USA > New Hampshire > Grafton County > Lebanon > July fourth, 1761: an historical discourse in commemoration of the one hundredth anniversary of the charter of Lebanon, N.H., delivered July fourth, 1861 > Part 3
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* Furnished by Dr. A. Smalley, a descendant.
t Capt. William Dana, an officer in the French war, and for seven years in the Revolution, wintered with Washington at Valley Forge. He was the first man to cut a stick of timber, plant a hill of potatoes or corn in the town. He also held the first charter for a ferry across the Connecticut. In addition to other excellencies, he was a true Christian. Before any minister was resi- dent in the town, he officiated at funerals. On one occasion two men came from Orford, for him to go there to make a prayer at the funeral of a man who had died there. For these facts I am indebted to a letter written by his youngest daughter, Mrs. Fanny Cochran, now living in Pembroke, N. H. - D.
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HISTORICAL DISCOURSE.
pastor of a Baptist church in Albany, N. Y., whom we had hoped to see here to-day. A bricklayer by trade, he worked his way to an education by the help of his trowel. An eloquent preacher, a popular speaker, the author of more books than all the rest of Lebanon to- gether.
The remaining name of the first three is Levi Hyde, largely employed as a surveyor in laying out the roads and farms of the town. " Old 'Squire Hyde," is a name familiar to the older portion of the town, as a standing authority in all matters of law, order, and town his- tory.
In the list of early settlers my eye is arrested by the name of Joseph Wood, whose descendants constitute an extensive forest, and are " too numerous to men tion."
Two of them, however, must not be passed unno- ticed. Rev. Samuel Wood, D. D., long pastor of the church in Boscawen, came to this town with his father when quite a lad, graduated at Dartmouth College in 1779, and settled in Boscawen in 1781, where he re- mained till his death, in 1836, at the age of 84.
It is safe to say that no man in New Hampshire ex- erted a wider influence for good, during his life, than he. Besides all the labors of a responsible pastoral office, and of many public trusts, all of which he per- formed with great ability and faithfulness, he fitted for college, in his own house, more than a hundred young men, among whom are some of the most honored names in our State and nation. It is enough to mention Dan- iel and Ezekiel Webster.
That venerable centennarian, whose grave is still
5
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HISTORICAL DISCOURSE.
fresh among you, was the second brother of Dr. Samuel Wood. Captain Joseph Wood was about seven years old when his father came to this town. His whole life has been a part of its history. Pursuing the quiet and honorable calling of a farmer, of excellent judgment in all practical affairs, energetic, he accumulated a hand- some property, which he well knew how to use for good. The Congregational Church in Lebanon, the church and seminary in West Lebanon, have reason long to cherish the memory of his generosity, of his wisdom in counsel, of his solid virtues. A good man, rich in faith and in good works, he died full of years and honors. Of his younger brother, Benjamin, long the faithful and honored pastor of the church in Upton, Mass., I have not time to speak.
Nathaniel Porter, whose wife, Martha, was the only other person in the town whose age has reached 100, is known to me chiefly through his son and grandson, whom we used to call the Old Deacon and the Young Deacon Porter, both of whom have long since gone to their rest. Old Deacon Porter has left his monument among you in yonder church edifice and the parsonage connected with it. Strong, thick-set, resolute, nearly obstinate upon occasion, his large head represented, and guided a larger heart. His few words, somewhat stammering, were full of meaning and of force. His daily prayer was, that he might not outlive his useful- ness ; and that prayer was heard. He returned home from church on the Sabbath, sat down in his chair. and quietly died.
Of Zuar Eldridge we have this record, in connection with the revolutionary war: He sailed in a privateer,
35
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HISTORICAL DISCOURSE.
was captured, imprisoned, was finally released, worn down by disease and confinement, and was nursed by Diarca Allen.
Rev. Walter Harris, D. D., one of the ablest and most eloquent divines of New Hampshire, in his youth a musician in Washington's army, long the honored, judicious, and faithful pastor of the church in Dun- barton, should be held in remembrance as one of the noblest sons of Lebanon.
