USA > New Hampshire > Hillsborough County > Manchester > Manchester on the Merrimack, the story of a city > Part 5
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18
I shall remember, gentlemen, the respect you and the inhabitants of Bennington and its neighborhood have shown me, until I go to the
78
Derryfield's Man of Destiny
"country from whence no traveller returns". I must soon receive marching orders.
JOHN STARK.
Hon. Gideon Olin, Jonathan Robinson, Esq., - Committee Davis Fay, Esq.,
Enclosed in this letter was the general's "volunteer sentiment": "Live free or die- Death is not the worst of evils."
On the first day of May, 1945, the Legisla- ture of New Hampshire adopted this senti- ment of John Stark as the official motto of the State of New Hampshire, and it will be added to the state emblem and become a permanent tribute to the memory of this great patriot.
In 1822 General Stark died, the last surviv- ing general but one of the Revolutionary War. He was buried with full military honors beside his wife in the little burial ground by the river, so fitting a resting place for him whose memory is an imperishable honor to the city on its banks.
In 1899 the Louis Bell Post, Grand Army of the Republic, presented to the city of Man- chester forty-five elm trees, one for each state in the Union, that were planted in Stark Park. At the ceremonies of presentation, Rev. Charles Staples spoke in part as follows:
"After his strenuous battle, the strong-
79
Manchester on the Merrimack
hearted hero here sleeps well. Here he still speaks his sturdy message of rugged and down- right manhood. The grim reality of war has never disturbed these quiet vales. But out of the heart of that New England he loved and fought for, he will never cease to tell his people that no peace is worth having that is not worth fighting for, if need be, with sword and pen, with arm and brain, until we shall be one, not in name and by force, as we are now, but one in heart and spirit, in life and love."
TY
shik
SAMUEL BLODGET'S HOUSE AND CANAL
Derryfield's Pioneer of Progress
As we read history, we are impressed with the manifold forms of human greatness, the variation of its pattern that changes and adapts itself to the needs of the hour. In the previous chapter we followed briefly the career of John Stark, soldier, military strategist, Derryfield's "man of destiny." Life needed him and his peculiar gifts in 1775, needed him urgently, desperately. And he was ready; he played his part greatly and with high distinction. We, his successors in Manchester-On-the-Merrimack,
81
Manchester on the Merrimack
-
are immeasurably enriched by the heritage he has left to us.
But even while echoes of the Revolution were still audible, time, always busy with her sure and deliberate processes, was slowly spelling out the word "change". During those years when General Stark was enjoying the well-earned serenity of a peaceful old age, one era was dying and another was coming to birth. America, assured of her existence as a nation, was passing on into the next phase of her history, that of growth. And Derryfield, with its enviable position by the falls of Amoskeag, was destined to be in the forefront of the new development. The third period of the community's history was opening: the period of industrial expan- sion.
Enterprise was the key word of those years, and it found its exponent and symbol in the person of Samuel Blodget, "pioneer of internal progress in New Hampshire." Again life pro- duced the man for the need, and just as the demand differed from that of '75, so did the personality that responded to the call. Not the cool, calm judgment of a master of military strategy was required now, but rather the for- ward-looking vision of a man who could pene-
82
Derryfield's Pioneer of Progress
trate the mists of the future and visualize pos- sibilities. "I see a city on the banks of the Merrimack, by these falls," said Samuel Blodget, "a city that shall be the equal of the great manufacturing city of Manchester, England." And no misfortune or discouragement was ever to blur that vision before the eyes of its beholder.
