USA > New Hampshire > Grafton County > Canaan > The history of Canaan, New Hampshire > Part 44
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I insert the following letter, written the day after the trial. It is dated from Plymouth :
Dear Kimball: We got safely home at 11 o'clock. More I think of our trial at Lebanon, the mightier the concern seems to me to be, and your part in it seems a higher and more striking character. The whole seems a magnificent dream. But it is a terrible reality, and poor Dole stands convicted of forgery and subornation of perjury committed on
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HISTORY OF CANAAN.
the offspring of his own body. He has sacrificed his children to save himself from the consequences of his own crime. We ought to have said something more on the enormity of this crime. We ought to have warned all around us of the frightful consequences of imbibing the horrid principles of poor Dole. But we had much to do, and could not but omit many things.
Make out the costs of prosecution and send on to Justice Hinds, and direct him to make his record and how to make it, and to copy the whole and send it to you recognizances and all. Then you will have the record safe and I will have the proof safe and the county will have the $1,000 safe, and the community be safe and secure of being relieved of Dole by his absconding. You must have copies as soon as you can, or the complaint, record, etc., will be plundered.
Among Dole's subaltern counsel - some one among that throng, un- known to fame, who surrounded him and expected to swell the train of his triumphant discharge, but who in fact were only of his crew when he went down - some one of them will be shrewd enough to conjecture that if the record of the recognizance were stolen, Mr. Dole might retire (having paid his counsel) without forfeiture. You will see to this.
The more I think of your speech the grander it seems to me; which I mention merely to remind you that you have to answer for rejecting offers of mercy, made under great lights, and with extraordinary means of knowing duty.
Sat verbum sapienti. N. P. ROGERS.
During the interval until the sitting of the court, Dole ex- pressed great confidence in a favorable result in his case. He sold his real estate and got his resources well in hand. An in- cident showing his state of mind was related to me at the time. A man in Dorchester owed him money on a note. Dole notified him to pay it, saying he would call upon him. The debtor and creditor started from home the same day, and met on the road not far from Mr. Ben Choate's in Enfield. They went into Mr. Choate's house where the money was paid and the note cancelled ; but as they were about to separate, Dole turned to the Dorchester man and asked that he might be allowed to retain the cancelled note. He said in explaining: "Since I was arrested for forgery, everybody who owes me, expresses the suspicion that I am prac- ticing the crime again. It annoys me, and I want to retain this paper which is of no value to you as an evidence of your trust in me with Mr. Choate as a witness." He told the truth and he felt it too. More than one person, upon being called upon to
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INCIDENTS.
pay, expressed suspicion that he was paying his note a second time, but could not prove it because he did not have his cancelled papers.
At the appointed time Mr. Dole rode to Haverhill, and put up his horse at Towle's Hotel. The same day he was seen in earnest consultation with some friends from Lebanon, and he had a long interview with his counsel in Mr. Bell's office. The grand jury met in the upper room in the old court house. On the afternoon that Dole's case was considered he ordered his horse harnessed, saying he would take a turn about town. He drove about the village common several times, each time riding slowly past the court house, watching it with apparent carelessness. The last time he approached the house, about four o'clock in the after- noon, he paused a moment and looked up at a south window. There was a movement in the jury room. A window was raised, and a red handkerchief waved for a moment outside and then disappeared. Dole carelessly turned his horse's head, and rode slowly through the street until he reached the bank building, where he received a nod of recognition from his council, Mr. Bell. Then urging his horse, he drove rapidly down the road that led across the river at Bradford, and beyond the jurisdiction of the court at Haverhill. He was never seen again in public in New Hampshire. He fled westwardly and his family followed him. It was afterwards known that he kept a hotel in Lockport, N. Y., under another name. His wife died soon after; his daugh- ter became insane; and his son, after a time, studied and prac- ticed as a lawyer.
When the case was called in court and no answer returned, his recognizance was forfeited. His bondsmen came promptly forward, and were discharged on payment of the $1,000. Judg- ment was also rendered in the civil suit for the recovery of the $200, which had been secured by attachment of real estate, and thenceforth the name of Isaac Dole became linked with the crimes of forgery and perjury, the memory of which not even Lethe's waters can wash out.