Hon. Elisha Payne was a prominent actor in the affairs of the town, at a little later day. At the time of the conflict between New Hampshire and Vermont, as to jurisdiction over the sixteen towns, he was Lieu- tenant-Governor of Vermont, and was authorized by the legislature of that State to raise a military force to resist the threatened invasion of this State. He after- wards removed to Orange, N. H., and while there re- ceived from this town an offer of a tract of land, at the outlet of Enfield Pond, provided he would settle there and erect mills ; which offer he accepted. The mills there were long known as Payne's Mills.
At one time he made an effort to form a new town- ship from parts of Lebanon, Enfield, and Canaan, of which East Lebanon should be the centre ; but the at- tempt failed. He was a man of intellect, intelligence, and energy. He held many important offices, both in town and State. He was the builder of the chapel of Dartmouth College.
And what shall I say more ? Time would fail me to speak of the Storrses, the Huntingtons, the Water- mans, the Hebbards, the Downers, and the Aspenwalls
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HISTORICAL DISCOURSE.
in that honored list of the first settlers. They are all familiar and worthy names.
Coming down the century a generation or more, my eye rests upon David Hough, once a representative in Congress, and others of the same name ; upon Colonel Storrs, and Captain Sluman Lathrop, who to my youth- ful vision stood up among the " Sons of Anak "; upon Barnabas Fay, whose representative you are getting impatient to hear ; upon Tildens, a name immortalized by yonder beautiful seminary overlooking the valleys of the Connecticut and White River ; upon Ticknors,* whom the title-pages of not a few American books will keep in remembrance ; the Bakers, Bentons, Durkees, Aldens, Blodgetts ; upon the Halls, the descendants of one of whom-Captain Nathaniel Hall-have adorned the three professions, - Law, Medicine, and Divinity. There is a multitude, besides, whose very names I can- not stop to repeat.
There are two characters of this period, so promi- ment in my view that I must be excused for naming them. They were brothers-in-law, the one a farmer, the other a merchant ; both short and stout, with pretty capacious brains. Each thought and acted for himself, - and they generally thought and acted very much alike, except in politics ; one was a strong Democrat, the other as strong a Federalist. They were often se-
Lebanon claims William D. Ticknor, the well-known publisher, of Boston. Another of the name should have more than a passing notice. His merits cannot be better told than in the following sentiment, furnished by Robert Kimball, Esq. : "To the memory of Deacon Elisha Ticknor. - the Jason who found for us the golden fleece, - the first to introduce the rearing of Merino sheep, in the town, for which the town is largely indebted for its pros- perity."
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HISTORICAL DISCOURSE.
lectmen at the same time, and had occasion to test their personal friendship in the fiercest political strife. They lived and died, however, true friends, and alike respect- ed and beloved, as honest and true men. Their names were Diarca Allen and Stephen Kendrick .* Their de- scendants must speak for themselves.
Among physicians who have been largely identi- fied with our history, the name of Phineas Parkhurst is prominent, whom many of us well remember. His life in Lebanon dates back to 1780. The burning of Roy- alton, Vt., by the Indians - one of the sad scenes of the revolutionary war - brought him here as a mes- senger of alarm. When the intelligence that the In- dians were approaching the town reached his father's house, Parkhurst, then but a youth, mounted his horse
* The annotator, free from the restraints which bound Dr. Allen, may add somewhat to the notice of these men. Diarea Allen was in his youth a sol- dier with his brother Phineas, in the revolutionary army. The older people of the town will remember the attachment between these brothers, while in the army, and the stories told of their frequent, earnest inquiry, " Seen any- thing of Ark. ? " " Seen anything of Phin. ? " Diarea Allen was prominent in town affairs, a successful farmer, an honest man, a wise counsellor, a friend to the poor in a quiet way, - the father of seven sons and one daughter, all yet living, - all honored and useful. In his old age, as I knew him, content- ed, genial, not without humor, not often second in a trial of wit, abounding in stories of old times, cherished and honored by his children, in simple Christian faith awaiting his eall to go up higher. He died in 1850, aged 89.
