USA > New Hampshire > Grafton County > Canaan > The history of Canaan, New Hampshire > Part 23
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My education what I have, was in the town school and during a four years' course of study while in charge of a church. Several years before joining the Conference I endeavored to improve to the best advantage in qualifying myself for the gospel ministry. I joined the Conference in 1848, at Manchester, Bishop Hedding presiding. Here I think Brother Stephen was ordained Deacon. I was appointed to Alexandria and Hebron, and reappointed in 1849. At the close of this second year I was ordained Deacon and Brother Stephen, Elder, by Bishop Norris at Newmarket. The two succeeding years I was appointed to Warner and Wentworth. At the close of this term was ordained Elder by Bishop Baker at Nashua. During these first four years I was favored with gracious revivals, many were converted each year. The two follow- ing years I was at Lancaster, where there was a great revival. The next two years at Littleton, and here we had a good time also. The next move was to Winchester, where we had two successful years. Then two years each at Plymouth and Amesbury, Mass., at Peterborough and Sunapee, and then three years at Methuen. Here my health began to fail, still I consented, being strongly urged to be appointed a second time to Warner. At the close of this year I asked for a supernumerary relation to the Conference without appointment, that we might rest and travel a little. We spent several months in Illinois and New Jersey, with our children; returned to Moultonborough and supplied for the year out, and was reappointed for the following year. Meanwhile I built me a house in Methuen, and moved into it, but retained my relation to the Conference, and preached at Kingston. The next year I rested until Sep-
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HISTORY OF CANAAN.
tember. We then went to Londonderry and supplied the year out; rested again and then went to Groveton, and supplied the year out. Was then made effective and appointed to Groveton again. This was in 1875-6. And closed my effective service as a traveling minister. I am still an unworthy member of the N. H. Conference, broken down with labor and disease, having lost one eye by a cancer, and was near losing life from the same cause. I am now able to do something for this Children's Home, which is perhaps as trying a position as we ever occu- pied. God has been and is wonderfully good to us, and we intend to work for his cause while our day lasts. It seems but a little time since we were all children,- now we are stooping with age. But let us be glad we have lived and toiled for a time in the vineyard of the Lord.
The parents of Stephen and Larned Eastman moved into Canaan in 1795 from Hampstead, N. H. The father, James, was born April 28, 1780; the mother, Polly French, daughter of Jonathan French of Enfield, was born December 29, 1787.
Caleb Fales was a Methodist preacher, son of John and Sally Fales. He had a natural call to preach without being educated to it. A man of fair abilities, and being of good name and fame among his brethren. He was born about 1800, and when last heard from resided in Sharon, Vt.
Robert Williams, son of Robert, who emigrated from Barring- ton or Dunbarton, and settled in Enfield, it is not known where young Robert was born, he married Mercy Hardy of Lebanon, sister of the late Mrs. William Campbell, by whom he had sev- eral children. He was an industrious and thrifty farmer, own- ing at different periods several farms in this vicinity. From here he went to Illinois where he continued his farmer's life. He died several years ago, leaving a handsome property to be divided among his children. He was possessed of fine natural abilities, and was an earnest, effective speaker. When or where he was licensed to preach is not known but he was known as a Methodist preacher, and was much respected for his piety and eloquence. Early in the old temperance movement he espoused that cause and died a rigid abstainer from alcoholic drinks. He also enlisted early in the anti-slavery cause and did some good and earnest lecturing in behalf of oppressed humanity. On a Fourth of July more than sixty years ago, he was appointed to give an anti-slavery lecture in the Congregational church on the Street. At that time negroes and anti-slavery meetings were
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THE METHODIST CHURCH.
interdicted in Canaan. The "Vigilance Committee" appointed by the town "legally" to disperse incendiary meetings, were notified of this proposed outrage upon the nice royalty of public opinion, and they hastened with drum and fife to disperse that little band of earnest thinkers whose prayers and hopes for the slave threatened to upheave the foundations of republican gov- ernment. But that heroic committee for once came too late. They were so long getting upon the track that when they arrived at the church they learned that the speech had been spoken and the audience gone home.
