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 53
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Colby worked a number of years for the Walker family. He said that " Parson Walker was the only man the Almighty ever made that he was afraid of." He was employed to set out many of the older growth of elm trees that are now the ornament of our Main village. Marrying late in life, he moved to Rumford, Me., where, living unhappily with his family, he became poor, and received assist- ance in his last days from the late Capt. Joseph Walker. The time of his death is unknown.
SIR BENJAMIN THOMPSON, OR COUNT RUMFORD.
Mr. Thompson's connection with Concord, and the circumstances in which he left it, have already been related .* His subsequent fortunes are the most remarkable that ever attended any person whose name is recorded in our history. Driven by unreasonable suspicions from his home, his wife and infant child; forsaking his native country for a foreign service, he became the associate of princes, the honored favorite of kings, and the commander of armies. As the promoter and founder of public institutions of learning and benefi- cence, his genius shone resplendent among the literati and philoso- phers of Europe. His name, invested with the honors which royalty
* See pp. 263-4. For the beautiful view of the place where he was born, in Woburn, Mass., and the portrait of his daughter, Sarah, the Countess of Rumford, I am indebted to the gen- erosity of James F. Baldwin, Esq., of Boston.
Geo Rumford Baldwin del. July 1830.
J.H . Buford's Lith Boston
EASTERLY VIEW OF THE HOUSE IN WHICH COUNT RUMFORD WAS BORN, IN WOBURN , MASS. MARCH 26TH 1753
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alone can confer, is transmitted to posterity as that of the "Friend of mankind."
The events in the life of Count Rumford, after he left Concord, are so numerous as not to admit of recital, in detail, in the brief space allotted to this notice .* Suffice it to say, that in January, 1776, he was entrusted by Gen. Gage with dispatches to Lord Ger- maine, in England, then Secretary of State for the department of the colonies. In 1780 he was appointed under secretary in that de- partment. Towards the close of the Revolutionary War he obtained the commission of lieutenant-colonel, and was sent to New-York in command of a regiment. In 1784 the King conferred on him the honor of knighthood. Subsequently he went to Germany, and at Strasbourg was introduced to Prince Maximilian, and then to IIis Serene Highness the Elector Palatine, reigning duke of Bavaria. From the Elector he received all the honors that could be conferred, and, among others, that of Count "of the holy Roman Empire," to which Mr. Thompson added the title, Rumford, in remembrance of his former residence. Under the patronage of the Elector, Charles Theodore, he introduced great improvements in the condition and discipline of the army. At Munich, in 1790, he suppressed the system of mendicity which widely prevailed, and provided houses of public industry, in which beggars were supported and required to labor. Two thousand and six hundred of this class were put in in a single week, and the industrial establishment for them, which at first was supported by voluntary contributions, came to yield to the State a net income of one hundred thousand florins.+ In grateful remem- brance of his services and benefactions, a monument is erected in Munich to his honor. Inscribed beneath his bust is the following :
" To him Who rooted out the greatest of public evils, Idleness and Mendicity ; Relieved and instructed the Poor, And founded many institutions for the education of our Youth. Go, wanderer, And strive to equal him In Genius and Activity ; and us, In Gratitude."
On the other front is inscribed -
" Stay, Wanderer ! At the creative fiat of Charles Theodore, RUMFORD, the Friend of Mankind, By Genius, Taste and Love inspired, Changed this once desert place Into what thou now beholdest."
* See memoir by Jared Sparks ; Moore's Annals of Concord, and an eulogy by Cuvier, 1814, in the Boston Weekly Messenger, vol. v.
t Cuvier's Eulogy.
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HISTORY OF CONCORD.