And now in regard to the waving of the red handkerchief : I give the story as I saw and heard it at the time, for I, a boy, saw Dole as he rode about the common at Haverhill, and disap-
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HISTORY OF CANAAN.
peared on the road towards Bradford. Dole was a Mason. One of the grand jurors from Lebanon was also a Mason and a friend of Dole, and was the person with whom he had had a long con- sultation on his arrival at Haverhill. While his case was under consultation, he was to be prepared for the worst. He was to ride about in the neighborhood of the court house and watch for a signal, which was to be a red flag if the jury found a true bill against him. He watched, took due notice, and governed himself accordingly. He fled; preferring liberty even with a blighted name, to the degradation of a term of service in the penitentiary.
Dea. Jonathan Swan, after 1820, lived in the small house on the Street, afterward owned by Mrs. Durrell, and in which Al- bert Pressey lived until it was sold to Mrs. Rouillion and torn down. Deacon Swan was a worthy man, industrious and a Bap- tist. He emigrated to Iowa about 1850, with his family, and died in 1873, aged 87 years.
Lemuel Wilson, son of Jeremiah Wilson, was the second son of Robert. Lemuel had a brother Samuel; their mother's name was Betsey Carlton and they moved to Michigan in the early part of the last century. The father, Jeremiah, died when the boys were quite young. The mother, in her deep grief, conceived the idea that in order to secure the favor of God, she must return to Canaan and she and her children be baptized in the waters of Hart Pond, near the place of her birth. Accordingly, in the year 1827, she took her boys, then grown to manhood, and wended her slow way to Canaan, and they were all baptized by Elder Wheat in Hart Pond, in the presence of a great congregation of witnesses. They returned to their home in Michigan. Many years afterward Lemuel, who had drifted to California, was persuaded to abjure his early Baptist predilections and pro- fess himself a Roman Catholic. His recollection of the baptism was so dim that the priest deemed it necessary to inquire if it was a fact, and the query seemed to turn upon the point whether Elder Wheat's baptism was sufficient to save him in his double character of Baptist and Catholic.
Maj. Samuel Jones lived in a large square house on South Road, which afterwards passed into the possession of James Pattee. It was burned at midday in December, 1828, through
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the carelessness of two boys, who were grinding apples for Elias Porter. There was a large cider mill and numerous barns and sheds so near that nothing could be saved. It was a grand sight; no wind. The flames went straight up and left only a pile of ashes. In one of the chambers were sixty bushels of wheat, two hundred bushels of corn in the crib, tons of hay and un- threshed oats. Only part of the furniture was saved.
The orthography of Hart or Heart Pond may be interesting. John Farmer in his Gazetteer, printed in 1824, spells it Heart Pond all the way through. Mr. Farmer was an enthusiastic antiquarian, and was regarded as good authority, and so that name is still used by some, out of deference to its supposed heart shape, which is more in the eye than in the pond. All the old grants bordering on this pond spell it "Hart." Daniel Colby, when a young man, 150 or 160 years ago, used to come up here from Massachusetts with his father and two others, named Tribble and Hart, and trap beaver and otter upon the shores of this pond. Ensign Colby, an old man who died forty years ago, said the word was spelled H-a-r-t by the early visitors, and was probably named for one of the old trapper's partners.
A letter dated May 30, 1838, says : "We have made one grand improvement on our Street this spring. We have caused to be set out two rows of beautiful rock maple trees, on each side of the street, its whole length. They will give it beauty and serve as a point of admiration with all lovers of artificial scenery." While many of these trees have grown to be stately and proud, a great number were mutilated and destroyed by vicious persons not resident here, but who deemed any annoying act they might com- mit, proper and right as against the abolitionists of the street. It was this bad temper that first broke the unity of the two rows of maple trees. It was so bad as even to affect the temper of horses. It was seriously related that on one occasion, Maj. Levi George, who lived on South Road, started with his wife to do some trading at Martin's store. When he reached the school- house on the edge of the common, his horse gave a snort, turned suddenly round and trotted back home, so offensive was the scent of abolition to his nostrils. It is not known what became of that
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HISTORY OF CANAAN.
horse, but he was printed in the New Hampshire Patriot as being instinctively intelligent.
In 1857 James H. Kelley, F. P. Swett, Franklin Barber, James C. Furber and others, fenced a three-cornered park where the three roads meet at the "Corner," set out trees, set up a martin house, and made an arrangement for a fountain and flower beds, but it was never completed.
Milton Hall, Canaan
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CHAPTER XXVIII.
SECRET ORGANIZATIONS.
Freemasonry.