Enoch Davis was another local preacher, of whom nothing can be learned except that he lived here some eighty years ago and let his light shine very freely.
AT EAST CANAAN.
Leonard Davis was the only person at East Canaan who was a member of the Methodist church in 1862. He was at that time a member of the church at the Street and afterwards transferred his membership. The church building now occupied by the Methodists was a union church, and was built by the citizens. There was religious worship in the house but no church organi- zation.
Rev. C. U. Dunning in the spring of 1862 was closing his labors at Enfield, having preached and delighted the people at East Canaan, a request was sent to the annual conference asking for him to be sent for a year. He came and was the first pastor of the church. He remained until the spring of 1866, one year under missionary rule and three as preacher in charge of the church which was organized into an independent church by Bishop Osman C. Baker in 1863, it having been considered as a part of the church at the Street. Dunning reported at the close of his term, "Four years ago there were but fifteen persons who were considered to be members of the East Canaan class. By the blessing and good hand of our God upon us we are able to report 60 members and 29 probationers. Within three years three members and three probationers have deceased, all dying in the triumph of faith."
Under J. W. Adams eleven persons were baptized. But a very unfortunate division took place and the church, which had
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HISTORY OF CANAAN.
been strong and full of promise, divided into two weak ones. And from this disaster the church never recovered. During the pas- torate of Mr. Farnham considerable interest prevailed and twenty persons were baptized, by Rev. J. Pike, presiding elder, and in spite of this interest there were two less on the roll than when he came. In 1873 the church was repaired at an expense of $400. In 1883 the church was united with the church at the Street. In 1892 $250 was spent in repairs and in 1900, $850 was spent in decorating the interior.
The following is a list of the preachers at the Street :
HANOVER CIRCUIT.
1801 Martin Ruter
Thomas Branch
1803 Andrew Kernagen Joseph Fairbanks
Reuben Jones
Thomas Skeel
Joshua Crowell
Dexter Bates
1802 Oliver Beale
1804 Elijah Hedding
Thomas Skeel
1805 Dyer Burge
Joel Winch
1806 Joseph Barker
Paul Dustin
1807 Dan Young
1803 Joseph Broadhead 1808 Dan Carr
CANAAN CIRCUIT.
1809 Ebenezer Blake
CANAAN AND BRIDGEWATER CIRCUIT.
1810 Warren Bannister Joseph Lull
1812 John W. Hardy Richard Emory
1811 Abner Clark Leonard Bennett
1813 John Lewis John Paine
CANAAN CIRCUIT.
1814 Jacob Sanborn 1824 Joseph Killam William McCoy
1815 Walter Sleeper
1816 Benjamin Burnham
1825 Caleb Dustin
1817 Eleazer Phelps Giles Campbell
1818 John Paine
1826 Caleb Dustin
Isaiah Emmerson
Eleazer Steele
1819 Orrin Roberts
1820 Joseph Killam
1827 Benjamin Paine Henry J. Wooley
1821 Ezra Kellogg
1822 Herschel Foster
1828 Benjamin Paine Joseph Sylvester 1829-30 Dan Fletcher
John Foster
1823 Joseph Killam Nathan Howe
1831 H. Wheelock
J. Sweat
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THE METHODIST CHURCH.