He became almost the object of idolatrous regard by the poor. At one time, when dangerously ill, they formed processions, and went to the church to pray for his recovery. When sick at Naples they de- voted an hour each evening to join in supplications for his restoration to health. About 1794* he sent to this country for his daughter, who met him in England, accompanied him to Munich, and for several years afterwards shared his fortunes. For his services in Bavaria the Elector settled on him a pension for life of nearly two thousand dollars, one half of which descended to his daughter, as Countess of Rumford, during her life. Returning to England, he assisted in putting in operation the society known as the Royal Institution, in London, about 1799. He afterwards located himself at Paris, mar- ried the widow of the celebrated chemist, Lavoisier, and with her resided at Auteuil, on the estate of her former husband, where he died of fever, August 21, 1814, in the 62d year of his age.
Ile bequeathed the annual sum of one thousand dollars to Harvard College, with other reversions, now aggregating about $30.000, to found the Rumford Professorship. To the " American Academy" he previously presented funds which now amount, it is said, to $24.500.
The personal appearance of Count Rumford, in early manhood, is described " as a model of manly beauty ; his stature nearly six feet ; figure erect, limbs finely formed, eyes bright blue, features chiseled in the Roman mould, and hair dark auburn." There is a tradition that after he became affianeed to Mrs. Rolfe, (who was by some years his senior,) seated in his carriage and dressed in the brilliant scarlet attire of those times, he drove out from Boston to present his in- tended bride to his mother ; but was completely non-plused by her exclamation on first meeting him, " Why, Ben., my child ! how could you spend your whole winter's wages in this way?" His distin- guished military promotions, it is said, were primarily owing to his splendid appearance when mounted on horseback. Among the qual- ities that most characterized him were order and method, which he termed the " only possible instrument of true happiness, and almost a subordinate divinity in this lower world." In the eulogy pro- nouneed before the Institute of France, January 9, 1815, Cuvier says, "In his own person he was in every respect the model of per- fect order. His wants, his pleasures and his labors were calculated as rigidly as his experiments. He drank nothing but water, ate meat roasted only, and allowed nothing superfluous, not even a step nor a word." "His veneration for the Deity was never diminished. In all his works he has constantly taken occasion to express his re- ligious feelings, and to point out to the admiration of others the innumerable precautions which Providence has taken for the preser- vation of his creatures."
SARAII, COUNTESS OF RUMFORD.
In connection with the foregoing notice of her honored father we place the portrait of the daughter, engraved on steel, with a brief
* Perhaps as early as 1792.
Gemahl von Kellerhofen in Munchen 1, 07
stochen von Rauschmaur
field
SARAH COUNTESS OF RUMFORD
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BIOGRAPHICAL.
sketch of her eventful life. She was born in the family mansion - the Rolfe house - October 18, 1774 .* A portion of her early life was spent with her paternal grandmother, at Woburn. After the death of her mother, in 1792, she went to Europe, at her father's invitation, and was introduced into the polite and fashionable circles of Bavaria, of Paris and of London. Between the death of her father and her own decease she visited this country two or three times; but her principal residence was at Brompton, near London, in a house which she inherited from her father. A portion of her time she spent in Paris, where she had funds invested. In 1845 she returned to the spot where she was born, to live and -to die. Here she remained in great retirement, having, as her only companion and the solace of her declining years, a young ladyt whom she adopted when a child, at Brompton. Occasionally the countess attended public worship at the North Church, and visited her family relatives and friends, but spent most of her time in adorning the grounds about her house and fitting things to her taste. By her habits of strict economy the property she inherited, together with her pension of about $1.000, had accumulated to a very considerable sum at the time of her decease - all which she disposed of by will, partly to family connections, but mostly for charitable objects.