Mount Moriah Lodge flourished for many years, and drew into its mysterious folds all the prominent men. Its influence was felt in society, religion, politics. It grew unwieldly from the number of men of small minds who secured its honors, and then bickerings and jealousies crept in, its benign influences were smothered and it passed away like a dream when one awaketh.
It was in the back parlor of Seth Bullock's hotel in Grafton, that eight earnest brethren met to confer upon their wants. A petition was written and signed on October 27, 1813, by Richard Currier, 3d, Seth Bullock, John Kimball and thirteen others and forwarded to the Grand Lodge for a charter for a lodge to be called Mount Moriah. Bro. Joseph Merrill was chosen an agent to attend the General Assembly of the Grand Lodge at Ports- mouth and present the petition. Brother Merrill faithfully per- formed his duty and returned with the desired authority. On the second day of February, 1814, the brethren assembled at Moses Dole's hall in Canaan, to listen to and act upon the re- port of Brother Merrill. He said he had stated the wants of the brethren here, how they were few in number and scattered over a wild wide country, - and that they needed the bonds of an organization to bring them together for social and mental improvement, whereby much good would be effected and their solemn obligations to each other and to the world would be better appreciated.
The brethren of the Grand Lodge had kindly listened to his story and had then graciously authorized their grand master to grant us a letter of dispensation, which he would now read. It was in the words following:
Seal of Grand Lodge }
By authority vested in me as Grand Master of Masons in and throughout the State of New Hamp- shire :-
Be it known, That I, Edward J. Long, on application and proper recommendation of Richard Currier 3rd., Seth Bullock, John Kimball
31
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HISTORY OF CANAAN.
and others, all Master Masons, for a new Lodge to be constituted and holden at Canaan, in this State
Do hereby empower said Currier and others to assemble at said Canaan as a Lodge of Masons; to perfect themselves in the several duties of Masonry; to make choice of officers; to make regulations and by-laws, and to admit candidates into the first degree of Masonry; all according to the ancient customs of Masons.
This warrant of dispensation to continue in full force and authority for three months from the date hereof.
Given under my hand and the seal of the Grand Lodge, this 27th day of January A. L. 5814.
EDWARD J. LONG, G. Master.
Attest CHARLES TAPPAN, Grand Secretary.
An informal meeting was held, Bro. Caleb Seabury being chairman, when after appointing Bros. Timothy Tilton, Moses Dole and Caleb Seabury, a committee to report a code of by-laws and to procure furniture for the lodge, "we adjourned to meet on Wednesday preceding the full moon in March, it being the second day, A. D. 1814, at Masons hall, in Canaan."
The brethren are now much interested in the business in which they are engaged, - and they travel many miles on horse back, and on foot, over rough roads and by blazed paths to be present at the first selection of officers, because the success of the under- taking demands that their first officers shall be intelligent, active, and interested in the work, - we assemble, fourteen of us, good men and true, - and the dingy old manuscript blurred with age and dust, uncovers to us the following names :
Caleb Seabury. James Slocum.
Dr. Timothy Tilton.
Moses Dole.
Jesse Johnson. Richard Currier.
Joseph Merrill.
Jonathan Jones.
Daniel Currier.
Seth Bullock.
Henry Currier. James C. Drake.
John G. Colt.
John Jones.
The lodge was opened in due form on the first step in Mas- onry,- and then the following officers were chosen, namely :
Bro. Timothy Tilton, master; Bro. Richard Currier, senior warden; Bro. James C. Drake, junior warden; Bro. Joseph Mer- rill, secretary ; Bro. Moses Dole, treasurer ; Bro. Samuel Phillips, senior deacon; Bro. John Jones, junior deacon; Bro. Daniel
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Currier and Jonathan Jones, stewards; Bro. Jesse Johnson, Seth Bullock and Caleb Seabury, standing committee.
And now the organization is complete and we are ready for work, and here it is. The first candidate presented, asking for the rights and benefits of our ancient institutions, is the lawyer on Broad Street, Thomas Hale Pettingill, whose writs and sum- monses were almost as numerous as autumn leaves or the pine stumps on the broad street and much more expensive. We made him an entered apprentice in due form and then our work being done, we adjourned, congratulating each other that we - vain men - had firmly established an institution that should abide the lapse of ages. Sic transit - the actors in these scenes have all gone to that bourne from whence no traveler returns. Meetings were held under the dispensation and candidates were initiated into the first degree of Masonry during this year. On February 14, 1815, the Grand Lodge appointed Henry Hutchin- son a special deputy to install the officers and constitute Mount Moriah Lodge, No. 22, on Wednesday, February 22, 1815. On that date the lodge received its charter. It was not until the following October that any work was done in the second and third degrees. Its meetings were held on Broad Street in the hall over the store of Nathaniel Currier, a part of the time, and for many years in the old Wallace house. Up to December, 1815, they initiated nineteen candidates, for which they did not settle with the Grand Lodge, and on June 11, 1817, were reported de- linquent since 1814. They had not sent any representative nor had any of their officers attended the assembly of the Grand Lodge. After this reprimand they were not negligent in their duties for many years.