As John Stark had triumphed again and again on the field of battle, so Samuel Blodget, against powerful odds, was to triumph in the field of business enterprise. Contrasting these two men who were so nearly contemporaries is a rewarding study, and to note where one outstripped the other is by no means to dis- parage either. One little anecdote that has come down to us serves to illustrate that mili- tary genius, so miraculously skilled in planning and executing brilliant maneuvers in the stress of war, may lack what we might term "peace- time vision." In 1792, the first bridge over the Merrimack at Derryfield was built. When the plan was being discussed, a few months before, General Stark shook his head dubiously. "It can't be done," he declared. Wars might be won and a nation might be born from a frail little group of colonies, but a bridge across the
83
Manchester on the Merrimack
familiar Merrimack, virtually in his back yard -that was beyond the range of his imaginings .*
But Samuel Blodget possessed in high degree this "peace-time vision" so essential to the growth of Derryfield, so essential to the growth of the nation. His advent was opportune: he was needed and like John Stark he was ready. So it was that in the drama of history, as Gen- eral Stark in full military regalia made his exit from the stage, the stocky figure of Samuel Blodget emerged from the wings. He had heard his cue in the rush of water over Amoskeag Falls. "Such power should be harnessed and made to perform a purpose," mused Samuel Blodget. And the plan that has led through devious paths to the mill-lined river banks of the Manchester of today began to take shape in his forward-looking, constructive mind. No longer was Derryfield to be a mere farming and fishing community.
Samuel Blodget was born in Woburn, Massa- chusetts, in 1724, and though little is known concerning his very early years, we may assume
This bridge was at the foot of what is now West Bridge Street. It was an outstanding enterprise for the times, and was accomplished largely though the efforts of Robert McGregor: hence the name, McGregor's Bridge. He lived in the house now occupied by Jutras Post of the American Legion.
84
Derryfield's Pioneer of Progress
that they followed the pattern of his con- temporaries in those frontier days, and that he was acquainted with hardship and privation. We learn that "he was a fair scholar for his times", and that he "was possessed of a specu- lative mind, prone rather to theory than to practice". Whatever else his mind may have been, of one fact we are sure: it was versatile. Merely cataloguing his activities during the middle years of his life would convince one of that. He had a farm on the banks of Black Brook in Goffstown; he had potash works and a store in Haverhill, Massachusetts, and more potash works in Hampstead, Goffstown and New Boston. Military experience was also in- cluded in his career. We find him at the siege of Louisburg in 1745, at the siege of Fort Wil- liam Henry, and in 1775 acting as sutler to Gen- eral Sullivan's Brigade. He made extensive pur- chases of lumber land in Goffstown and Hook- sett and he dealt in furs. He went to London where he had business arrangements with Sir William Baker and others. He invented a con- trivance for raising foundered ships from the bottom of the ocean, and spent four years in Europe in the interests of this machine. Not only wealth but civil honors came his way, and when New Hampshire was divided into counties, he was appointed justice of the In-
85
Manchester on the Merrimack
ferior Court of Common Pleas for the county of Hillsborough. Indeed the range and variety of his activities reminds one of the career of Anthony Adverse.
The historian Potter tells us that in 1769, Samuel Blodget "removed his family to Goffs- town and took up a permanent residence upon his farm. Here he soon obtained an advanta- geous position in society." But in 1793 he moved to Amoskeag and established his home on the east bank of the Merrimack. The time seemed auspicious for him to carry out his dream of canalizing the Falls, and of harnessing the power inherent in them. He had succeeded in amassing considerable wealth, and so firmly did he believe in his project that he was willing to risk all in the venture. It must be remem- bered that this was the age of "boating" on the Merrimack, and the age of canals. The famous Middlesex Canal was completed about this time, and the shipment of merchandise from Boston and the seaboard cities up the river as far as Concord, New Hampshire, was an im- portant and lucrative industry. The Middle- sex Canal was about twenty-seven miles long, thirty feet wide at the surface, and four feet deep. It boasted many bridges in its course, and was possessed of twenty locks. Remnants of this once-famous canal, abandoned, moss-
86
.
Derryfield's Pioneer of Progress
grown, almost obliterated, may be seen today by the careful observer who values a backward glance to the days when boats on the Merri- mack were both picturesque and a source of income.