1832 Caleb Dustin
1858 Nelson Martin
S. Hackett
1859-60 Joshua Holman
1833 Caleb Dustin
1861 Joseph Hayes
L. H. Gordon
1862 C. U. Dunning
1834 Supplied Mr. Robbins
1863-5 Reuben Dearborn
1835 John H. Stevens
1866 J. W. Adams
1836 B. Brewster
1867 George N. Bryant
1837-8 Haines Johnson
1868 A. S. Kendall
1839 A. Heath
1869-71 A. C. Coult
1840 Charles Cowing
1872-3 J. Mowery Bean
1841-2 G. W. H. Clark
1874-6 S. J. Robinson
Nathaniel B. Smith
1877-9 J. H. Hillman
1843 Erasmus B. Morgan Kimball Hadley
1881-2 J. A. Steel
1844 Reuben Dearborn
1883-5 Irad Taggart
1845 John Jones
1886-7 S. G. Kellogg
1846 Silas Quimby
1888-9 J. H. Trow
1847 Russell H. Spaulding
1890-2 C. E. Eaton
1848-9 H. H. Hartwell
1893 H. G. Hoisington
1850-1 Nathaniel L. Chase
1894-5 D. W. Downs
1896-9 C. A. Reed
1852 Smith Aldrich or M. Newhall
1900-1 W. T. Carter
1853 John Taggart
1902 A. M. Markey
1854 T. J. Andrews
1903-4 Herbert F. Quimby
1855 H. A. Mattison
1905-6 W. A. Mayo
1856 John English
1907-8 Cyrus L. Corliss
1857 Nelson Greene
1909 C. W. Taylor
Preachers at East Canaan :
1863-5 C. U. Dunning
1876 Supplied by F. W. Johnson
1866-8 J. W. Adams
1877 O. P. Wright
1869-70 C. H. Chase
1878 Supplied
1871 Supplied
1879-80 A. C. Hardy
1872-3 S. C. Farnum
1881 Supplied by H. S. Parmlee
1874-5 G. N. Bryant
1882 None
From 1883 the church has had the same pastors as the Street.
1880 A. F. Baxter
CHAPTER XVII.
SCHOOLS.
Looking back over all the years my mind uncovers the events of early life like a ploughshare in the grass. There were school scenes for all of us. A little square-roofed school house stood upon the common; it was painted yellow. Many of us learned our letters in that house under the arbitrary rule of old Olive Cross, whose father built the Landon house, as well as the house where he lived and where Mr. Brais now lives. I say old Olive Cross, because I have no recollection of her as ever having been young. Her years seemed to have been perennial and eternal. A brother of John P. Calkins and uncle of Rev. Charles Calkins, who lived in a log house near H. G. Elliott's old farm, once be- seiged the affections of this prim Methodist teacher. Olive's castle was impregnable - she declined to yield to his proposals, as she did to every one else, and died an old maid. She was a stern old Puritan, and required pure submission to her rules, and her punishments were such as the Inquisition could hardly have improved upon. She was considered a very good woman, very religious and proper in her manners, and seemed to have earned the prescriptive right to teach the rudiments of educa- tion to all the children in town. She won the confidence of the parents by her zeal in watching for offences and in punishing of- fenders. I have often thought if she had children of her own she would have been gentler in her nature, and would have learned that love in a school room, or in a family, is a more powerful weapon than fear. But the parents of those days were great sticklers for force. Children needed flogging as much as horses, and they got it too. There were the Dows, the Wallaces, the Athertons, the Averys, the Barbers, the Wellses, the Tiltons. What would any of them ever have amounted to if they had not been flogged ? And what would a school have been good for, unless it conformed to the parental discipline at home ? I have often wondered if in the happy home to which, when her spirit ceased from troubling, good old Oliver Cross was triumphantly
Fair Grounds
Grist Mill
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SCHOOLS.
