USA > New Hampshire > Merrimack County > Concord > The history of Concord : from its first grant in 1725, to the organization of the city government in 1853, with a history of the ancient Penacooks ; the whole interspersed with numerous interesting incidents and anecdotes, down to the present period, 1885 > Part 36
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MARCH 9. On Saturday evening, about ten o'clock, a most brilliant meteor, in size nearly as large as the moon, fol- lowed by a long and dazzling train, was observed passing from north-east to the west with incredible swiftness. Though the moon was in high meridian, the illumination of the meteor ap-
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HISTORY OF CONCORD.
peared to persons sitting in their houses like continuous flashes of lightning.
JUNE 24. The visit of Capt. Partridge and his cadets has afforded great satisfaction, both to our citizens and strangers. Capt. Partridge lectured on the battle of Waterloo, on Monday evening. Tuesday the young ladies of Mr. Blake's school pre- sented a standard to the cadets, with appropriate addresses, and in the evening Capt. P. again lectured, by request, on the im- provement of the militia.
JULY 15. During the thunder storm on Thursday, hail fell in the back part of this town of a sufficient size to break glass and cut down the corn.
SEPTEMBER 16. The Rev. Mr. Truair, pastor of the Marin- er's Church, New-York, delivered a sermon in behalf of sea- men, in Rev. Dr. McFarland's meeting-house on Friday evening. At the close, a collection, amounting to fifteen dollars, was made for the benefit of the church for seamen, lately erected in New- York.
In the garden of John George, Esq., of this town, a radish was raised weighing three pounds and one half an ounce, and measuring thirteen inches and three-quarters in circumference. This radish was the growth of a second crop- the seed being planted in the latter part of June, and the tops weighed nineteen pounds.
[1823.] JANUARY 13. On Friday the Londonderry Expe- dition Line came into town from Boston at half past three, P. M., having passed sixty-three miles, including stops to dine, exchange the mail and horses, in eight hours.
JANUARY 20. Died, Mrs. Rebecca, wife of Dr. Moses Long, aged thirty-six years. The death of Mrs. Long resulted from poison of white lead, accidentally mixed in the sugar used by the family.
JULY 4. A company of citizens repaired to the grove opposite Kimball's Island, listened to the reading of the De- claration of Independence and to a short but pertinent address from Col. Richard Bartlett. After an excellent dinner, toasts were drank and several original and selected songs sung.
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INTERESTING INCIDENTS.
A child of Robert Davis, 2d, of this town, was killed in 1823, by being thrown, with its mother, from a chaise, in Epsom.
SEPTEMBER 29. A swarm of bees, taken up by Richard Bradley, Esq., in this town, last week, yielded, in weight of honey and comb, one hundred and sixty-five pounds.
NOVEMBER 10. On Saturday, first instant, a transient person, named Joseph Lusty, a native of England, sixty-eight years of age, called at Mr. Gale's tavern early in the evening, bespoke and paid for lodgings. Being intoxicated he was refused spirit, and in a rage received back his money and left the house. The evening being very dark, after the Boston stage passed an outcry was heard, and he was found with the bones and flesh of his left leg crushed almost to a jelly, from both wheels having passed over it. Surgical aid was called, and Mr. Gale kindly received him at his house, where every attention has been be- stowed ; and there is a prospect of his recovery without amputa- tion of the limb.
DECEMBER 15. Priscilla Hunt, an esteemed minister of the society of Friends, attended a meeting at the Union school- house in Concord, on the evening of the third of December.
[1824.] MAY 28. On Tuesday morning, the 18th instant, at nine o'clock, the corner stone was laid for the new brick meeting- house now building in this town by the First Calvinistic Baptist Society of Concord. The ceremony was introduced by singing the one hundred and twenty-seventh psalm, read by Dr. McFar- land, after which a short and appropriate address was delivered by the Rev. William Taylor - who then, assisted by Rev. Dr. McFarland, cordially invited to join in the ceremony, deposited the corner stone in the place assigned for it. Mr. Taylor then, standing on the stone, addressed a pathetic prayer to the Most High God, for a blessing on the great undertaking. The whole was concluded by singing the eighty-fourth psalm. The house is located on the east side of State street, on land presented to the society by the Hon. William A. Kent, about forty rods south of the State House.
JUNE 5. The Election Sermon, by Rev. Dr. Tyler, Presi-
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HISTORY OF CONCORD.
dent of Dartmouth College, was eminently worthy of the sta- tion which he occupies; a fine display of sound practical mo- rality, as applicable to the citizens of a State, both in their indi- vidual and collective capacity - embellished by the graces of a chaste and finished composition, and enforced by a manly and energetic delivery.