It is interesting to note that Isaac Riddle of Bedford and Caleb Stark played an important role in the drama of this era. It was they who built the boat "Experiment" at Bedford Center, superintended its transportation to the river by forty yoke of oxen, and thereafter did a con- siderable business with it between Derryfield and Boston. Concord, Piscataquog, Litchfield and Nashua all had their lines of boats, forming a sizable fleet. From the time in early spring when the ice broke up in the river until the late frosts in the succeeding fall, boats on the river and its canals were busy transporting all sorts of country produce to Boston, and returning laden with hardware, paints, glass, oils, molasses -goods in endless variety. These boats, so familiar a part of the scene of that day, deserve a word of description. They were about seventy-five feet long, nine feet wide in the middle, and somewhat smaller at each end. A large, square sail furnished the means of pro- pelling the craft when the wind was favorable, but usually the motive power was provided by boatmen with their "setting poles". Two boat-
87
Manchester on the Merrimack
men, each equipped with an iron-shod pole, twenty feet in length, stood on the bow of the boat, and thrusting their poles against the river bottom at an angle, they threw their bodies forward and walked with a measured tread to the stern, thus propelling the craft forward. Boatmen were paid twenty dollars a month plus board, and skippers received one dollar and a quarter, and sometimes one dollar and a half per day. A trip from Concord to Boston on one of these boats required from seven to twelve days. These boating days on the Mer- rimack are worthy the pen of a novelist, and their pageantry might well tempt the brush of an artist whose "sense of the past" was in work- ing order. As for the unfolding of Samuel Blodget's dream and its translation into a real- ity, that is material for the dramatist.
Not until May the second, 1794, did work on the canal around the falls actually begin. Samuel Blodget had made careful preparations for the undertaking, acquiring most of the land adjacent to the falls, and becoming sole owner of the mill at its head that had been a joint en- terprise between him and General Stark. Thus he had completed his title to all the privileges on the east side of the river. The efficiency and painstaking forethought of his planning were worthy of youth in its prime, but at the actual
88
Derryfield's Pioneer of Progress
beginning of work on this long-cherished project Samuel Blodget was seventy years old. The next thirteen years were to witness a struggle between the spirit of this man and powerful forces, within and without, that sought to defeat him. A less rugged character would have broken beneath the buffetings and blows that rained upon his head. But the word failure was not in his vocabulary, and the story of Blodget's Canal is a story of persistence re- warded.
To begin with, the operation of the check gates, so very plausible in theory, proved a complete failure in practice. The idea was that the boats, routed from the reservoirs through the slip, would gather just the right amount of momentum to open the check gates, placed at convenient intervals along the length of the canal, and thus gain smooth passage down its entire course. Unfortunately, the descent of the slip was too steep, and the boats, picking up too much velocity, crashed disastrously against the gates. Judge Blodget and his engi- neer, Colonel Adams, thought they saw a way around this difficulty. They would construct locks of sufficient strength to prevent a recur- rence of any such mishap. But the forces of nature proved too much for their human wis- dom: the sides of the locks were lifted from
89
Manchester on the Merrimack
their places by the upward pressure of the water, and all the laborious work was wasted in a moment of time. As if insufficient engi- neering skill were not enough of a setback, a high freshet the following year carried off the locks entirely.
Meantime, financial difficulties arose. But Samuel Blodget was not to be thrown off the track by dwindling resources, so he set about the business of selling stock in his enterprise. His efforts extended as far as Philadelphia, and from his experiences there comes the story of the "Categorical Concert". It seems that the city had not responded very generously to his salesmanship, and after a stay of several weeks, he found himself in an embarrassing situation. Not only was his stock unsold, but funds for his return to New Hampshire were not avail- able. A dweller in the twentieth century, caught in similar straits, would have called up friends or family and solicited a loan. But even had the convenient telephone been at hand in those days, it is presumable that Samuel Blodget would have chosen to call up his own ingenuity. At any rate, things being as they were, he advertised far and near that he was sponsoring a Categorical Concert, naming the time and the place on widely-circulated hand- bills. Curiosity prompted a very generous re-
90
Derryfield's Pioneer of Progress
sponse, especially since admission was gained for only twenty-five cents. On the appointed even- ing the hall he had engaged was crowded to capacity. What was a Categorical Concert? The curtain rose and Judge Blodget appeared with a bulky bag under his arm. After a few in- troductory remarks, he threw the bag to the floor-and pandemonium immediately broke loose. The musical instruments proved to be a quartette of large, snarling and thoroughly angry cats, capable of providing a categorical concert indeed. They also provided the judge with the wherewithal to return home.