Stephen Kendrick, the successful merchant, serupulously honest, accurate in all business affairs, and as capable as honest, for many years a town clerk, the most accurate and painstaking of them all, - it is a pleasure to consult the records made by him. Always of uncompromising morality, - in his later years an humble, devout Christian ; religion had no better friend than he, the church no firmer pillar. He attained not the good old age of his friend. but was called suddenly away in the midst of his years and usefulness, in 1834, aged 64. His children, like those of his friend, have been useful and honored. One is Professor of Chemistry at West Point, another a professor in Marietta College, Ohio. - D.
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HISTORICAL DISCOURSE.
and rode with all possible speed through the neighbor- hood, giving the alarm. As he was endeavoring to es- cape, he was shot in the back, the ball passing through the body and lodging in the skin in front. Holding the ball in his fingers, he pursued his way down the river, arousing the inhabitants by that terrific cry, "The Indians are coming !" not stopping to rest till he had crossed the Connecticut. The wound unfitted him for the life of a farmer, and he chose that of a physician. He studied medicine with Dr. Hall, then of this town, had a large practice, exerted a wide influence, accu- mulated a handsome property. He died in 1844, aged 85.
The names of Richards, Hall, Partridge, Flagg, and Hubbard, among the dead ; of Gallup and Plaistridge among the living, completes the list of doctors of past generations among us.
For lawyers, Lebanon has never seemed to present a very inviting field. Whether because of its remoteness from the county-seat, or because of the high moral, and consequent peaceable character of its inhabitants, I do not know. Till proof to the contrary is furnished, we may assume the latter reason.
Hon. Aaron Hutchinson, was probably the first who established himself in town as a lawyer. He gradu- ated at Harvard College, in 1770, and settled here about 1780. When he came here, there were but three law- yers in all Grafton County. He lived to a good old age, having exerted a wide influence in his profession in this region.
Samuel Selden, still living in Michigan, I believe is the only other lawyer of early times whom I recol- lect.
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HISTORICAL DISCOURSE.
I cannot close without asking you to drop a tear to the memory of two or three of my own age. Of the liv- ing I do not propose to speak, though there are names of which we may be proud. Of the dead, though well known to many of you, I may speak.
Story Hebard graduated at Amherst College in 1828, having distinguished himself as scholar in the natural sciences. Notwithstanding a strong bias to these stud- ies, he sacrificed it to his desire to preach the Gospel to the heathen. In 1835 he left his native land for- ever, and went forth to the land of the Bible, a mis- sionary of the Cross. His scientific knowledge, in ad- dition to all his other labors, enabled him to furnish to American journals of science some of the most val- uable papers to be found upon the geology and botany of the Holy Land. He died, much lamented, in 1841, and his body rests in foreign soil, on the Island of Malta.
Ira Young was born a mathematician, and as such was known among us in his early life, and when teach- ing in our district schools. At the age of 22, having previously wrought as a house carpenter, he began to fit for college, and in a little more than a year completed his preparation. He took his stand in college at once, as one of the best scholars, of one of the best classes ever graduated at Dartmouth, commanding especially the admiration of the venerable Professor of Mathe- matics, whose chair he was called to fill soon after leav- ing college. Dartmouth never had a professor of clear- er head, and greater worth, as a teacher and a man, than he. He died 1858, in the midst of his useful- ness, a loss to the college and the community, at the age of 57.
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HISTORICAL DISCOURSE.
Willis Bliss, the beautiful boy, the affectionate and obedient son of an accomplished and early-widowed mother, the youth of high toned moral character, the truly magnificent scholar, an honor to the Military School of West Point, than whom it has no higher ; the writer of those unequalled war despatches of the old hero, Zachary Taylor, in the Mexican war, he was cut down by death, just as the eyes of the nation were beginning to turn to him as one of the most promising of her sons, either in military or civil life.