1. To the Rolfe and Rumford Asylum, in Concord, $ .5.000
which she founded - with all her real estate, appraised at . 5.000
2. To the New-Hampshire Asylum for the Insane, . 15,000
3. To the Concord Female Charitable Society, 2.000
4. To the Boston Children's Friend Society, 2.000
5. For the Fatherless and Widows' Society, Boston, 2.000
She left a legacy of $10.000 to Joseph Amédée LeFebre, a son of her natural brother, Capt. LeFebre, of the French army, on condition that he would assume the name of Joseph Amedee Rumford. The executor of her will was James F. Baldwin, Esq., of Boston, who was a neighbor and personal friend of the countess in youth, and her financial agent in later years. The paintings which she inherited from her father, consisting of a portrait of the Elector of Bavaria, and Prince Maximilian, afterwards King of Bavaria; also, of several ladies of the court, and several of Count Rumford, representing him at different periods of life - were given to Joseph B. Walker, Esq., to descend at his decease to his son, Charles Rumford Walker.
A beautiful marble monument is erected to her memory in the old burying-ground, near the Walker family.
JOHN BRADLEY.
Hon. John Bradley was justly esteemed one of the most upright, useful and honored citizens of the town. His name is conspicuous in town affairs, on almost every page of the preceding history, from the age of twenty-one till his death, in 1815; and it may hereafter be the pride of his descendants to collect into a summary all the re-
* On the monument it says October 10.
t Miss Emma Gannell, now the wife of Mr. John Burgum, of Concord, who was a native of Birmingham, England.
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HISTORY OF CONCORD.
corded acts of his public life - while the virtues which shone in his private character, and in domestic relations, will ever be worthy of their imitation.
At the period of the tragie event of his father's death, August 11, 1746, he was under three years of age, but he remembered, in after life, that his mother, overwhelmed with grief, took him down to the place where the dead body of his father lay in blood, with the others slain - the sight of which produced an impression of horror which he never entirely lost. He was baptized by Rev. Mr. Walker, six days after his birth. Under the care of his mother, a woman of superior gifts and excellent qualities, he was often re- minded of his father, and the scenes through which others of the family had passed in conflict with the Indians; at the same time the principles of patriotism, of morals and religion, were instilled into his youthful heart. Living with his widowed mother, in the house of his grandfather, Abraham, he inherited, by his grandfather's will,* the house and homestead, together with the negro slave, Pompey, with whom John, in childhood, had been a particular favorite. In the war of the Revolution Mr. Bradley took a noble stand on the side of his country. In 1775 he received from the Committee of Safety of the Colony of New-Hampshire, signed by Matthew Thorn-
* The following is a copy of the Will, which possesses unusual interest.
In the name of God, Amen. This Eighth Day of July, Anno Domini 1754, and in the 28th Year of his Majesties Reign, I, Abraham Bradley, of a Place called Rumford, in the Province of New-Hampshire, in New-England, Yeoman, being Sick and Weak in Body, tho' of Perfect Memory and Sound understanding, (Thanks be given to Almighty God,) therefore calling to mind the Mortality of my Body, and knowing that it is appointed for all men once to die, do therefore make and Ordain this, my last Will and Testament ; That is to say, prin- cipally and first of all, I recommend my Soul into the Ilands of Almighty God, who gave it me, and my Body to the Earth, to be decently interred, at the Discretion of my Executor hereafter named, nothing doubting but at the General Resurrection I shall receive the same again, together with Remission of all my Sins, by the Power of Almighty God, thro' the Merits of Christ iny Redeemer ; and as touching such Wordly Estate, wherewith it hath pleased God in this Life to Bless me, I give, devise and dispose thereof in manner and form following, viz. :
Imprimis. I will and Ordain that all those debts which in Duty, Right or Conscience, which I owe to any Person or Persons whatsoever, together with my Funeral Expenses and Charges, and also the Charges of settling my Estate, be well and truly paid by my Executor hereafter named, out of my Stock of Cattle, Horses, Sheep and Swine.