Still determined not to be defeated in his canal project, Judge Blodget next secured from the legislature of New Hampshire permission to raise nine thousand dollars by lottery. Massachusetts also granted lottery privileges in the interest of the canal. But unscrupulous speculators threw obstacles in the way of com- pleting the work, with the idea that the property might depreciate because of delayed operations, and in that case it would come into their hands at a bargain price. There was, more- over, extreme unpleasantness and discord be- tween the judge and the lottery managers. Criticism and recriminations were mutual, ill-feeling was general, and how one of Judge Blodget's years could have endured the strain of
91
Manchester on the Merrimack
difficulties and discouragements is a source of wonder. But he never lost sight of his dream. He foresaw not only the successful operation of his canal, but the possibilities in the water power provided by the tremendous force of the falls. He had seen to it, in constructing his canal, that there should be a basin at its upper end, and already he was using the water-power to op- erate a grist and saw mill of his own, hopeful that other capitalists might be encouraged to invest in the vicinity. Eloquently he pled his cause, pointing out that the hydraulic possi- bilities promised advantages not only to Derry- field but to the state as a whole. There seems to have been no limit to his energy and enthusi- asm. Anticipating the need of bricks for the construction of future factories, he had already bought the clay banks in Hooksett, thus prov- ing again his confidence in his own judgment.
It is satisfying to record that in December, 1806, the work on the locks was completed. Judge Blodget, though still pursued by trouble with his managers, was buoyed up by his antic- ipation of the next May Day, the date ap- pointed for the "opening of Blodget's Locks and Canal." It was a grand occasion, that open- ing on the first of May, 1807, significant for Samuel Blodget, for the community, and for the future. He was to live only a few months
92
Derryfield's Pioneer of Progress
thereafter, but he was seeing justified his faith in the first part of his dream, and the applause of the crowds on the river banks was his audible reward. The next hundred years were to unfold the second portion of his vision, as the city came to be, indeed, the equal of Man- chester in old England. And we of today, look- ing backward and visualizing the sturdy old judge, eighty-three years of age, riding in tri- umph the length of his canal, through the locks and out into the river, add our tribute to the plaudits that reached his ears. Persistence, te- nacity of purpose, faith had conquered.
"Whither our city?" Economically and in- dustrially the question was answered that May morning in 1807 by a man, rich in years, whose "peace-time vision" had never once forsaken him. "Whither our city?" In terms of human values and relationships hopeful beginnings had been made, but the complete answer was not yet.
VIEW OF MANCHESTER FROM THE AMOSKEAG BRIDGE -From the Bachelder Print
The Genesis of Manchester's Mills
The year 1810 was of signal importance to the little town by the Merrimack. In the first place it marked the end of its identification as Derryfield: henceforth, as a tribute to Samuel Blodget and his dream, it was to be known as Manchester, namesake of the prominent manu- facturing city on the River Irwell, in old Eng- land. There is a fascination in traveling back through the mists of yesterday and discovering the origin of this name, Manchester. The old Saxon records reveal that in 923 King Edward
94
The Genesis of Manchester's Mills
sent some of his Mercian troops to repair and garrison a fortress at Manigceaster, and the place was mentioned in the Doomsday Book as one of four in western Lancashire. As early as the thirteenth century the manufacture of woolen goods was an industry there, and in 1532 laws were passed in Parliament regulating the length of "Manchester cotton", a term pre- sumably used for what was in reality Manches- ter wool.
The town meeting of March 13, 1810, was the occasion of voting for a change of name. One may wonder if some of the assenting voters secretly clung to the more euphonious Derry- field, though outwardly conforming to the will of the majority. And certainly it is doubtful if any of the citizens who met on that March day had any conception of the place their Man- chester would occupy eventually in the com- mercial world, or caught from the future the hum of the thousands of spindles so soon to be a daily sound. Thomas Stickney, a grandson of Samuel Blodget, John G. Moor, and Amos Wes- ton were appointed a committee of three to petition the General Court for a change of name, and at the June session of the Legislature, the request was granted. Derryfield officially became Manchester. The town at this time had one-hundred-thirteen resident and seventeen
95
Manchester on the Merrimack
non-resident taxpayers. Isaac Huse, assessed the royal sum of sixteen dollars and thirty cents, headed the list. In 1815, he became the first representative of the town in the state Legis- lature. This was just after Manchester had been granted separate representation, after having been for a period classed with Litchfield. Thir- teen hundred and fifty dollars was mentioned as the sum the citizens had at interest, and of this, seven hundred belonged to General Stark. Five chaises were listed in the inventory, three valued at one hundred dollars each, one at eighty, and the fifth, the property of General Stark, at fifty. The population at this point was six hundred and fifteen.
