USA > New Hampshire > Merrimack County > Boscawen > The history of Boscawen and Webster [N.H.] from 1733 to 1878 > Part 35
USA > New Hampshire > Merrimack County > Webster > The history of Boscawen and Webster [N.H.] from 1733 to 1878 > Part 35
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LITTLE, 2D, ENOCH, DEA.,
Son of Enoch, deacon, the third of the name, resided on Little hill. He was born in 1804, and acquired an academic education at Pembroke, under the tuition of Rev. Amos Burnham. He taught school in Boscawen and other towns, and settled on the homestead with his father. He gave attention to music, and for a long period was leader of the choir connected with the Webster Congregational church ; taught singing-school in Web- ster and Salisbury ; had a high sense of the value of sacred music as a means of public worship, and sung, not for the enjoy- ment that came from singing merely, but as an act of devotion and a religious duty.
He was a man of strong convictions, a diligent student of the Bible, a constant attendant upon church services, and for about thirty years an officer of the church; also one of the first to engage in Sunday-school work, beginning as a teacher when but eighteen years of age, and remaining to the close of life a constant attendant.
He was a prominent member of the Martin Luther Musical Society, a town organization, and also of the Central Musical So- ciety, which flourished from 1820 to 1830 ; also a member of the Boston Academy of Music. He never sought public life, but rep- resented the town one year. He was an active member and pres- ident of the Merrimack County Agricultural Society, and took
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great interest in the advancement of agriculture and sheep hus- bandry.
He was ever ready to give to charitable and benevolent objects, and was a strong pillar in the Webster Congregational church. He had a vigorous mind, and was tenacious of his own convictions of duty and obligation. He died in the full hope of Christian im- mortality, honored and respected by all, October, 1875.
LITTLE, SIMEON B.
Simeon Bartlett Little, son of Benjamin Little, Esq., was born in Boscawen, 16 Dec., 1797. His education was acquired at the common school. In early life he was a news-carrier. The postal facilities were of little account, especially for newspapers, and he supplied the people of Hopkinton, Boscawen, Salisbury, and An- dover with the Concord Gazette, printed by George Hough. Starting from home early on the morning of its publication, he rode to Concord on horseback, filled his saddle-bags with papers, then riding through Hopkinton, reached home at night, and on the second day made the round of Salisbury and Andover. In cold or stormy weather, three days were given to the distribution. Besides carrying papers he executed errands. By this means he acquired his first money.
In all communities there are men who come into active life without effort of their own,-who are recognized as possessing qualifications for leadership. Simeon B. Little was such a man. He was selectman ten years, two years a member of the legisla- ture, and a delegate to the convention for the revision of the con- stitution. Between the years 1839 and 1858 inclusive, with but two exceptions, he was elected moderator at the annual town- meeting. He was endowed with a judicial mind, and held through the active years of life a magistrate's commission. IIe was ad- ministrator of between thirty and forty estates, and was con- cerned in the settlement of nearly as many more. He received nearly twenty appointments as guardian for minors or insane persons, and held a large amount of funds in trust.
His business as a conveyancer of deeds was very large,-nearly one thousand. Men who wished to make their last wills and testaments called upon him for counsel, and he wrote a large number. If parties came with complaints, desiring litigation, he
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acted the part of peace-maker. "My docket," he said, near the close of life, " had but one criminal and two civil cases."
He was frequently chosen by parties, or was appointed by the courts, as referce. Six times he served as juror. He learned land- surveying at an early date, and surveyed many farms. He was for about fifteen years president or director of the Granite Fire Insurance Company, and for fifteen years or more director and secretary.
Mr. Little was one of the leading members of the church and religious society, giving his time, his counsel, and of his means to sustain what he conceived to be for the vital interests of the community. In speaking of the part he had taken in public life, he once said,-" I have been elected more times to some responsi- ble office in town by ballots, from 1828 to 1860, than there are years, and I can say what many cannot, that I never, directly or indirectly, solicited a nomination or vote."
Mr. Little's strong common-sense, his habits of thought, and study of good models, gave him every facility in the use of lan- guage. He wrote many articles for the press, on a great variety of subjects. His contributions were noted for their strength, clearness, and incisiveness. He greatly deplored his lack of edu- cation. His attendance at the district school closed when he was seventeen. His academical instruction was limited to eight weeks. Mentally and physically he was sturdy and honest. It is not easy to estimate the influence of such a man, -- one who stood with all his might for the maintenance of his convictions of truth and justice. He had no sympathy with anything that in any way tended to debase the tone of society.