The century over which we have thus rapidly glanc- ed has been one of the most remarkable of all the cen- turies of time. It has been emphatically a century of progress. Inaugurated by the revolutionary war, it includes the whole of what history will record as the first period of American republican government, -its period of sturdy, vigorous youth, of rapid growth in territory, in wealth, in learning, in religion, in short, in all the elements of national greatness. It closes in the midst of a civil war, which is to inaugurate the period of its ripened manhood, demonstrating to the world that a government founded upon the will of an intelli- gent and God-fearing people, is at once the strongest and happiest government on earth, and sealing with the heart's blood of the children, the institutions of liberty for which the fathers suffered and died.
The period of old age, when even a government is ready to vanish away, will, I trust, never overtake our nation ; but I believe, rather, that its growing bright- ness and strength will at length be lost in that prophet- ic day, when every nation and every man shall be free, and all men everywhere shall enjoy undisturbed what
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HISTORICAL DISCOURSE.
the Pilgrims found on the Rock of Plymouth, " Free- dom to worship God."
Our fathers and mothers came to this place, in ca- noes slowly paddled up the river, on foot, and on horse- back, in ox-carts, and on ox-sleds * - toiling through the forest at the rate of five or ten miles a day. We come by steam at the rate of five hundred. They were sent forth from their old homesteads with prayers and benedictions, as if they were never to be seen again. Our mothers, youthful brides from old Con- necticut, stood in the doors of their log-cabins, and wept, as they looked out upon the almost unbroken for- ests about them, and thought of those left behind ; and when a new emigrant arrived in the neighborhood, he came loaded with a precious freight of letters, some sad. some joyous, from those of whom nothing had been heard for many months. We take up our " dai- lies," and read what but yesterday was going on all over the land, even to the Pacific. Such changes has the passage of time wrought.
They bore their trials nobly, and to-day we are proud to remember them. Are we proving worthy such a parentage ? Are we worthy the richer privileges we enjoy ? Are we, with all our advantages, accomplish- ing as much for the world as they have done before us ?
The fathers and the mothers, - where are they ? We must seek them in yonder resting-place for the
* Mr. John Hebbard has still in good preservation portions of the sled upon which his ancestor brought to this town, from Connecticut, his family and goods, drawn by a yoke of "three year olds."
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HISTORICAL DISCOURSE.
dead, and other like sacred spots. We have met to- day to speak of their memories-we shall part to-day -and never all meet again on earth. When all the centuries are over, may we all meet in our FATHER's HOUSE ABOVE.
APPENDIX.
No. I.
GRADUATES FROM LEBANON.
DARTMOUTH COLLEGE.
Experience Estabrooks,
1776. Phineas Parkhurst, 1805.
Samuel Wood,
1779.
James Hutchinson, 1806.
Ezekiel Colburn,
1779. John Porter, 1806.
Elisha Tieknor,
1783.
Thomas Hardy, 1807.
Elisha Payne, 1784.
Jabez Peck,
1807.
Elijah Lyman,
1787.
Constant Storrs,
1807.
Walter Harris,
1787.
Samuel Wood Colburn,
1808.
John Griswold,
1789.
Daniel Hough, 1812.
Nathaniel Hall,
1790.
Experience Porter Storrs,
1813.
Zenas Payne,
1790.
Joseph Estabrooks,
1815.
John Walbridge,
1791.
Amos Wood,
1815.
Silas Waterman,
1792.
John Kendrick,
1826.
Benjamin Wood,
1793.
Ira Young,
1828.
Isaiah Waters,
1793.
D. H. Allen, 1829.
Ira Hall,
1793.
Benjamin Ela,
1831.
William Dana,
1794.
George Cooke, 1832.
Barrett Potter,
1796.
Richard B. Kimball,
1834.
Nathaniel Storrs,
1796.
Aldace Walker,
1837.
Joseph Peck,
1800.
Phineas Cooke,
1843.
Lemuel Bliss, 1801.
Harvey C. Wood,
1844.
Nehemiah Huntington,
1803.
J. J. Blaisdell,
1846.
Experience Porter,
1803
Benjamin E. Gallup,
1847.
John Porter,
1803.
Henry Allen,
1849.
Luther Storrs,
1803.
Elias H. Richardson,
1850.
Samuel W. Phelps,
1803.
Samuel W. Dana,
1854.
Henry Hutchinson,
1804.