In 1821 the district deputy visited the lodge and found they had appointed two fellowcrafts as stewards the previous elec- tion. In 1823 application was made to the Legislature for a char- ter, which was granted on July 2, in the following terms :
An act to incorporate certain persons by the name of the Mount Moriah Lodge No. 22 in the Town of Canaan.
SECTION 1. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court that Abraham Pushee, Ebenezer Chase, Stephen Fol- som, Timothy Tilton and Samuel Morgan and all persons who may here- after become members of said Lodge be and they are hereby incor-
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HISTORY OF CANAAN.
porated and made a body corporate and politic forever by the name of Mount Moriah Lodge No. 22 in the town of Canaan and the said body corporate is hereby impowered to hold and possess real and personal estate not exceeding in value the sum of two thousand dollars and is vested with all powers, rights and privileges incident to corporations of a similar nature.
SECT. 2. And be it further enacted that Abraham Pushee may call the first meeting of said Lodge by giving fourteen days notice in the New Hampshire and State Gazette of the time and place of such meeting. At such meeting or any subsequent meeting the members of said Lodge may choose a secretary and elect such other officers and establish such by Laws, rules and regulations as may be deemed necessary for the government of said Lodge and for carrying into effect the object of the same provided said by Laws, rules and regulations be not repugnant to the Constitution and Laws of this State.
In 1825 Alpheus Baker of Lebanon, district deputy grand master, reported as follows: "On the first of February I at- tended Mount Moriah Lodge at Canaan. I found the brethren assembled at an early hour. I found their records well kept, and they seemed desirous of all necessary information for tran- sacting the business on the different degrees. I heard them lec- ture on the first degree and found them generally correct; but on the fellowcrafts,' they were deficient ; I then gave them a dis- pensation for raising the Rev. Amos Foster of that town, and found they were deficient in the work and lectures of that de- gree. Their master was not present, although he had summoned his lodge, on some very important business. The brethren told me they had not the lectures on the second or third degree." On this date Dr. Timothy Tilton was master, Jacob Trussell and Daniel Hovey wardens, James Wallace secretary, and Daniel B. Whittier treasurer. In 1826 Alpheus Baker reported the lodge well attended and in a flourishing condition. In 1828 the records of the lodge were reported well kept, and the breth- ren very correct in the lectures. The lodge continued to make reports until 1835. Then for five years it lay dormant through the trying times attending the destruction of Noyes Academy and the division of the people into two factions on the slavery question. These contentions were carried into the lodge and harmony ceased to prevail, neighbors and friends and brothers became bitter enemies and the tenets of the faith were not suf-
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SECRET ORGANIZATIONS.
ficient to keep them together. The formation of Social Lodge at Enfield in 1827, took from Mount Moriah all the Enfield mem- bers, and some of the most prominent ones: Richard Currier, 3d, Nathan Currier, Dexter Currier, Ebenezer Chase and others. Many moved away, many of those who had kept the lodge to- gether so long died. The last entry upon the old treasurer's book was made in 1828. Neither the records of the secretary nor the charter of the lodge can be found.
There is in existence the report of a committee appointed to settle with the treasurer, dated in 1832, which showed $335.45 in his hands. The lodge was always in a prosperous condition, so far as its treasurer's records show, but the funds were often rep- resented by more due bills than cash. Candidates were often initiated upon the giving of their notes for the fees, which after- ward some of them failed to meet. The old by-laws dated July 23, 1817, are in the handwriting of Dr. Timothy Tilton. Their meetings were held at two o'clock in the afternoon, and "the lodge shall be closed by eight in the evening." When a negative was given against a candidate, the standing committee were to receive the reasons for said negative. Every member was fur- nished with a white ball and a black one, and as the ballot box was passed the members voted which they saw fit. If one nega- tive was received the one so voting was to inform the standing committee of his reasons and if they judged the reasons sufficient the negative was to be effectual. And if the one giving the nega- tive vote did not give his reasons, the negative was of no avail. All apprentices must work five months as such before they could be admitted to the next degree, and then they must work three months before receiving the third degree. The fees were twelve, three and five dollars. Every brother present on a regular lodge night was to pay twelve and one-half cents as a fee for the even- ing. The expenses of a special meeting were to be paid by the brother desiring it. No more than three ceremonies could be gone through with at one meeting. In 1823, upon the incorpora- tion of the lodge, a new set of by-laws was made and printed, and at the end of the lodge copy was the names of the members; as associated under the act of incorporation of June, 1823 :
486
HISTORY OF CANAAN.