Mr. Little was naturally conservative, and his fears that radi- calism might overturn the foundations of society led him to resist all innovations. He was a Puritan of the eighteenth century. Such men make mistakes, but they are errors of the head and not of the heart ; and their fellow-men will overlook any error of judg- ment when they see that it is error and not fraud or hypocrisy. Men who opposed him politically, who dissented from his views, ever acknowledged his integrity, the honesty of his intentions, and his sterling worth.
During his last years he suffered partial paralysis that incapaci- tated him for labor, but, even while the fires of life were dying
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out, he manifested a desire to do what he could for the good of his fellow-men. [See Gen.]
LITTLE, THOMAS, CAPT.,
Son of Jesse and Martha (Gerrish) Little, was born in Boseawen, 2 Jan., 1802. He had no educational advantages other than those furnished by the district school. He remained at home upon the farm now owned by Mr. Clifford, while two of his elder brothers, Jacob and Henry, entered college and studied for the ministry, and another elder brother, John, became a dresser of cloth. He married Myra, daughter of Capt. Joseph Ames, 1829 [see Gen. ], and moved to West Creek, Ind., 1854, where he resided till his death.
He was kind, genial, warm-hearted, and had an overflow of good nature which made him everywhere welcome. He loved children, and was beloved by them. He was a good citizen, was several times elected selectman, and was as faithful in publie as in private life. He was hearty in his support of the religious and charitable institutions of the day. His influence was ever for good, and he was respected and honored by all who knew him. He died at West Creek, 19 Aug., 1877.
LITTLE, HORACE,
Son of Richard and Mary (Pillsbury) Little, was born 17 Sept., 1832. His father dying when he was but eight years of age, de- prived him of parental care and help. He attended the district school, and went to Pennsylvania in 1851, where he has since re- sided. His present home is at Ridgeway. He was employed for several years as a land-surveyor, and while thus engaged had an opportunity of making observations of the value of real estate in the lumber regions, which he has since turned to good account. He has been a large operator in land and lumber. He married Lucy A. Taylor, of Pennsylvania, and has five children. [See Gen.]
LITTLE, CHARLES HERBERT,
Was the youngest son of Benjamin and Rhoda (Bartlett) Little. He was born in Boscawen, 5 Dec., 1804, and prepared for college under the tuition of Rev. Daniel Lancaster and Rev. Samuel
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Wood. After graduating in 1827 he completed the course at Andover Theological Seminary in 1830. Hoping to find a more congenial climate, he passed most of the two subsequent years as a teacher in a private family, and in a female academy in South Carolina. He returned to New Hampshire in August, 1833, and became joint editor and proprietor of the New Hampshire Ob- server, a religious paper printed at Concord. He resigned the editorship in February, 1835, on account of gradually failing health. He returned to his home, lingered till 1 Jan., 1836, when he calmly passed away. His disease was consumption.
LITTLE, CHARLES, M. D.
Charles Little, son of Capt. Richard and Mary C. Little, was born at Little hill, West Boscawen, 14 Feb., 1837. At the age of fifteen he united with the Congregational church. He fitted for college at Andover, Mass., entered Dartmouth in 1856, and was graduated in 1860. He began at once the study of medicine. Liberty-loving and eager for the service of his country, he enlisted as hospital steward with the 15th Regiment Vt. V. M. in 1862. He was earnest and faithful in his work, enduring much hardship upon the march and in care of the sick, often acting as nurse, and watching through the long nights alone, with men who were too sick to be moved when the orders came to " strike tents." It was said of him, that among the sick he had the touch of a woman.
He took his medical degree at Hanover, N. H., October, 1863, and in November entered the U. S. Navy as acting assistant sur- geon. He was appointed to the " Winona," a vessel of the block- ading fleet off Charleston harbor, S. C. He had the medical care of about one hundred men until the close of the war in 1865.
Life at sea was sometimes monotonous, but subject at all times, night and day, to sudden and intense excitements,-keeping clear of torpedoes, sighting strange-looking craft, with now and then a hot pursuit for a prize. The one grand, joyful event to them was the receiving of the mail. Shut out as they were from the world, the suspense was sometimes terrible, so words from home and news of the progress of the war were eagerly received. The longed- for news came at length. He says, in his diary, 15 April, 1865, -" The Canonicus came in with the certain information that Gen. Lee has surrendered. Glory to God !"