D. A. Diekinson,
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APPENDIX.
AMHERST COLLEGE.
Story Hebard, . . 1828. .
NORWICH UNIVERSITY. Cyrus H. Fay.
Willis Bliss,
WEST POINT. 1834. | Henry Kendrick, 1835. James G. Benton.
PHYSICIANS NOT GRADUATES OF COLLEGE.
Waterman Dewey,
Sylvanus Martin,
Alvin Ford, Charles H. Cleaveland, John Liscomb,
Wm. Gallup,
Daniel Dustin,
Sylvanus Dewey, Adoniram Smalley,
Harry Allen,
Constant Abbott,
Sylvester Ford,
Benjamin T. Hubbard,
Wm. D. Buck.
CLERGYMEN NOT GRADUATES OF COLLEGE.
Luther Wood, John Waters,
John Lothrop,
George Storrs,
Daniel Hardy.
Reuben Mason,
In preparing this list, I am greatly indebted to the tenacious and accurate memory of Thomas Potter, Esq. D.
No. II.
TOWN CLERKS OF LEBANON.
Silas Waterman, from 1765 to 1776.
John Wheatley, from 1776 to 1784 ; from March to July, 1786. Elihu Hyde, from 1784 to 1786.
James Fuller, from 1786 to 1792.
Stephen Kendrick, from 1792 to 1819, with two intervals of a year each.
Timothy Kenrick, from 1819 to 1857.
E. J. Durant, from 1857.
Colbee Hardy,
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APPENDIX.
No. III.
SOLDIERS FROM LEBANON IN THE REVOLUTION
John Colburn,
Jesse Cooke,
Nathaniel Storrs,
Edward Slapp,
Elkanah Sprague, Joseph Wood,
Rev. Isaiah Potter. Nathaniel Porter, Jr.,
Noah Payne, David Millington,
Nathan Wheatley,
Thomas Wells,
Samuel Estabrooks,
Nehemiah Estabrooks,
Jeriah Swetland.
Azariah Bliss,
Zuar Eldridge,
Luther Wheatley,
John Griswold,
John Wheatley,
Zacheus Downer.
John Slapp,
Nathan Durkee, Ephraim Wood, Charles Hill.
Levi Hyde,
Probably this list is incomplete.
Besides these, numbers were employed as scouts, in the neighborhood, at Strafford, at Newbury, Vt., and at a place in Canada, called the Cedars, under the command of Lieut. Turner.
The following are interesting memorials of that memorable struggle :
" An accompt of the time and charges of my going to Royalton at the time of the alarm on the 16th of October 1780.
" Myself three days ; found a horse to carry provisions from Lieut. John Lymans to the foot of Tunbridge mountains ; necessary charges - eight dollars.
" JERIAH SWETLAND."
" LEBANON, Jan. 26th, 1779.
" At a town meeting legally warned were passed the following votes, viz. Maj. Slapp moderater. 2d That the town recommend it to the commissioned officers of the malitia in this town, to select six men as a scouting party, in Conjunction with other towns. in order to make Dis- covery of the Approach of the enemy, if any there be, and to give timely notice thereof to the Inhabitants.
" Voted also to recommend it to said officers to Equip fifty-six men to be ready at a minute's warning to march against the Enemy, in Case of an invasion, and also they use their Endeavor to have the whole of their
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APPENDIX.
Company in the best posture of Defence that may be ; in case of a gen- eral attack. Voted that the six men for scouting be Engaged till the first day of April next, unless sooner discharged, and also that Each man Receive 40s per month for the time being, as money passed in 1774 : and also that the Town provide Each man with a blanket, and a pair of snow-shoes for their use for the time being, and then to be Re- turned to said Town. Voted that in case Lieut. Ticknor should fail of Going with said Scout, that said six men make Choice of such meet person as they shall Chuse to take the Command of them in his Room. Voted that the Authority of this town Stop the transporting of all kinds of provisions, that may be attempted to be carried away, from or thro said Town till the Danger of the Enemy be over Except such as are purchased for the use of the Continent. (army)
" Voted that the Authority of the Town, and all others the inhabitants Be Directed to Examine all strangers suspected to be Spies, and if need be to Detain them, as the Exigency of the Case may Require. Voted to Disolve said meeting.