In this town, May 25th, Mrs. Abigail Hoit died, aged eighty- seven, widow of Mr. John Hoit. Her descendants were thirteen children, eighty-two grand-children, one hundred and five great- grand-children, and five of the fifth generation.
A public dinner was given at the Columbian Hotel, to Gov. Miller, of the Arkansas Territory, on the fourth of June-Gen. Benjamin Pierce presiding.
The forty-eighth anniversary of American Independence was celebrated on Monday, the fifth of July. The procession march- ed to the meeting-house and listened to religious services and an oration by Philip Carrigain, Esq., which did equal credit to the head and heart of its author; then proceeded to the area of the State House, where some three hundred partook of a sump- tuous entertainment, prepared by Mr. A. Hutchins. An original song by George Kent, Esq., and an ode by Jacob B. Moore, Esq., were sung, and many prepared and volunteer toasts drank, accompanied by the discharge of cannon, and music from the band.
JULY 24. About six o'clock, on Monday afternoon last, this town was visited by an unusually severe thunder storm. While the cloud from the northward was passing over our village, the lightning struck the brick meeting-house, and did considerable injury to the frame of the tower, raised a few days since, and not enelosed. The timbers of the tower were split and doors and window-frames injured, but no damage was done to the briek or stone work. Two young men on the ground floor were knocked down but not materially injured.
Rev. JOSHUA ABBOT died at Norfolk, Virginia, September 22, 1824. He was interred in the grave-yard of the Baptist society in Portsmouth, a small town separated from Norfolk by Elizabeth river. Two neatly executed white marble slabs mark
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INTERESTING INCIDENTS.
the spot where rest the remains of this devoted servant of Christ. The inscription is as follows :
" Sacred to the memory of the Rev. JOSHUA ABBOT, who departed this life September 28, 1824, aged 45* years.
" He died in Jesus and is blest, How sweet his slumbers are : From sufferings, from sins released, And freed from every snare."
Mr. Abbot was a native of Concord, son of Capt. Joshua Ab- bot. He married Miss Eliza Kimball, by whom he had six chil- dren, four sons and two daughters. He became a member of the First Congregational Church in 1814, and turned his atten- tion to the study of theology, although he had not the advantage of a public education. Licensed to preach by the Deerfield Asso- ciation of ministers, he went to the South, in 1820, for the ben- efit of his health ; resided at Norfolk, Virginia, where he con- ducted a school on the Lancasterian system, and preached the Gospel in the vicinity, as opportunities occurred. He made his family one visit after his first departure, and hoped either to rejoin them permanently in Concord, or have them go to him. He died of fever after a short sickness. At his funeral a dis- course was preached, from 2d Cor. V. : 1; " For we know that if our earthly house," &c. Mr. Abbot was a man of amiable spirit, gentle and conciliatory manners ; modest, upright and devout.
Nathan Carter, son of Ephraim, of this town, was killed in a saw-mill in Hopkinton, March 2, 1825, aged twenty-nine.
NOVEMBER 6. The Rev. Mr. Gallaudet, Principal of the Institution for the Deaf and Dumb at Hartford, Connecticut, visited this town last week, with two of his pupils, and gave, on Friday afternoon at the Town Hall, a very interesting exhibition of their talents and attainments.
* Hle was only 42 years of age.
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HISTORY OF CONCORD.
NOVEMBER 20. The Rev. Chester Wright, of Montpelier, delivered an address last evening, to a very full assembly in the Representatives' Hall, in behalf of the American Coloniza- tion Society.
DECEMBER 24. Mr. Benjamin Gale had two hogs killed, which weighed one thousand and cight pounds. The weight of the largest was five hundred and sixty-three pounds. They were thirteen months old.
Number of deaths in town in 1824, eighteen only.
NOTE 1. Heretofore, at the close of decennial periods, we have published the names of all who have been chosen annually to any town office ; but on account of the yearly increase in the number of minor offices, we are obliged to restrict the names hereafter to those only who were chosen to the principal offices.
NOTE 2. By a law passed January 1, 1796, any person who was chosen to any town office in a town for one year, " for which he was liable to be fined for not accepting it," thereby gained a "settlement " in said town. This law was so far repealed, by an act passed 'December 25, 1816, that a person could gain a settlement only by being chosen and actnally serving for one year "in the office of clerk, treasurer, selectman, or overseer of the poor."
