USA > New Hampshire > Grafton County > Some things about Coventry-Benton, New Hampshire (town history) > Part 10
USA > New Hampshire > Grafton County > Benton > Some things about Coventry-Benton, New Hampshire (town history) > Part 10
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In the early days, previous to 1846, when the meeting house was erected, though a Methodist class was organized
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as early as 1816, there was no regular preaching by the iten- erants of this denomination. They came as suited conveni- ence and circumstances. Their pulpits were in barns, school houses and private dwellings, as opportunity offered. Among the preachers who visited the town were those whose names became historic in New England Methodism. The mention of a few of these will suffice : Asa Kent, Elijah Hedding, Solomon Sias, Jacob Sanborn, Lewis Bates, Abraham Mer- rill, Samuel Kelley, Benjamin R. Hoyt, Dan Young, Charles Baker, George Storrs, Ebenezer Ireson, N. W. Aspinwall, Charles A. Cowing, Holman Drew, Silas Quimby, Chas. D. Cahoon, Justin Spaulding, E. Brown, and G. W. H. Clark. In 1844 and 1845 Henry H. Hartwell was one of the three preachers assigned to the Haverhill, East Haver- hill, North Haverhill and Benton circuit, and he devoted much of his time to Benton. Under his ministrations there was a wide spread old time revival, and in 1846 the Union Meeting house was erected, and thenceforward until 1904 the town enjoyed stated religious services. The Union Meeting house society was duly incorporated, and at the an- nual meetings the pew holders would declare their religious preferences, and the occupancy of the house for the different Sundays of the year was determined by these preferences. The Free Will Baptists and Methodists were entitled to the use of the house for the most of the time, and as a general rule, used it on alternate Sundays down to the disintegration of the former church, when the house by a sort of common consent passed under Methodist control. During all of this period, however, the Universalists, and later the Second Ad- ventists had the use of the house for services of their own for a few Sundays of each year whenever they were favored with the presence of ministers of their respective denomina-
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BENTON MEETING HOUSE, ERECTED 1846.
REV. GEORGE W. COGSWELL.
DEA. WINTHROP G. TORSEY.
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tions. Between the years 1846 and 1851 the Methodist ministers who were appointed over the Benton church were : 1846-47, Newell Culver; 1848, E. Brown ; 1849, G. W. Bryant ; 1850, the pulpit was supplied by Joseph E. King, principal of the Newbury, Vt., seminary.
In 1851 Daniel W. Barber was appointed to Swiftwater and Benton. The membership of the two churches, which for statistical purposes were henceforward regarded as one, was reported as 111, including 25 probationers. A parson- age owned jointly by the two churches was erected at Swift- water, adjoining the church there, but it was understood that the pastor was to devote half his time to his Benton flock.
The appointments subsequently made were as follows : 1852-3, Thomas J. Andrews ; 1854-5, Oloff H. Call ; 1856-7, Charles R. Homan ; 1858-9, John English ; 1860- 1, Greenleaf P. Warner ; 1862-3, Joseph Fawcett ; 1864-5, John English ; 1866, Alfred B. Best ; 1867, G. C. Noyes ; 1868-70, Samuel F. Lougee; 1871, Henry Chandler ; 1872, Arnold Adams ; 1873, supply ; 1874, supply ; 1875, supply ; 1876, supply ; 1877, supply ; 1878, supply ; 1879, William Ramsden ; 1880-1, Claudius Byrne ; 1882, J. M. Buffum ; 1883-4, L. W. Prescott ; 1885-6, C. E. Rogers ; 1887-8, J. N. Bradford; 1889-91, Henry Hammond ; 1892-4, I. C. Brown ; 1895-6, J. R. Dinsmore ; 1897, A. G. Smith; 1898-1900; E. C. Clough; 1901-3, W. A. Hudson. There is no separate record of the Benton mem- bership, but at the beginning of the union of the church with that at Swiftwater in a single quarterly conference, the mem- bership of the two churches was about equal, but beginning with about 1870 that at Benton began to decline, and at the time of the abandonment of the field by the denomination the present year, had become but a mere handful. For the
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years 1873-78 the churches at both Benton and Swiftwater had no regular pastor appointed by the conference, but the pulpits were occupied by John Currier one year, John Wins- low for two years, J. S. Jewett, a local preacher from War- ren, one year, while some of the time during this period a young Free Will Baptist clergyman from Maine, and the Rev. S. E. Quimby, then living at Newbury, Vt., acted as occasional supplies for a few months at a time. The Benton pulpit was also occupied at various times by ministers of the Advent faith. The meeting house was repaired and thor- oughly renovated in 1869, the lofty choir gallery being torn down and placed on a small platform opposite the pulpit, while the overhead vestry was abandoned and a smaller one constructed in the north end of the basement. Some twenty years later other repairs were made. The salaries paid preachers, either Free Will Baptist or Methodist, were not large. The Baptists on two or three occasions secured a regular pastor with promise of a salary varying from $300 to $400, but there were arrearages, failures to pay, and these pastorates were brief. The Methodist pastors were promised salaries varying from $350 to $450 for the two churches at Swiftwater and Benton, besides the use of the parsonage, and these were usually paid, if the proceeds of donation parties were added. None of the Benton ministers, however, ever became purse proud.
