo. F. Potter,
1 00 I. E. Keeys, 1 00
Edmund C. Shattuck,
2 00 Ambrose W. Spaulding, 5 00
Thomas K. Goff,
1 00 J. F. Stone, 1 00
Lucius A. Cutter,
5 00 Daniel P. Adams, 5 00
Nathaniel Cutter,
5 00 Addison J. Adams, 3 00
Julius Cutter,
15 00 E. G. Bryant, 2 00
10 00
Rufus Case,
4 00 Richard Spaulding,
5 00
John A. Cutter,
10 00 Vryling D. Shattuck, 2 00
Lyman K. Farnum,
1 00 Austin A. Spaulding, 1 00
Eleazer W. Heath,
2 00 Michael D. Fitzgerald, 5 00
Charles A. Baldwin,
1 00 Lconard E. Spaulding, 2 00
Charles C. Libby,
1 00 Clarrence S. Bailey, 3 00
George F. Gilmore,
1 00 Lafayett Blood, 3 00
John Conant,
20 00 Marshall C. Adams, 3 00
Arad Adams,
10 00 John S. Lawrence, 5 00
Franklin H. Cutter,
15 00 Peter Hogan,
1 00
John W. Woodruff,
2 00 Francis Lowe,
1 00
Nehemiah Cutter,
4 00 Benjamin Cutter,
20 00
James R. Harrington,
1 00 Joseph Davis,
2 00
Edmund P. Shattuck,
5 00 C. B. Davis,
1 00
Henry C. French,
5 00 Dexter Pierce, 1 00
Joseph W. Fassett,
5 00 Charles Bacon, 2 00
Geo. A. Underwood,
15 00 Joseph A. Thayer,
1 00
Ezra Baker,
5 00 Luke Nutting.
1 00
Milton Baker,
5 00 Benjamin L. Baldwin, 2 00
John Hecker,
5 00 Levi Pollard, 1 00
Levi P. Towne,
3 00 William Upton, 1.00
Charles A. Cutter,
2 00 Samuel T. Wellman, 5 00 -
Jonathan D. Gibbs,
1 00 Jonas Cutter,
Luke French,
1 00 Joseph T. Bigelow, 5 00
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JAFFREY CENTENNIAL.
Stephen F. Bacon,
1 00'John M. Wales, 2 00
Luke Carter,
1 00 Albert Bass, 2 00
Elijah Smith,
2 00 Miss A. Parker, 2 00.
John Frost,
3 00 Peter Upton,
5 00
Isaac S. Russell,
5 00 Mrs. S. H. Rand,
2 00
Samuel Hodge,
1 00 Leonard F. Sawyer, 2 00
Benjamin F. Prescott,
1 00 Edward Cary,
1 00
John Perry,
3 00 Josiah M. M. Lacy, 2 00
Addison Pierce,
2 00 Cummings Sawyer,
2 00
Samuel Marble,
2 00 E. H. Mower,
2 00
Oren Prescott,
2 00 Mrs. E. C. Duncan,
10 00
Joseph Joslin,
5 00 Oliver Bacon,
1 00
T. H. Curtis,
5 00 Charles L. Clark,
2 00
Robert Ritchie,
5 00 Jonathan Page,
2 00
Samuel Ryan,
5 00 Charles E. Cutter,
5 00
Charles H. Powers,
5 00 Alvah Stanley,
1 00
Addison Prescott,
10 00 Alfred Sawyer,
2 00
Henry F. Morse,
1 00 Mrs. Amos Buss,
5 00
Herbert F. Moors,
1 00 Elbridge Baldwin,
1 00
George A. Benjamin,
1 00 Benjamin Pierce,
15 00
Frank P. Wellman,
1 00
JULIUS CUTTER, Treasurer of the Centennial Committee, DR.
To amount of subscriptions, - -
$502 00
" paid by F. W. Tracy, for use of Common, 25 00
$527 00
CR
By paid Geo. W. Foster, $25 00
66 for nails and loss on lumber, 27 12
66
66 East Jaffrey Cornet Band, 50 00
66 66 for Postal Cards and printing,
22 99
66 for use of tent and expenses on same, 115 64
66 66 Table Committee, 127 70
66 66 for express, postage and stationery, 8 26
66
66 for keeping Cavalry Horses, 16 52
66 amount of subscriptions unpaid, - 1 00
" amount in hands of the treasurer, - 132 77
$527 00
.
Thomas A. Stearns,
5 00 Miss Rebecca Bacon, 2 00
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JAFFREY CENTENNIAL.
The Committee voted that twenty-five per cent. of cach per- son's subscription be returned, the balance of the surplus to the Treasurer, for extra services.
The Committee of Arrangements tender thanks to Henry C. French, Joseph W. Fassett, and Alfred Sawyer, Selectmen of the town, and to the Table Committee, for their co-operation in making the celebration a success. Also, to the Peterborough Cavalry Company and the East Jaffrey Fire Company, for the very satisfactory manner in which they performed the escort duty.
The Table Committee unite with the Committee of Arrange- ments in offering thanks to the citizens of Jaffrey for providing funds to defray the expense, and provisions for a free collation. -To H. B. Wheeler, Esq., who furnished us with rooms and lights for our meetings without charge.
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HECKMAN BINDERY INC.
JUN 96
Bound -To-Pleas® N. MANCHESTER, INDIANA 46962
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