-
Henry Little
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Upon his discharge from service he continued the study of med- icine six months at the College of Physicians and Surgeons, New York city. June 11, 1866, he married the only daughter of Har- ris Cowdrey, M. D., of Acton, Mass., and began in that town the general practice of his profession. He entered upon his work with zeal and ambition, and with such success as to give promise of high rank among physicians.
He died of consumption 16 Nov., 1869, aged 32 years and 10 months. His career was brief, but it was eventful and manly.
LITTLE, HENRY, D. D.,
Son of Jesse and Martha (Gerrish) Little, was born in Boscawen, 23 March, 1800. At the age of 15 he united with the church over which Rev. E. Price was pastor, and, with Enoch Kilburn, Simeon B. Little, and other young men, sustained a young peo- ple's prayer-meeting every Saturday evening for five years.
At 17 and 18 he taught school at Canterbury, N. H., and at 19 the school on Water street, Boscawen, in which fourteen of his scholars became Christians. In the reformation that winter, he took an active part in the meetings, visited from house to house, and helped twelve men to commence family worship.
This revival settled the question in regard to entering the min- istry, and near his twentieth birthday he began to fit for college, studying with Samuel Wood, D. D., of Boscawen, at Salisbury academy, and at Hanover. He graduated at Dartmouth college in 1826, at Andover Theological Seminary in 1829, and was or- dained as an evangelist the next day, 24 Sept., in Park Street church, Boston, with fifteen other home and foreign missionaries, by the Presbytery of Newburyport, Mass.
While a senior at Andover, Dr. Porter gave Mr. L. the credit of bringing twenty from the two classes below him in college to the seminary. His influence over so many students induced Dr. Porter and the other professors, with Dr. Cornelius, then secre- tary of the American Education Society, to select him as agent for that object, which position he filled for about two years in New England and the West, commencing in New Hampshire and Massachusetts. Continuing in the same work, he visited the Western States, travelling on horseback over western Pennsyl- vania, western Virginia, Ohio, Indiana, Kentucky, and Tennes-
.
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see ; also through a part of Illinois and Michigan. He soon accepted a call from the Presbyterian church at Oxford, Ohio (June, 1831), where in less than two years 297 were added to its number. His pastorate closed in April, 1833.
About this date, the American Board of Foreign Missions and the American Home Missionary Society, with the American Tract Society and the American Education Society, all had a branch of their work for the great West at Cincinnati, Ohio, each of them wishing him to be their secretary and general agent. He soon received the appointment of secretary and agent for the Board of Agency of the Western States for the American Home Missionary Society.
Thus located at Cincinnati, the whole country west of the Alle- ghanies was his field, and his zealous, constant, and efficient labors were crowned with success. He had not yet given up the idea of being pastor, and had a successful pastorate of two years in Mad- ison, Ind. (from Nov., 1838, to 1840), during which time sixty united with the church.
He once turned aside to beg $50,000 for Lane Theological Sem- inary, and once $10,000 for the Western Female Seminary at Ox- ford, Ohio; but his main life-work has been that of home missions. In many of the past years, between the fall and spring pres- byteries, he has preached as often as once a day for five or six months, and has seen thousands become Christians.
Dr. Little has ever been an earnest Sabbath-school worker, be- ginning at Boscawen, when such schools were first formed in that town. The graded school system, and its adoption by the state of Indiana, found in him an earnest advocate ; and in the Indiana Centennial School Report, Dr. Henry Little's name is given as the originator of the first graded school in that state.
Dr. L. has twice had applications to be a professor in college, has received invitations to settle over churches in St. Louis, Louis- ville, Cincinnati, Lowell, Mass., and other places; but, after en- tering the home missionary work the second time, in 1840, it seemed his duty to continue in it the rest of his life. He married, 19 Sept., 1831, Miss Susan Norton Smith, of Hatfield, Mass., a pupil of Miss Grant and Miss Mary Lyon. Of his eight chil- dren, four are sons, all ministers, and settled over Presbyterian churches at Washington, D. C., New Albany, Ind., Mankato, Minn., and St. Louis, Mo.