The Benton meeting house was a center of social life, and except for the post office almost the only center. Until within a few years the order of the Sunday services was, preaching in the morning, immediately followed by Sunday school, preaching at 1.30 p. m. and a prayer or conference meeting at 5 o'clock during the summer months, and at early candle lighting during the winter. Not all the people attended
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the Sunday school at the nooning hour. That was designed for the youngsters and women. The men adjourned to the long row of horse sheds where they discussed the sermon to which they had listened and-other matters. Nearly every- body "went to meeting." The object may have been to listen to the sermon and worship, while with some, the instinct of getting together, keeping touch with each other, furnished by the noon hour, or in other words, the social instinct may have been the impelling force. If great inspiring thoughts were not imparted by the sermons of George W. Cogswell or John Davis or Charles R. Homan or John English, it was something for the hard-working men and women to don Sunday clothes, get together and exchange views. The "meeting house" prevented the West district, the East dis- trict, and the South district of this backwoods community from becoming isolated sections. The meeting house, even as a Sunday rendezvous, to say nothing of its being a place of worship, was worth vastly more to Benton than it ever cost. The singing schools were also held at the meeting house, and what singing schools they were. When one re- members Joseph Y. Cheney, with his violin, one of the most famous old time singing masters, it is useless to talk of conservatories of music. And there were other things con- nected with the singing school which bring up tender recol- lections. The choir in the Benton church was a famous one before the choir gallery was degraded nearly to the level of the floor. That choir, in its palmiest days, should have been heard to be appreciated. There was no organ or other instrument of music until more degenerate times. John E. Keyser reigned supreme with his tuning fork. His favorite choir, all trained by "Joe Cheney", held the seats in the early sixties. There were Charles H. Whitcher, Winthrop
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C. Whitcher, James E. Whitcher, Amarett A. Whitcher, Florence E. Whitcher, William F. Whitcher, Mary E. Whitcher, Frances C. Whitcher, Elvah G. Whitcher, Edward F. Mann, George Henry Mann, Van Buren Glazier, Phebe A. Howe, Dorcas Howe, George Wilson (who couldn't sing, but didn't know it) and "Uncle Billy" Eastman. There was music in "Uncle Billy's" soul, and in his voice as well. Dr. Eben Tourjee of the Boston Conservatory would have turned green with envy to hear that choir sing the Easter Anthem, with the solo by "Uncle Billy," beginning with, "And did he rise? etc." One of the great musical events occurred on one occasion when John Keyser's sensibilities had been ruffled and the choir was on a strike. Elder Cogswell occupied the pulpit. "Uncle Billy" never struck, and he occupied the gallery alone, but "Uncle Billy" sang bass. The Elder took in the situation. He spied the wife of Deacon Amos Whitcher in her pew. In her younger days she had attempted to sing. The Elder said : "Sister Polly, if you will go up in the gal- lery with brother William, you can sing soprano, he can sing bass, and I'll sing alto, and I guess we'll have some singing, even if brother Keyser has a sore throat." Sister Polly went ; she sang soprano, "Uncle Billy", bass, and the Elder came in on the alto. They just sang. The recalcitrant choir sitting down stairs in the pews enjoyed the Elder's alto and "Aunt Polly's" soprano, even if John Keyser did look glum.