NOTE 3. For more convenient reference we have placed the list of principal town officers and representatives chosen since 1815, at the close of the civil history of the town, in 1853.
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CHAPTER XIV.
HISTORY OF CONCORD FROM 1825 TO 1835.
ON the 9th of March the town voted to accept the following proposition, made by the Rev. ASA MCFARLAND relative to dis- annulling his ministerial contract with the town, viz. :
" Since the time of my sickness, last winter, I have endeavor- ed to make full trial, to determine whether I could perform the duties of the Christian ministry in this place. The result has been a conviction on my mind that I shall not be able to do all that the condition of the congregation requires.
Thus far there is, so far as I know, a good degree of har- mony in the Society ; and if I should attempt to continue alone to perform the duties of the ministry, I apprehend that I may fail; dissatisfaction may in consequence arise, and the Society not be in so good condition as it now is to call and settle a minister.
After much deliberation I have come to the settled conclu- sion, that the civil contract which is with the town, shall close at the end of the present ministerial year ; that is to say, next March.
In regard to the pastoral relation, I shall be willing to have that dissolved, also, if it should be thought best; - but if it should seem that it will promote harmony to have me continue in this relation, I may be willing that it should be so. This, how- ever, I leave to future consideration.
I have nothing more to communicate, only that it will be important to the Society, and pleasant to me, that a separation, in whole or in part, may take place with peace.
25
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HISTORY OF CONCORD.
I shall probably live among you, and I hope in peace, and do what I can to promote harmony, and support the institutions of religion and the welfare of society.
ASA MCFARLAND.
Concord, July 11, 1824."
Having voted to accept the foregoing proposition, Dr. McFar- land's ministerial relation to the town ceased, after a laborious and faithful service of twenty-seven years .* Soon after the fore- going communication was made, measures were taken to organ- ize a new religious society, agreeably to a law passed July 1, 1819, which authorized "any sect or any denomination of Chris- tians in this State to associate and form societies, admit members, establish rules and by-laws for their regulation and government, and to possess and exercise all corporate powers necessary to as- sess and raise money by taxes upon the polls and ratable estates of the members of such association, for building and repairing houses of public worship, and for the support of the ministry."
The new Society, organized July 29, 1824, was composed the first year of two hundred and twenty-three taxable members. In the fall of 1824, the Rev. NATHANIEL BOUTON, a licentiate from the Andover Theological Seminary, was invited to preach as a candidate. He preached his first sermon the last Sabbath in October, from the text, Luke x : 42, and continued his services as a candidate seven weeks. On the 24th of December the Church gave him a unanimous call to settle in the ministry, and on the 30th of the same month the Society concurred with the Church by a unanimous vote .¡ The call was accepted, and the Council called on the 23d of March, 1825, to ordain Rev. Mr. Bouton, dissolved also the pastoral relation of Rev. Dr. McFar- land to the Church.
Thus, after a period of ninety-five years - that is, from the settlement of Rev. Timothy Walker, in 1730- the town in its corporate capacity ceased to provide for the support of the Min- istry. Yet, at the annual meeting in March, it was voted, " That the Rev. Dr. McFarland have leave to cut fire-wood, suf-
* See Biographical Notice.
John Odlin, Esq., objected to the salary, which was $750. See correspondence with Rev. Mr. Bouton in his twenty-fifth Anniversary Discourse, Appendix, pp. 38-41.
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RESIGNATION OF DR. MCFARLAND.
ficient for his own use, on the Parsonage land the current year ; also, that he have the use of the improved lands the current year, which belong to the town."*
1826.
The obligation of the town for the support of the ministry having ceased with the resignation of the Rev. Dr. McFarland, and the law of July, 1819, going into effect, relative changes were commenced in the disposition of the parsonage lands, and the interest of the town in the old North Church. At the an- nual meeting in March, Joseph Walker, Robert Davis and Jere- miah Pecker were chosen " a committee to sell all the parsonage lands and the school lands belonging to the town," and were authorized to make and execute, " in the name and in behalf of the town, all necessary conveyances, &c. ; and were directed to vest or secure the proceeds of the sales of said lands to be a permanent fund - the interest of which shall be applied for the purposes for which said lands were reserved."