" Attest, JN. WHEATLEY, Town Clerk."
" An account of the Expense and losses sustained by the town of Lebanon, in the publick Defence since the contest with Great Brittain.
£
May 1775. Expense to Committee after and for ammunition 20 5 4 s. d.
July 1776. Expense to Committee after and for ammunition 29 0 0
July 25. Rec'd of Col. Payne ten fire-locks, 20 lbs. of
powder, twenty wt of Lead and ten flints which said Col. Payne obtained of the State of N. H. for the use of the Reg't commanded by Col. Jonathan Chase
In the 1777 paid to nine men that join'd Col. Scilly's Reg't for three years service in the Continental Army £24 Each, silver, m 216 By orders from Col. Chase an Express to Col. Paine July 3d, 1777, 22 miles-By another Express July 30th to Do. 1 16 July 3d, 1777. Express to Capt. Hendy, 2 8 July 30th. Express to Col. Morey, . 14
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APPENDIX.
£ s. d.
May 1777. Capt. Sam. Paine paid an Express to Col. Elisha Paine 18
July 1777. 6 Pack horsos, 3 days. 34 miles to Coffins 1 16
Man and horse two days to carry Packs 12 To Ferriage over Connecticut River 10 2
July 30th 1777 to six Pack Horses to Otter Creek 70 miles to the Block House 3 12
A man with the Pack Horses 7 days 1 1
Oct. 1777. Paid James Jones for the use of his horse to Sar- atoga and for his bridle lost in s'd service 1 13
Committees Expense of Collecting and prizing horses for the service to Saratoga 1 14
To 62 lbs. of lead ; powder, 3 lbs. 3 17
July, 1777. Maj. Griswold's Express to Col. Paine 18
July 18th, 1780. By a journey of two horses and a boy two days to Orford to carry the baggage of a party of Frenchmen by order of Col. Chase 14
1780, 1781. Two Expresses to Canaan on publick service 1 5 8
Jan. 26, 1779 by six men as a Scouting Party for 1 month at 40s per month, as money passed in 1774 12
Ang. 1780 by 60 men, one day, in the alarm at Barnard at 3s. per day 9
1780. By Expence in the late Alarm Occasioned by the En- emy's destroying the Town of Royalton, &c 146 16 9
By paying and victualling 12 men Engaged for 1 month to scout upon the Frontiers at 48 per month, but as s'd men were in s'd service but three weeks their wages and victualling amounted to 41 4 6
March 2d, 1781. To paying and victualling six men Raised for one month, to be under the command of Capt. Nelson to scout upon the frontiers, but as s'd men Continued in s'd service but three weeks, Expence 22 12 3
Expence for transporting provision for s'd men to Newbury 1 18
March 1781 by Expence in the Alarm at Newbury 48
Sept. 1781 by expense in the Alarm at Corinth for 60 men 9
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APPENDIX.
£. s. d.
By Expence of the Selectmen in time &c. in procuring provisions and other Necessaries for the soldiers in the several Services and Alarms inserted as above- said, 50 Days at 6s. per day . 15
Two barrels of Beef. 2 hund'd } per barrel for the troops at Corinth at £4 10s. per barrel .
9
1781. By a bounty paid to Eleven men that engaged in the publick service for 6 months at £4 10s. each 49 10
Additional pay advanced by the town to s'd men 24s. per month for five months and } 72 12
1780. For three men that 'Listed under Capt. Sam'l Paine in the Publick Service at Cohos - a bounty 40s. each 6 For 8 men under Capt. Bush 1 month and }, bounty and wages 38 8 . To Lieut. Huntington 1 month and 2 at £5 5 per month 7 17 6 .
£770 11 Sum total
A POEM
IN
Commemoration of the One Hundredth Anniversary
OF THE
CHARTER OF LEBANON, N. H., DELIVERED JULY FOURTH, 1861,
BY REV. CYRUS H. FAY,
OF PROVIDENCE, R. I.
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