Some of the ministers will be remembered, not only for their godliness and saintliness, and they were for the most part of this sort, but also for other peculiarities. Elder John Davis informed the congregation one Sunday that he was "bound for the Kingdom," and was going "as far as God
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and my legs will carry me." Elder Cogswell, on a funeral occasion, when the death was caused by diptheria, announced "they are having diptheria up our way, and the young folks are scared and are getting religion." It was also on this oc- casions that he gave his famous recipe for the cure of the dread disease, a compound of West India molasses, cayenne pepper and salt pork, with the formula for preparation. Joseph Fawcett, the Methodist clergyman of the time, sat in the pulpit with the Elder. He was a scholarly man, an able preacher, who, somehow, had been appointed to Swiftwater and Benton. The personification of dignity and culture, he sat during the Elder's discourse with a broad smile illuminating his face. After the service, while at the house of one of his parishioners, his good wife took him to task for his jolly demeanor on so solemn an occasion, but his reply was : "When I feel tickled I can't feel solemn." Jo- seph Fawcett was an Englishman. His use and abuse of his h's was a great source of amusement to the young peo- ple. There was quite a wide spread revival during his pas- torate, and in the special services which were held he was assisted by the Rev. Lewis P. Cushman, then at Landaff. The sermons were of the old fashioned orthodox variety. George W. Mann, who was an ardent Universalist, felt called upon to warn the young people not to be led away by fears of hell, and now and then in the midst of the revival services exercised his gift in this direction. One evening, after Mr. Cushman had made a specially fervent appeal, Mr. Mann started in to refute what had been said, when Mr. Cushman interrupted, saying, "let us sing," and with his powerful voice started the hymn :
"Jesus, Great Shepherd of thy sheep, To thee for help we fly,
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Thy little flock in safety keep, For oh, the wolf is nigh."
Mr. Mann sat down. Later in the evening he made a second attempt, when the versatile Mr. Cushman was ready with another hymn, beginning :
"Vain man, thy fond pursuits forbear, Repent, thine end is nigh, Death at the farthest can't be far, Oh, turn before thou die."
The Universalist brother gave it up. Then there was Dan- iel W. Barber, the man with the wooden arm, who preached the doctrine of Christian perfection, and with scrupulous and painstaking care collected his salary ; Charles R. Ho- man, who was strong on church discipline and kept a sharp lookout for any deviation on the part of members of his flock from paths marked out by the Methodist discipline ; John English, twice the appointee at Swiftwater and Benton, who drove a good horse and who was ready always to accept do- nations of country produce ; Greenleaf P. Warner, who was Methodist pastor during the days of the war, and whose strong Democratic pro-slavery sentiments led to his leaving the ministry shortly after the close of his Benton pastorate ; A. B. Best, a Dublin University educated Irishman, who . somehow couldn't adapt himself to Benton, and whose stay was brief; Elder Morrison, the Free Will Baptist, who smoked a clay pipe, ate large quantities of saleratus to aid his digestion, and who constantly called attention to the topic "under consideration," though his hearers were never able to ascertain what the topic was. These were characters among the Benton ministers, and some of them will be long remembered. The visits of the Presiding Elders were events of importance, and among those who were specially welcomed
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were William D. Cass, Newell Culver, James Pike, Elisha Adams and Lorenzo D. Barrows.
The Free Will Baptist quarterly meetings now and then held with the Benton church were also great occasions. The ministers and delegates from a dozen or so churches were present, and the meetings usually began Friday after- noon and continued through Sunday. Everybody attended, and there was a general holiday. The religious services were fervid and always of an evangelistic character, and
"The eating and the drinking, too, Were beautiful and foine."
Half a century ago when Benton was peopled by a church going community, the meeting house was well filled. They were all there; the Marstons, Torseys, Davises, Wellses, Browns, Whitchers, Shermans, Manns, Flanders, Keysers, Wrights, Coburns, Tylers, Howes, Giffords, Eastmans, Annises, Wilsons, Glaziers, with several families from South Landaff and Bunga. Every now and then were re- vivals or protracted meetings, when the Methodists and Bap- tists would unite in a spirit of brotherly love and harmony which continued until it came to a disposition of the converts. Deacon Amos Whitcher was on the lookout for recruits for the Baptists, while his sister, Louisa, wife of Sylvester Eastman, who was fully as ardent a Methodist as Deacon Amos was Baptist, had as sharp a look out for Methodist re- cruits. The efforts of "Uncle" Amos and "Aunt" Louisa to gain adherents to their respective denominations were sometimes productive of anything but brotherly and sisterly love, and sometimes before the convert was safely landed he had escaped both nets and remained in a backslidden state until reclaimed at the next protracted meeting.