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An article in the Independent, 9th May, 1867, written by the president of Wabash college, Rev. Dr. Tuttle, sets forth the labors of Dr. Little :
" During a brief pastorate, many scores were converted, and some of these fill places of great usefulness in the church and state. There is no labor he shuns, in prosecuting his work as a sort of home missionary bishop. Along the Miami, the Scioto, the Muskingum, the White, and the Wabash, in the heats of summer and the tremendous discom- forts of a Western winter, he pushes his work,-now in the grand old woods, now in the log school-house or private mansion, or in the hum- ble meeting-house, telling men of Christ. He has rode four contin- uous days on horseback, in the mud and rain, to reach an appoint- ment.
"From Marietta to Evansville, from Cleveland to La Porte, this man has gone, planting churches, building up waste places, encourag- ing home missionaries, searching out the scattered sheep, holding pro- tracted meetings, everywhere welcomed, honored, and loved. Thirty- six years has he been at this work, until he has publicly addressed more audiences, visited more churches, worked directly in more revivals in Ohio and Indiana, talked to more people, seen more changes in commu- nities and persons, than any man that can be named.
" Go where he will, he meets those who owe everything to him as God's instrument, those who have been encouraged by him, those who have caught the best impulses of life from him ;- and now, in this year 1867, this blessed man has preached fourteen times in eight days in one pulpit, preaching the gospel in such a cheerful light that his hearers exclaim, ' Would to God we could love it as he does!' "
The above was written in 1867. Rev. Dr. Little is still en- gaged in the work of planting churches, making, since his ordina- tion in 1829, more than forty-eight years of continuous labor. He is now superintendent of missions for the state of Indiana. The honorable title of D. D. was conferred on him by Wabash college in 1865.
LITTLE, ALFRED, MAJ.,
Son of Henry and Susan Little, and grandson of Enoch and Jesse Little, was born in Boscawen, 3 June, 1823. At six years of age a partial paralysis disabled one limb, obliging him to use a crutch. In May, 1836, the family moved to Peoria, Ill., where a severe attack of rheumatic fever in part destroyed the use of his other leg. After the death of his father (who died suddenly,
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29 April, 1838) he returned to Boscawen, in May, 1840, and in the autumn of the same year commenced to work in the melodeon and seraphine shop of Mr. Charles Austin, at Concord, N. H., one of the very earliest manufacturers of reed instruments in America.
Noted from a child for his musical talents and correct ear, he soon became tuner of these instruments, being among the first to introduce various improvements in the voicing and tuning of reeds, which have since been adopted by his brother craftsmen throughout the country.
Two serious faults of the early instruments of this description were, first, slowness of speech, and, second, a crude and reedy quality of tone. To obviate these defects, Maj. Little soon found that a material change could be made by bending and shaping the reeds, divesting them of their harsh and unpleasant sound, and giving to them a tone more round and mellow. By this method, an even tone of the same quality throughout the scale was produced, and with greater freedom of vibration, causing them, in tuner's language, to " speak quick."
The Music Trade Review, New York, of 3 Sept., 1877, con- tains an article, entitled "Who was the original inventor of the art of voicing reeds ?" in which the following extract of a letter from J. D. Cheney, tuner and manufacturer of cabinet organs at Stevens Plain, Me., is given :
" I was at A. Prescott's, Concord, N. H., from the winter of 1845-6 to 1850, and I am sure that Alfred Little, who was then tuning for Charles Austin, used to bend the points of the reeds, as he said, 'to take away a part of the snarl!'
" This was previous to Mr. Carhart's improved tube-board, and was done in connection with the old style force-bellows, round-keyed melodeon."
At a Mechanic's Fair, held in Boston, the attention of Dea. Timothy Gilbert, piano-maker, was called to the peculiar quality and pure tone of an instrument tuned by Maj. Little, and he ever after procured his reeds of Mr. Austin for the " Æolian attach- ment " to his pianos.
Maj. Little claims to be the first tuner in America who regular- ly set the equal temperament on reed instruments, and in this was several years in advance of his contemporaries. For his first efforts in this direction, he was greatly indebted to the late Prof.
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George Wood, the sweet singer of Concord, N. H. It is probably true that he tuned the first double-reed instrument in this coun- try, -a seraphine, made by Charles Austin. He also tuned melodeons for Dearborn & Bartlett, of Concord, N. H., continu- ing in the business until 1852. At this date he invented and manufactured, for his own use, an instrument of considerable power, and yet of remarkable sweetness, which has been his constant companion to the present day. On listening to its tones, an eminent musical critic pronounced it a "miniature or- chestra," which suggested its name,-the Orchestral Melodeon [see engraving]. For its versatility of musical effects, its inimi- table tremolo, and the dynamical expression of which it is eapa- ble, this instrument is unsurpassed.