Item. I give and bequeath unto Elizabeth, my dear and well beloved Wife, the free Use and Improvement of my dwelling-House and Barn, and all the Lands which I have in said Rumford already laid out and not otherwise disposed of by me, to be by her freely possessed and enjoyed during her natural Life, and at her decease it is my Will and Pleasure that the said IJonseing and Lands (excepting half an Acre, which I reserve for the Use of my Negro) shall descend to my Two Grand-children hereafter mentioned, in manner and form follow- ing, viz. : The Six Acre Lot of Interval, belonging to the Original Right of Nathan Blodgett, shall descend to my Grand-daughter, Susanna Bradley, her Heirs and Assigns, provided the said Susanna, when she arrives at the Age of Twenty-One Years, shall give to her Sisters, Margaret and Anna, in equal shares, two Thirds of the value of said Six Acre Lot. in her Share of her Father's Estate at Exeter, in said Province, and that my dwelling-Ilouse and Barn, and the rest of the Lands which I have given the Improvement of to my Wife (except- ing the half Acre reserved for my Negro) shall descend to my Grandson, John Bradley, his Heirs and Assigns, Jle paying to his Sister Mehitable the Sum of Five Pounds in Bills of Credit of the New Tenor on said Province, when he come to the Age of Twenty-One Years. I also give my said Wife the Use of my Negro, Pompey, during her natural Life, together with my Stock of Cattle, Ilorses, Sheep and Swine not otherwise disposed of, and Utensils for IInsbandry, and Household Goods and Provisions, and it is my Will and Pleasure that at her decease the said Stock of Cattle, of all Sorts, and Household Goods shall be equally di- vided betwixt my Daughters; and the Utensils of Husbandry, of all Sorts, shall be for my Grandson, John Bradley.
Item. I give and bequeath unto my dear and well beloved Son, Jeremiah, (besides the Farm I have already given him) One Third part of all my undivided Lands, which is his full Portion of my Estate.
Item. I give and beqneath unto my dear and well beloved Daughter four Acres of Land in
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BIOGRAPHICAL.
ton, chairman, a commission of first lieutenant in the company for the continental service, of which Benjamin Emery was captain .*
Besides representing the town in the State Legislature several years, he was elected to the State Senate five years in succession, viz., from 1804 to 1808 inclusive. He early become an extensive land owner in the Province of Maine, and in adjacent parts of New- Hampshire, and encouraged the settlement of towns in the Pigwacket country. Three of his own sons, Robert, John and Samuel A., set- tled at Fryeburg. Under his patronage the late Abiel Chandler - the magnificent donor of Dartmouth College -commenced his ca- reer, ¡ Mr. Bradley giving bonds to Harvard College for the payment of his bills. His house was the abode of hospitality. Enterprising and successful in his affairs, he was able to give his children a re- spectable education ; and two of them, Samuel A. and Moses Hazen, were graduates of Dartmouth College.
In the war of 1812 and 1815, a volunteer company of exempts from military duty was formed, of which Mr. Bradley, then at the age of seventy-one years, was one. This company voted to provide themselves with forty-eight rounds of ball cartridges, suited to the bore of the guns which they carried. Lead being very scarce, Mr. Bradley applied from house to house in the village, to procure a suf- ficient quantity of lead for his bullets ; not succeeding, he said, " One thing I can do : in my pantry are the old pewter-platters that belonged to my grandmother - I will melt them up for balls ;"- and he did so.
About this time a Mr. Gerrish, of Boscawen, who had the reputa-
said Rumford, lying on an Island in Horse Shoe Pond, laid out to the Original Right of John Ayer. Also One Cow.
Item. I give and bequeath unto my dear and well beloved Daughters, Abigail Richards, Apphia Farrington, Abiah Eastman, Martha Bradley, Mehitable Eastman and Elizabeth Fol- sum, One Third Part of all my undivided Lands in said Rumford, (excepting twelve Aeres of said Third Part, which I reserve for paying my Son, Farrington,) be equally divided be- twixt them. I also give them my Stock of Cattle, of all kinds, not otherwise disposed of, and Household Goods, to bo equally divided betwixt thein at their Mother's decease, which, with what I have already given them, is their full Share and Portion of my Estate.