There was no country store in town, and in its absence the
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post office was another social center. Previous to 1844 the town was without a post office, and for many years after its settlement, letters were obtained from the Haverhill office ten miles distant. In the year, however, after the County road, so called, from Haverhill Corner through Coventry, Bunga, and East Landaff to Franconia had been completed, a mail route was established between Haverhill Corner and Fran- conia, with post offices at Benton and East Landaff. Ira Whitcher was the first postmaster, but having been elected to the legislature in 1845, he resigned, and Chase Whitcher was appointed. He, too, was elected to the legislature in 1852, and on his resignation Amos Whitcher was appointed, holding the office for nearly thirty years, until his removal from town. Subsequent postmasters were Frank Moulton and D. F. Richardson. After the removal of the latter from town Mrs. Ruth J. Veazey, wife of Charles A., was appointed postmistress, and still holds the office. In the early fifties the route from Haverhill to Franconia was abol- ished, that town, as well as East Landaff, being accommo- dated by a new route from Littleton, while Benton and Haverhill Center were given a mail twice a week over a route from North Haverhill. This was maintained until about 1885 when a new route with daily mail was established from Woodsville with post offices at Swiftwater, Whitcher- ville, Benton and Wildwood. A few years later the Whitcherville post office was discontinued, and in 1902, on the establishment of a rural delivery route covering the Swiftwater and a part of the Benton territory, the Swift- water post office was also discontinued. The present route is from Woodsville through Benton to Wildwood with a daily mail, and with offices at the two last named places.
The palmy days of the post office were when Amos
"THE HOLLOW:" TOWN HALL, RESIDENCE OF C. A. VEAZEY, POST-OFFICE AND STORE.
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Whitcher was the postmaster and the office was located in the kitchen of his dwelling house. The mail days were Wednesdays and Saturdays, the carrier making the trip to North Haverhill in the morning and returning in the evening. The town's people did not carry on an extensive correspond- ence with the outside world, but there was always a chance of receiving a letter, so most of the families of the town were represented, by from three to five members, at the post office on the evenings when "Uncle Amos" or " Aunt Polly," assisted by other members of the family, emptied the con- tents of the bag on the kitchen table, and proceeded to sort and deliver its contents to the crowd that surged around them looking over the shoulders of the post office family to ascer- tain as far as was possible for whom letters were received, with such additional information as might be gained from a glance at the postmarks and the handwriting on the envel- opes. If anyone received a letter the fact became generally known and there were more or less accurate surmises as to the writer and the contents of the epistle. Going to the post office on Wednesday or Saturday evenings was an event of no small importance. If there were no letters there were the usual newspapers, Isaac Hill's New Hampshire Patriot or Redding's Democratic Republican, printed at Haverhill. One or both these staunch organs of the Democratic party were taken in nearly every household, and such families as did not subscribe had no delicate scruples concerning borrowing. For many years but one copy of a Whig-afterwards Re- publican-newspaper came regularly in the Benton mail. Ira Whitcher took the New Hampshire Statesman, a fact which gave rise in the minds of some to suspicions concerning his Democratic orthodoxy. The literary appetite of the few who made pretentions to literary tastes was appeased by the
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True Flag, Graham's Magazine and Ballou's Dollar Monthly, for each of which there were now and then subscribers. Deacon Amos Whitcher and two or three others of the Bap- tist brethren took The Morning Star, while Zion's Herald went regurlarly into several Methodist homes. During the presidential campaigns a club of subscribers to the Boston Post weekly 'campaign edition was usually gotten up, for Benton was nothing if not a Democratic town by an over- whelming majority. There were always crowds at the post office on the arrival of the mail, and the boys and girls and young people were out in force. "Aunt Polly's" kitchen would be packed. It is little wonder that some of the youngsters intimated that she was not possessed of a sweet disposition. Their presence and behavior would have ex- hausted the patience of a saint. The Benton post office was indeed a social, and at the same time something of a literary center. The young people had something of the same op- portunities enjoyed by their elders in the meeting house horse sheds on Sundays.