The round-keyed melodeon, in use from 1838 to 1850, has almost wholly disappeared, having been succeeded by the cabinet organ. The original melodeon (as seen in engraving) was blown by the left arm, a movement awkward to most men, and giving a limited use of the left hand. Maj. Little soon attained wonderful skilful- ness in the manipulation of this instrument, and as a player of the round-keyed melodeon he is without a peer in the world.
Possessing the rare gift of improvisation, seemingly without any study he calls forth from his instrument many a gem of mel- ody and harmony, which " to hear once is to wish to hear again." Endowed with a voice of great sweetness and pathos, though not of remarkable compass, and having a high appreciation of the beautiful in poetry as well as in music, he became popular as a concert giver. His first musical entertainment was in Pantheon hall, Fisherville, N. H., March, 1846. Since then he has given delight to hundreds of thousands in New England, Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois.
Ever ready to respond with voice and instrument to the calls of charity and patriotism, cheering the patient on his bed of suffer- ing, or teaching a Sabbath-school song to children, he has made friends everywhere ; and many a wayfarer has been aided by his helping hand, or cheered by his buoyant sympathy.
He was appointed fife-major of the 21st N. H. Regiment by Col. Joseph L. Pillsbury, receiving the honorary commission at the hands of Gov. N. B. Baker.
Nature does not always endow her poets with an exquisite 27
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sense of melody, or enable them to produce her harmonies in music ; but she has made an exception in the person of Maj. Little ;- he is both musician and poet. Few men have a pro- founder appreciation of the melodies of Haydn, or the soul-inspir- ing harmonies of Handel and Beethoven, than he; and there are few who take greater delight in the study of Milton and Shake- speare.
That Maj. Little has poetic talent is manifest by the following song-an apostrophe to a fine group of trees still adorning the old homestead, now owned by Capt. William D. George :
MY MERRY MAPLE GROVE.
There is a spot to mem'ry dear, Where oft in childhood I would rove, The merry wildbird's song to hear : It was my Maple Grove. How fair the view on every side- The church on yonder hill,
Kearsarge in all its lofty pride, The pond so clear and still.
And then the moss-grown rock I'd climb, To pick the berries ripe and red; While squirrels scattered from the limb Their nutshells on my head. "Twas there I hammered from the ledge Bright garnets hued like wine,
Or gathered from its western edge The nodding columbine.
Dear Maple Grove! I see thee now, Enrobed in dress of flowing green ; There stands my boyhood's home below, With grassy lane between. Though fairer scenes perchance may be To win a poet's love,- Yet thou art ever dear to me, My merry Maple Grove.
There's not a tree that braves the gale, Or towering rock or purling rill, But telleth each its simple tale Of recollection still. Though flowers may fade and friends may die, Though far away I rove,- Yet oft shall winged mem'ry fly To thee ! my Maple Grove.
LITTLE, JACOB, D. D.,
Son of Jesse and Martha (Gerrish) Little, was born in Boscawen, N. H., 1 May, 1795. At the age of eleven years he became a
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Christian, and united with the Congregational church of Bos- cawen, West Parish, 25 June, 1815. He fitted for college under Samuel Wood, D. D., of Boscawen, and at Meriden academy ; grad- uated at Dartmouth in 1822; and at Andover Theological Semi- nary in 1825. He was ordained as an evangelist, at Goffstown, N. H., and first preached six months at Hoosick, N. Y.
In 1826. he entered the employ of the Washington County (Ohio) Missionary Society, reaching Belpre (near Marietta) June 30. His labors in this and other towns within the county con- tinued about one year. Here, and in neighboring places, Bible- classes (the first in that section) were formed ; here, also, he preached his first temperance sermon.
He commenced his labors at Granville, Licking county, Ohio, 1 June, 1827, and at the end of six months was settled over the Congregational church in that place, where he continued as pastor until 4 Dec., 1864, a period of thirty-seven and one half years.
In this charming town of central Ohio, long noted for its cul- tured men and women, its churches and various institutions of learning, Dr. Little, with his shrewd good sense and pious exam- ple, led the people for nearly forty years.
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