Item. I give and bequeath my said Negro, Pompey, after my Wife's decease, to my said Grandson, John Bradley ; also all my Utensils of Husbandry.
Item. I give unto my Negro, Pompey, the Use and Improvement of One half Acre of Land by my dwelling-House, taking in my Nursery for part of it, during his natural Life; at his decease to revert to my said Grandson, John Bradley, his Heirs and Assigns, and I will and Order my Son, Timothy, to take Especial Care that my said Negro be not wronged by my aforesaid Grandson in any Ways ; and if he should wrong him [ give him Power to do him Justice.
Lastly. I give and bequeath unto my dear and well beloved Son, Timothy, all the Re- mainder of my Estate not herein otherwise disposed of. whether in Possession, Reversion or Remainder, which, with what I have already given him, is in full of his Portion of my Es- tate. I also hereby Constitute, Ordain and Appoint him, my said Son, Solo Executor of this, my last Will and Testament, hereby revoking, disannulling and disallowing all former Wills, Testaments and Executors by me heretofore named or made, hereby Ratifying this, and no other, to be my last Will and Testament.
In Witness whereof I have hereunto set my Hand and Seal the Day and Year first written. Signed, Sealed, Published and Declared by the said Abraham Bradley to be his last Will. His
ABRAHAM M BRADLEY. [L. S. ] Mark.
Before us : AMOS ABBOT, SAMUEL DAVIS, BENJA. ROLFE.
* The commission is preserved in the family of his son, Richard Bradley, Esq. Mr. Brad- ley went to Winter Hill the ensuing season.
t See biography of Abiel Chandler.
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HISTORY OF CONCORD.
tion of affording "aid and comfort to the enemy" by furnishing beef cattle for the Canada market, called on Mr. Bradley and inquired - " Esq. Bradley, have you any beef cattle to sell ?" "I have cattle in good order," was the reply. "I should like, then, to look at them, for I want to buy some for market." " What market ?" in- quired Mr. Bradley. " Well," said Mr. G., " I don't know as that concerns you - but the money is in my pocket, and if you will sell I am willing to pay a good price." Looking searchingly at him, Esq. B. said, " If you wish for my cattle to drive to Canada to feed the enemy in time of war, you have not money enough to buy them !" Upon which Mr. G. went his way, and purchased of those less serupulous.
Mr. Bradley was tall and slender, but of great muscular power. At one time he and the late Jonathan Eastman owned Sewall's Isl- and, where they had a barn. Going to the barn early one spring, he discovered a wild cat in it. The animal secreted itself behind a pile of boards. Not having a gun, Mr. Bradley, with a pair of leather mittens on his hands, seized the creature by the nape of the neck and small of its back, and choked it to death.
Though not a member of the church, Mr. B. was a firm and liberal supporter of religious institutions, a constant attendant on public worship, and of exemplary life. He passed the evening of his days in retirement and honor, in the old family mansion, greatly respected by his fellow-citizens, and died July 6, 1815, in the 72d year of his age, leaving his house and homestead to his youngest son, Richard.
KIL BURN-MALLORY. SC
" The Gambrel Roof," as the Bradley mansion is sometimes called, is well represented by the above cut. It was built by Hon.
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BIOGRAPHICAL.
John Bradley, according to family tradition, about 1769. The upper part, or attic, was used many years for spreading and drying corn in the ear. The front part of the house retains its ancient form, but the back part has been considerably changed and enlarged by its present owner.
JOSEPH WHEAT, THE STAGE-DRIVER.
BY G. K.