Abraham Pushee.
Willard Sayles.
Ebenezer Chase.
James Doten.
Stephen Folsom.
Elijah Blaisdell.
Samuel Morgan.
David Barnard.
Timothy Tilton.
Francis Dustin.
Daniel B. Whittier.
Hubbard Harris. John Blaisdell.
Richard Currier, 3d.
Robert Barber.
Jacob Blaisdell.
William Martin.
Elias Porter.
Frederick Hill.
Samuel Withington.
Timothy Blaisdell.
William Atherton.
Guilford Cobb.
Daniel Hovey.
Dudley Austin.
Ebenezer Clark.
Jesse D. Arvin.
Salmon Cobb.
Dexter Currier.
Nathaniel Currier.
Rufus Whittier.
Elijah Miner.
John Shepard.
James Wallace.
Asa Whittier.
Moses Dole.
Samuel Hoyt.
Bela Johnson.
Ichabod S. Johnson.
Nathan Currier.
James Saunders.
Grover Burnham, Jr.
James Doten, Jr.
Benjamin K. Gilman.
Micajah M. Smith.
Benjamin Shattuck.
Caleb Cushing.
The treasurer's book contains these names: David C. Peck, Thomas H. Pettingill, Samuel Noyes, Jacob Barney, Samuel S. Stevens, Amos Morse, Clark Aldrich, Ralph Roby, Nat Pierce, Daniel Currier, Amos Foster, Elihu Granger, James Pattee, Caleb Dustin, Theodore Tyler, William B. Kelley, Moses Kelley, Cyrus Adams, Aaron Wise, Thomas Page, Thomas Lathrop, Nathan Hobart, Samuel Saunders, Rowel Colby, Jr., Hilsey R. Stevens, Joseph S. Pratt, Ezra Kelley, Edward Evans, John Cooke.
The last surviving member was John Blaisdell, who died in 1892 or 1893. On June 9, 1840, the Grand Lodge declared the charter forfeited. This closed the first chapter of Mount Moriah.
For twenty-six years the old members were unaffiliated; some of them died, others moved away, and no new ones came until in 1866, after the return of Jacob Trussell, who had always been a prominent Mason, he, with William Martin, Charles U. Dun- ning, David Barnard, William A. Wallace, Stephen R. Swett, Isaac N. Blodgett and Allen H. George, petitioned the Grand
Jacob Trussell.
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SECRET ORGANIZATIONS.
Lodge for a charter of a new lodge to be established at Canaan. The Grand Lodge refused to grant a new charter for a lodge at Canaan, but suggested that the charter of old Mount Moriah might be revived and then they would consent if the lodge be moved to Grafton. This was agreed to and Mount Moriah was again established and this time at Grafton Center in June, 1866. Some of the Canaan Masons attended Mount Moriah and some of them continued to go to Social Lodge at Enfield; there was but little difference in the distance. Isaac N. Blodgett, who was an officer, used to walk from the Street to Grafton Center to attend the meeting and back again, reaching home after midnight. At first there was much energy and hard work displayed in making the lodge successful. But private animosities and desires to hold offices soon began to crop out and the attendance to decrease. On February 22, 1870, Stephen Fellows was impeached for un- masonic conduct and privately reprimanded. In May the district deputy notified the lodge of his intention to visit the lodge, and® upon his arrival he found only the master and secretary present. The reason for the absence of the other officers and members was a shooting match in the near vicinity. The master at that time" said the condition of the lodge was due to the total absence of Masonic spirit of one member, and advised giving up the char- ter. Cromwell Kimball had made the remark: "If I can't be master of the lodge I will ruin it." Charges were preferred against him and the Grand Lodge, after a hearing, expelled him. This was the last of Mount Moriah. No meetings were held after 1870. I have been unable to determine what became of the charter, as it is not in the office of the grand secretary and the Grand Lodge records do not show that it was ever forfeited.
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