removed, she ever has visions of the little girls and boys in that old yellow school house, standing in the floor, their noses pinched with split sticks, holding heavy books out at arm's length until they fell to the floor through weariness; or with screws vibrating between the fingers until the blood flowed, and that great, wide ferule, that raised blisters wherever it fell. But these were facts which seemed all proper and right and served to develop the self-respect and intelligence of the pupil! She was the embodi- ment of despotic tyranny, and seemed to have absent spells while she invented new tortures for the little ones. I sometimes ob- serve the comity which exists in families, that is, the reciprocal sentiments that pass between parents and children. I never saw a boy yet who discovered much affection for the "old man" who "licked" him upon occasion. He did it again, and he lied about it, too, if it would redeem the whip. In families where they keep a whip you do not see much caressing. The little boy when he comes home all tired out, does not drop into his father's arms and kiss him as he falls asleep. Little boys think ; they observe the ways and the temperaments of men. A boy always looks in a man's face when he passes by. He is ever watching for little acts of courtesy, or a recognition from older persons. Speak to him pleasantly and notice what a joy per- vades his face and shines out in his eyes. He sees that the little manhood that fills his jacket is recognized, and he goes on his way happy.
Many men and women forget they were ever boys or girls, and look down upon them so far off that they seem never to dis- tinguish them from birds or cattle. Thank God ! I always loved children; I always liked to be with them; I like to have them in my house, filling my yard and playing in the shade of my trees. They are like the birds among the branches thereof. Their voices are music to me, because they are the voices of in- nocence and happiness. And there is a far-off future for them in the coming years, when they like me, will be grey-headed, looking back over the events of half a century, and perhaps, unlike me, singing,
"Oh! would I were a boy again,
When life seemed formed of sunny years."
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HISTORY OF CANAAN.
My recollection of the teachers in that old school house is that they were all alike. They never appealed to the manhood and self-respect of the pupils. Their laws like Draco's had penal- ties, and could only be appeased by corporal suffering. There was Edward Olcott, a rusticated student; and Elijah Blaisdell, who spared nobody - somebody was being punished all the time; and the Rev. Joseph L. Richardson, who afterwards be- came notorious as one of the leaders of the mob that destroyed the academy ; he used to believe that children could endure cold and thirst as well as bodily tortures. He would tell us that these things, although they appeared to be severe judgments, were intended as blessings, and if we profited by them we should receive a crown of righteousness at some future time; but I never seemed to appreciate his prophetic promises in our behalf.
In 1793, a meeting of the Center district was held for the fol- lowing purposes :
"CANAAN, December 9, 1793.
At a meeting of the inhabitants of the Center District holden at the house of Capt. R. Barber For the purpose of consulting a spot to set a schoolhouse and the time when and the method how to Build said School House. Proceeded as follows:
1st Chose Capt. Joshua Wells Chairman.
2nd Voted to build a school house and set said school house on the north side of the road leading from Capt. Barbers to Capt. J. Wells as near the corner of the old road leading to Capt. Barbers mill as the land will admit of.
3rd. voted to build the frame of the above said house 18 feet wide and 24 feet long and cover the same with boards.
4th voted to build the chimney with stone as far as the beams.
Meeting disolved.
OLIVER SMITH, Clerk.
This is the first mention of the building of a school house. There were three districts in town at this time.
The first vote to raise money for schooling was passed in 1786, when 16 pounds L. M. was voted. And Eleazer Scofield, Jehu Jones and Richard Clark were appointed a committee to divide the town into districts. There were no school houses, and the children had been taught by their parents at home. The people had begun to realize that more competent instruction was needed. But their efforts are feeble. They are not yet willing to give their children much of a chance. They thought that as their own
251
SCHOOLS.
education was obtained for the most part by hard knocks and experience, there was no reason why their sons and daughters cannot get it in the same way. Knowledge that could be learned from books was no qualification, in knowing how to cut trees and burn brush. So little did they value book learning, that no mention is made of raising any more money for schools until 1789, when they voted not to raise any.