Of Joseph Wheat, who will be recollected as almost or quite the first stage-driver into Concord, and whose nose, especially, will be re- membered long, I have two or three anecdotes - some of them not quite fit for publication. On their complaining, at Amherst-through which town his stage then passed -that he did not give notice of his approach by the usual mode of blowing a tin horn, he replied through the Amherst Cabinet, that he was aware of his deficiency in the usual notice ; that he really was too poor to supply himself with a horn ; but that in future, " whenever they should see the nose, they might expect the stage in about ten minutes." On another occasion, stopping for breakfast, one frosty morning, and coming in from the cold, taking his seat at the table on the opposite side of rather a dainty passenger, a drop was observed as pendant from the driver's proboscis, which the passenger noticed, and requested him very rebukingly and sternly to wipe off. Wheat, with the utmost sany froid, instantly replied, " Wipe it off yourself, if you please, sir, - you are the nearest to it." As illustrative of the great and com- mendable change in the public taste since the old " pod-anger " and dram-drinking times, I have in mind, as impressing itself upon my youthful recollection, a conclusion of one of Wheat's public adver- tisements, on establishing what he called "a new line of stages."
" Come, my old friends, and take a seat In this new line, with Joseph Wheat ; And when to your journey's end you've come, Your friend will treat with good old Rum."
Ilow would this call-this toper-graphical, not " Macedonian " ery-sound now-a-days, as echoed through the public prints ? Wheat was noted for his ready versification, of which a specimen has already been given on page 350, on the marriage of one Ball, an ardent- spirit soldier of the war of 1812, to Nancy Cumore, or Cumoe, a dingy lass of some five and forty, living at service in Capt. Ayer's family.
Respecting the adventures of Wheat's nose, Samuel A. Kimball relates that on one occasion, driving the stage from Concord to Hano- ver, Wheat met the President of the College, John Wheelock, riding in a carriage ; and as he passed, took hold of his own nose, and pulling it one side, said, " Mr. President, I think you will be able to pass now.'
Mr. Wheat removed hence to Charlestown, Mass., where he resided many years. The date of his decease is not known by the writer.
REUBEN ABBOT.
Reuben Abbot, son of James Abbot, was born in Andover, and came to Penacook when a lad, with his father, about 1735. He was
37
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HISTORY OF CONCORD.
one of the most extraordinary men of his generation. Tradition affirms that when he was born he weighed but four pounds, and, as an object of curiosity, was put into a quart tankard and the lid shut down. His head and ears could be covered with a common sized tea-cup.
When a young man he was distinguished for activity, strength, enterprise and energy. As particularly related in another place, he drove the ox-team that conveyed the dead bodies of the Brad- leys and others, who were massacred in 1746. He and his brother James eleared and settled on land west of Long pond, which was given them by their father, about 1754. Reuben built the house where his grandson Reuben, and great-grandson Reuben Kilburn, now live. During his long life he was one of the most energetic and enterprising men in that section of the town. He was six feet in height, robust and strong, with bright blue eyes, and in old age very venerable in appearance. When eighty years of age he could swing a scythe and mow his swath with any man. At ninety years he shaved himself with a razor which he had owned seventy years. In shaving he never used a glass, but sat in his chair, and after lather- ing, placed the back of his razor carefully on his face, and turn- ing it, shaved off the beard. He would often relate the dangers and hardships he endured in the early period of the settlement .* He said he used to kill deer enough to give him fresh meat through the winter, and also to salt down for summer. The deer-skins he dressed for mittens and for leather breeches, which, with a cocked hat, he continued to wear as long as he lived. Among the stories of his exploits, which used to puzzle the children and grandchildren, were these : "That he once shot a deer with a single ball, and made six holes through its skin ;" and at another time " he shot and killed a deer without making any hole in its skin, or even drawing blood." After guessing in vain how it could be, the old man gratified the curiosity of his listeners by saying that in the first instance the ball passed through the fore leys and brisket of the deer, thus making six holes in the skin ; and in the second, the ball entered one eye of the deer and lodged in its head. Once, while in a boat on Long pond, fishing, Mr. Abbot discovered a bear swimming towards him. Hav- ing his gun, he shot and wounded the bear, which thereupon, terribly enraged, still made for the boat. With the oars he defended him- self, beat the bear off, and escaped without injury.
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