Far more significant than the change of name was an event in the same year, 1810, that was a prophecy of Manchester's future, indicating the path her progress was to take for the next century and more. This was the establishment of the Amoskeag Cotton and Wool Manu- factury. It was a small beginning for the gigan- tic industries of the years to come, and even less significant were the tiny business enter- prises that had marked the preceding half-cen- tury and laid their foundations. We have noted that General Stark and Judge Blodget operated a mill at the Falls. About 1760, a man by the name of Patterson built a saw mill on the west
96
The Genesis of Manchester's Mills
bank of the river, at what was presumably about the same location. It is very likely that this mill flourished briefly, but eventually it fell into ruins.
By the year 1795, however, the advantages of the site had appealed to one James Pollard, and he erected another mill. Later, he sold the prop- erty to Jonas Harvey who in turn passed it over to the Stevens brothers, Ephraim and Rob- ert, who were joined later by an uncle, David Stevens. Around the year 1804 or 1805, Ben- jamin Prichard, having completed the construc- tion of a mill in New Ipswich, came to Derry- field and erected a mill on the bluff just below the Harvey property. Not satisfied with what he alone could accomplish, he interested others in this enterprise, among them James Parker and David McQuesten of Bedford, and Samuel Kidder and John Stark Jr., of Derryfield. The company petitioned the General Court for an act of incorporation, and at the June session, 1810, the same session that changed Derryfield to Manchester, they were recognized as the Amoskeag Cotton and Wool Manufacturing Company. It should be noted in passing that the organization of this company, the preceding January, as "Proprietors of the Amoskeag Cot- ton and Wool Manufactory", marked the first use of "Amoskeag", since to become world-re-
97
Manchester on the Merrimack
nowned, in connection with manufacturing. James Parker was chosen president of the new corporation, Jotham Gillis was elected clerk, and due to the unwillingness of Dr. William Wallace to serve, Mr. Gillis was appointed agent as well.
Simple and crude were the milling methods first employed within this shabby, weathered, old mill. The only machinery was the spinning jenny, invented by Hargreaves and equipped with eight spindles. The picking was a hand performance, requiring a frame about two feet square crossed at right angles by hemp cords placed half an inch apart. The women of the vicinity did the weaving on hand looms, and it was reported that a "smart weaver" was capable of earning thirty-six cents a day. These weavers were of course scattered all over the country- side, and the agent's duties included riding horseback around the outskirts of the town distributing yarn to these home-working em- ployees. One writer describes these "agents-on- horseback" as being "fairly enveloped by big bundles of yarn secured to the saddle."
Early in its career the little company enlarged the original mill and introduced a bit later an Arkwright spinning frame, and a mechanical contrivance for winding balls of cotton thread, the invention of Preserved Robinson. It en-
98
The Genesis of Manchester's Mills
joyed a season of phenomenal prosperity when the War of 1812 stopped the influx of foreign goods to this country, but it suffered inevitable reverses when at the close of the war importing was resumed on a large scale. The courageous spirit with which the Amoskeag Company tried to weather the gales of adversity is deserv- ing of high praise.
In 1819, a power loom was introduced at the little mill, and weaving was established on a more efficient scale than was possible with the "smart weaver" and her thirty-six cents a day stipend. Early in 1822, Samuel Slater, one of the founders of the cotton industry in this country, became interested in the Amoskeag project, and encouraged one of his employees, Olney Robinson, to purchase the mill. Thus the property passed from the hands of a cor- poration into the possession of a single individ- ual. It is evident that Mr. Robinson was in earnest about his new investment, for he ac- quired also the Stevens brothers' property, with the idea of building a new mill on that site. Anticipating a real-estate boom as a result of his intended improvements at the Falls, he in- vested in the McGregor farm, lying along the west bank of the Merrimack. But he seems to have encountered rough going financially, for in 1825 we find the property in the hands of
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.