At the annual meeting in 1795 we find that the town voted to abate Asa Paddleford's school tax. It would seem that the town had been supporting schools. The schools had not been well fostered, although the town had been divided into districts no school house adorned the forks of the roads. The schools were held where any convenient place could be obtained, and for the most part the teacher was paid by those who had sub- scribed to have a school. One of the subscription papers is as follows :
We the Subscribers, Do Agree to have a Woman's school, to begin as early Next Spring, as we shall think Proper & to last Five months the School is to be Kept where the School House Frame is Near Capt. Joshua Wells's in Canaan, and that we & Each of us Do Promise to bear our Equal Proportion in Getting, Boarding and Paying the Mistress for Teaching According to the Number of Scholars We Subscribe to send, as witness our hands.
CANAAN, February 6 A. D. 1795.
SCHOLARS.
Jonathan Farnum
11/2 Levi Bailey 11%
Robert Barber
1
Joshua Wells 2
John M. Barber
1 Caleb Pierce 1
Peter Pattee
2 Enoch Sweat jr
2
Josiah Clark
3 Ebenezer Hanson 1
Richard Whittier
3 Oliver Smith 2
In this school Olive Cross commenced her long career as a teacher, at $4 a month, "boarding round" with the scholars. The frame spoken of, had been put up and covered in at the forks of the old road leading to Orange a little westerly from Joshua Well's. This frame was afterwards taken down and rebuilt into the schoolhouse that used to stand near John Worth's tavern.
In 1795 the town voted, "that the School rates collected by
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HISTORY OF CANAAN.
Dr. Pierce Constable, shall be refunded back and paid the in- dividual it was taken from." "That the northeast district where Abel Hadley lives, or those who have not schooled out their money, shall have the privilege of schooling it out in their own district, and that they all have an order on the constable if they have paid it." "That John Harris and Henry Springer have back their school money." "That those who live in the district where Lt. R. Whittier lives, who have sent their chil- dren to the north district to school the winter past, shall pay their money to that district."
In the warrant for the annual meeting in 1796 there was an article "to see if the town will vote to raise money to furnish the town with necessary school houses. No action was taken upon it. But this year for the first time the town chose school money collectors - John Currier, Ezekiel Wells, Jonathan Carlton, Clark Currier.
In 1798 John Bryant taught on West Farms and the other teachers were Job Wilson, Amasa Jones and Eliphalet Norris.
In 1799 Ezekiel Wells, Thomas Miner and Enoch Richardson were appointed a committee to divide the school districts "that are dissatisfied." Nine districts were made.
In 1800 Oliver Smith, Selding Pattee and Ebenezer Clark taught school in southeast district one month. In 1801 John Bryant taught on West Farms and at John R. Dustin's.
In 1803, a strong effort was made to provide the town with suitable accommodations for the schools, and a vote was passed "to raise a sum of $500 to build school houses in each district, allowing each the privilege of building its own, if they build within 7 months." The $500 was not assessed, through negli- gence of the selectmen. But the next year (1804) the town passed a similar vote, with this change, that the sum to be raised be $1,000, "allowing each district the privilege of building its own schoolhouse, if built within seven months." A committee of nine was appointed to ascertain the limits of each district. And nine collectors were chosen to collect the money, one in each district. Moses Dole, John Cogswell and Benjamin Haynes taught the schools. A committee appointed the previous year to redistrict the town reported that they had divided the town into ten districts, and that the money appropriated was not
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SCHOOLS.
sufficient to build the needed schoolhouses. And in the follow- ing year (1805) the town voted an additional $500, "to finish the schoolhouses." The town also made twelve districts and ap- pointed twelve collectors. The tenth district, called also the Center "Deestrick," as reported, was contained within the fol- lowing boundaries: "Taking Jonathan Carlton (C. P. King) and thence northerly to Mascoma river around by Joseph Flints (G. W. Davis) and all Broad Street and Caleb Welch jr, by request." The schoolhouse in this district was located near Dudley Gilman's Tavern, not far from the site of the residence of the late H. C. George, now Mrs. G. H. Robinson's. It was built about the year 1800, and was the first schoolhouse built on the Street. It was a large one-story building with two stacks of chimneys. As the Street was to be the village it was called the "Academy."