There were few social organizations. Indeed, there is a record of but one, a body of the Independent Order of Good Templars. This came into being in 1868, flourished for a little while, and went out of existence some two years later. The leading spirits in this organization were : George W. Mann, John E. Keyser, Charles H. and Winthrop C. Whitcher, and George Henry Mann. There were of course large numbers of the opposite sex belonging, but the leading spirits were those above named. The records which are still in existence indicate that when Henry Mann left town the life and enthusiasm of the lodge departed. Benton did not furnish good soil for lodges and fraternal organizations. Most of the people were too much concerned with the prob-
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lems of daily existence to give much time to such matters, and as they cost money the practical question which arose was, do they pay? The good people who joined the Good Templars were for the most part those who never "looked upon the wine when it is red," and were in no particular danger of becoming inebriates. The few who were not total abstainers who became members served a good purpose per- haps in furnishing the lodge with business aside from the routine ritual, since considerable time was consumed at the meetings, after the lodge got fairly organized, in dealing with those who had violated their pledges. Those who drank now and then were expelled, and the total abstainers finally came to the conclusion that they would still remain total abstainers if there were no lodge. And then again, Henry Mann had entered the employ of the railroad, and had moved out of town. There were, during the century of the town's history, a few who contented themselves with out-of-town lodges of Masons and Odd Fellows, but they were very few. The great majority of the citizens of Benton were never "jiners." They had simple tastes, and they lived plain simple lives. They were mutually helpful. They were honest in their dealings with each other, and there was in all the life of the town a high tone of morality. Family ties were strong, the obligations of neighbors were recognized and kept, and departure from the paths of strict morality brought a loss of social caste. The people were homoge- neous. Not until recent years was there any infusion of the Irish or French Canadian, but the families were for the most part descended direct from the English who settled Essex county, Mass., in the years between 1630 and 1650. The most enterprising and ambitious did not remain in town, They sought other localities, and many of them won success
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and positions of honor and influence in other communities. This was due of course largely to natural ability, but there was also the influence of the social and religious environ- ments in early life in this sparsely settled, mountainous, sterile, backwoods town of Coventry-Benton.
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CHAPTER VII.
TOWN MEETINGS AND POLITICS.
Coventry-Benton-was a town which almost from the beginning of its history made much of its town meetings, and its citizens were pronounced in the expression of their political opinions. In the early days they were for the most part Federalists, but later, when the north part of the town came to be settled, the residents of that section were Jeffer- sonian Democrats, and in the days of Andrew Jackson the town became unanimously Democratic. It remained pretty nearly so for years, and even after the organization of the Republican party, and the transference of New Hampshire from the Democratic column to the Republican column of states, Benton always remained faithful to its Democratic allegiance, though in the past few years the voters have been nearly equally divided in their political preferences, and once, in 1896, the Republicans elected their candidate for Representative to the General Court.
In the days, however, when the town was unanimously or nearly unanimously Democratic, there were bitter contests for the town offices and for the office of representative, all the more bitter perhaps, since nearly all parties to the con- tests were Democrats. For many years there were three parties ; the Page party, led by James J. and Daniel D. Page, and having their adherents for the most part in the Page district, the Meadows and at High Street ; the Wells party, of which Capt. Enos Wells was the head, with his sons for lieutenants, and the Whitcher party, of which Wil- liam Whitcher, and later his sons, were the head. Neither
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of these parties or factions was ever quite able to control a majority of the voters, and so the way was opened for alli- ances, offensive and defensive, for bargains and deals, and the opportunity was improved and there were alliances, bar- gains and deals, and Benton political campaigns lasted all the year round. It was a dull boy, brought up in Benton, who had not become a pretty well trained politician by the time he reached his majority.
But the town meetings were not wholly given over to politics. In proportion to its means the voters of few towns ever taxed themselves more generously for the support of highways and schools. The appropriations were made with care, and money raised by taxation was for the most part expended economically and judiciously. The first town meeting was held at the house of Major Jonathan Hale, Dec. 30, 1801, and was for the purpose of organizing a town government. Obadiah Eastman was chosen moderator, Salmon Niles, town clerk, and Samuel Jackson, Obadiah Eastman and Barnabas Niles, selectmen.
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