William A. Kent, Joseph Walker, and Abel Hutchins were also chosen " a committee to take into consideration the subject of selling the interest or right the town may have in the meet- ing-house, to the First Congregational Society in Concord." This committee, in a subsequent report, estimated the interest which the town had in the meeting-house at two hundred dollars ; in the land on which the meeting-house stands, measuring six rods east, south, north, and west, to the original reserve for a road, at three hundred dollars ; and in the bell at three hundred dollars ; and they recommended that the whole be offered to the First Congregational Society for eight hundred dollars, which was accordingly done, and the town's interest therein sold to said society. ; November 14, 1828, the town voted to relinquish the claim of three hundred dollars on the Society, for the bell.
* Among the items of expense the past year were the following :
Paid for Portsmouth Turnpike, . $500,00
other roads and bridges, 1.286,04
" " the new Town House, 654,93
" " Paupers belonging to the town, . 634,17
( " Paupers not belonging to the town, 97,91
.. . Militia, 83,73
$3.256,78
t See original Report in the Town Records, 1828; also the special report of a committee, "on the Heirs of Joseph Hall," 1850.
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HISTORY OF CONCORD.
The income of the improved lands belonging to the town was granted to Rev. Dr. McFarland another year ; he also, with Rev. Nathaniel Bouton, and Rev. Nathaniel W. Williams, of the Bap- tist Church, had leave to cut from the parsonage land fire-wood sufficient for their own use the current year.
The selectmen were authorized to appoint an orator and a committee of arrangements for celebrating the fiftieth anniver- sary of American Independence on the fourth of July. They made choice of Richard Bartlett, Esq. The day was cele- brated with unusual demonstrations of joy. At sunrise, a na- tional salute was fired by the Columbian Artillery, and a merry peal rung from the bells of the churches. The Legislature, then in session, with His Excellency the Governor, and Council, joined the citizens of the town in the glorious commemoration. At eleven o'clock, A. M., a procession, with a band of music, under direction of Col. Robert Davis, chief marshal, assisted by Capt. Joseph Cofran, Capt. Samuel Coffin and Maj. John D. Abbott, moved to the Old North Church. Prayer was offered by Rev. Mr. Bouton ; the Declaration of Independence was read by Dr. Josiah Crosby, and an oration delivered by Richard Bartlett, Esq. A sumptuous dinner was afterwards partaken of in the area of the State House, which was splendidly decorated by ladies for the occasion. Hon. Samuel Green presided at the table, assist- ed by Hon. Samuel Morril and Major Timothy Chandler. Toasts were drank, accompanied with music, songs, and the dis- charge of cannon. Among the volunteer toasts was the follow- ing, offered by Jonathan Eastman, Jr., Esq. : " Our Great Grand Fathers, who here, a hundred years ago, planted the tree of Lib- erty in the wilds of Penacook."*
On the 22d of April the committee aforenamed to sell the parsonage and school lands, held a public auction at the Wash- ington Hotel, and made sale as follows : to John Eastman, Jr., eighty acre lot, for $3.277,70 ; to Abiel Walker six acre inter- val lot, for $494,47 ; to Richard Bradley, twenty acre grant, on Little Pond road, for $542,06 ; five acre interval lot on east side of the river, to William Hurd, for $357,64; three acre Emendation lot, on Contoocook plain, to Abiel Rolfe and Henry
* This was the last celebration of the glorious Fourth by authority of the town.
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PROVISION FOR THE SUPPORT OF THE POOR.
Rolfe, for $147.34; twenty acre Emendation, on Little Pond Hill, to Henry Chandler and Henry Martin, for $129,07 ; Par- sonage house lot, near school house, north end of State street, to Robert Davis, for $176; Last Division lot, on Beaver Meadow, to Abner Farnum, for $210,50; - the whole amounting to $5.335,51, which constituted the Parsonage fund.
The School Lands were also sold, as follows :
To Isaac Hill, twenty acres on Little Pond road, $392,76
To Henry Chandler and Henry Martin, twenty acres on Little Pond Hill, . 142,82
To Enoch Coffin, a part of six acre lot at Old Fort, for 215,16
To Abiel Walker, a part of same lot, for 70,12
To Abiel Rolfe and Henry Rolfe, four acres, Emendation on Contoocook Plain, 220,00
To Josiah Fernald, five acre intervale lot on the east side of the river, for 271,57
To Richard H. Ayer, last division lot on Beaver meadow, 378,58
Amounting to the sum of $1.691,01
1827.
As security against fires this year the following regulations were adopted, viz. : " That all ashes when taken up shall be kept in vessels of iron or tin ; or in some place made of materials not combustible, so long as they shall remain in any building; and when carried out, if put into wooden vessels shall be placed at least fifteen feet from any building or combustible matter. Shav- ings shall be seasonably removed from all buildings, and depos- ited in suitable places, or burned under the direction of a fire- ward. No person shall carry a lighted cigar or pipe into any barn, shed or stable, by day or by night; and no person shall carry any lighted torch or fire, by night or by day, within forty feet of any building, lumber, or any combustible material which would endanger the property of any individual, on penalty of a fine of not less than one nor more than five dollars."