After being occupied for a term of years as a school, it was burned one night by one of the pupils, named Zebulon Barber, who came from the Gore. At this late day the reason for Zebu- lon's incendiary act does not appear. This school was taught by "Master" Parker. The studies were not numerous, but em- braced branches sufficient for what was then considered a fair education - spelling from "Webster's Spelling Book," and writing according to the method of those days. There were no arithmetics ; even Pike's had not found its way into our schools. The pupils were instructed in "figures" and "cyphering" by means of sums written out by the master, whose importance increased in the same ratio as his figures. From a little book of about one hundred pages called "The Ladies Accedence," the rudiments of grammar were taught. The reading was confined to the few pages found in the spelling book, and to the New Testament, from which two long readings each day formed the opening and closing exercises. After the burning of "The Academy" the school was kept in a log house, situated in the field a little back of Miss Emma A. Bell's barn, and was taught a term by Lawyer Blaisdell, who often found scant gleanings after Hale Pettingill had picked over the ground. This was the first house built on the "Street" by William Douglass the shoemaker, for a dwelling. And it was still doubtful whether this would be
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HISTORY OF CANAAN.
the "Village," so deep and unfathomable were the mud obstruc- tions.
In 1810, thirteen school districts existed, and the same number of collectors were appointed.
In 1811, the first school committee was chosen, "Esq" Pettin- gill, John H. Harris, and "Esq" Blaisdell. The next year Abel Brown takes the place of John H. Harris.
In 1812, the "Center Deestrick" is divided at Moses Dole's, he having his choice to which district he will belong "with his property."
In 1813, Pettingill, John H. Harris and John Currier are the school committee. In 1814 there are fourteen collectors of school money appointed. In 1816 there are fifteen school collectors representing so many districts. In 1826 a committee was ap- pointed that divided the town into fifteen school districts. This was not satisfactory, so in 1828 the number was increased to seventeen. In 1854 there were twenty districts. In 1861 they had increased to twenty-one. This number continued until 1886. After the passage of the new school law the town in 1885 voted to redistrict the town. The superintending school committee was abolished as well as the prudential committee for each district and a school board was elected by vote of the school meeting.
The town, in 1886, was redistricted into eleven divisions; in 1887 there were ten. This continued down to the establishment of the High School district, which made two districts out of the town. The town school district has been divided into ten divisions, but most of the time there have been nine schools. There are twelve schoolhouses in the town district. The High School district comprises the southeast corner of the town.
CHAPTER XVIII.
NOYES ACADEMY.
In the early part of 1834 several energetic citizens of Canaan, and prominent among them was the lawyer, George Kimball, procured subscriptions sufficient to build a house, and to buy half an acre of land, for grounds. It was located in the field next south of the Congregational Meeting House, with an orna- mental fence in front. There were sixty contributors to the enterprise, and chief among them stood the venerable farmer, Samuel Noyes, for whom the contemplated school was named. The amount subscribed was $1,000, of which sum only $80 was subscribed by the opponents of the school, and only $20 of that was ever paid, the friends of the school offering at that time to assume the whole $80. Application was made to the legislature for a charter which was granted July 4, 1834, to Samuel Noyes, George Kimball, Nathaniel Currier, George Walworth and John H. Harris, as incorporators of Noyes Academy. The charter provided for the "education of youth." That the corporation could hold estate not to exceed $15,000, to be divided into one thousand shares of $15 each. Property by way of gift could be held to any amount. The stock was not assessable. On the 4th of July it occurred to some of the enthusiastic and philan- thropic donors of the institution, to propose having it established, as they said, "upon the principles of the Declaration of Inde- pendence," whereby its privileges and blessings should be open to all pupils without distinction of color, coming with suitable moral and intellectual recommendations. A general meeting of the patrons of the school was warned to be held on August 15, 1834. Previous to this meeting the plan was proposed to many of them individually and met their prompt acceptance.
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