Effective measures were this year taken to provide a house and farm for the support of the poor of the town, who had here- tofore been " bid off" to the person who would board and provide
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HISTORY OF CONCORD.
for them at the lowest rate. At the annual town meeting, " Voted, as the sense of this meeting, That the poor of the town be supported on a farm." " Voted, as the sense of this meet- ing, that the town will purchase a farm, on which the poor of the town shall be supported."
To carry this decisive vote into effect, Timothy Chandler, Ste- phen Ambrose, Abiel Walker, Abel Hutchins and Isaac Dow, were " authorized and directed to purchase stock and put in re- pair a suitable farm, on which all paupers which this town may be compelled to relieve or maintain may be placed for support." The selectmen were also instructed to employ a suitable person to have charge of the paupers and farm aforesaid.
In pursuance of the authority given to them, the aforenamed committee reported to the town, next year, " that they had exam- ined six farms, shown them by different persons, all of which embraced many advantages for the purpose required; but they considered the farm of Mr. Timothy Walker, near the West Parish village, under all circumstances the most profitable, and they purchased it for four thousand dollars." "The farm," say the committee, " contains over two hundred acres of land, about forty acres of which are good intervale ; also, a number of acres of brook land, which will make good mowing. The land on the west side of the road amounts to about one hundred acres, on which is a large quantity of valuable timber and a great quantity of wood, which, being only two miles from market, must render it very valuable."
In addition to four thousand dollars paid for the farm, the committee expended four hundred and eighty-four dollars and fifty-seven cents in the purchase of stock, repairing buildings, &c., making a total of four thousand four hundred and eighty-four dollars and fifty-seven cents.
Since the purchase of this farm the poor of the town have been supported there, in a manner greatly conducive to their comfort, at an expense much less than by the former mode.
At a special meeting, September 29, 1827, Robert Davis, Samuel Coffin and Samuel Herbert were authorized to sell the Rocky Pond lot, so called, devised by the late Dea. Joseph
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PARSONAGE AND LITERARY FUNDS.
Hall " for the benefit of the Congregational minister who should exercise the duties of his office where the meeting-house then stood."*
1828.
To dispose of the interest which should annually accrue from the Parsonage fund, the town voted, "That the selectmen re- quest each man in town to designate, annually, the incorporated religious society in Concord, which supports the preaching of the gospel, to which his proportion of the interest of the ministerial fund shall be paid ;; and that the selectmen divide the interest accordingly." This became a permanent rule for the division of the interest of the Parsonage fund, with the addition, that " in case any persons did not choose to designate to what society their proportion should go, the same should be divided equally among all the societies."
1829.
FUNDS.
William A. Kent, Robert Davis and Joseph Low were appoint- ed a committee to invest the principal of the Parsonage fund in bank stocks, or such public stocks as, in their judgment, would be for the interest of the town. The same committee were authorized to make a similar investment of the School and Lite- rary Funds belonging to the town.# Five hundred dollars, which remained due from the First Congregational Society for the town's interest in the old meeting-house, was ordered to be divided among the incorporated religious societies in the town on the same principle that the interest of the Parsonage fund was divided. To aid the smaller and less wealthy school districts, the sum of four hundred dollars, of the money raised by the town for the support of schools, was divided equally among the districts of the town.
* See Special Report of a Committee on " Heirs of Joseph IIall : 1850."
t This proportion was determined by the amount of each man's tax on poll and estate.
# The Literary Fund arises from a tax on banks, which is divided among the several towns in the State. In 1828, a large sum, accumulated from this source, for the purpose of establishing a College, was, by a law of the Legislature, divided among the several towns.
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HISTORY OF CONCORD.
As a security in case of fire, every house within a quarter of a mile of Main street, of two or more stories in height, having four or more fire-places, was required to be furnished with two or more fire-buckets.
The " Chandler farm," so called, which was in the hands of the town, lying on the hill north-west of Henry Martin's, was sold to Christopher Rowell for $625.50; and several parcels or tracts were also sold from the Poor Farm, viz. : to John Jarvis, Isaac Dow, Zebediah Gleason, Abner Farnum, Abel Baker : - the whole quantity sold amounting to three acres and twenty square rods - for $156.24.
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