USA > New Hampshire > Cheshire County > Dublin > The history of Dublin, N.H. : containing the address by Charles Mason, and the proceedings at the centennial celebration, June 17, 1852, with a register of families > Part 5
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71 | Part 72 | Part 73 | Part 74 | Part 75 | Part 76 | Part 77 | Part 78 | Part 79 | Part 80 | Part 81 | Part 82 | Part 83 | Part 84 | Part 85 | Part 86 | Part 87 | Part 88 | Part 89 | Part 90 | Part 91 | Part 92 | Part 93 | Part 94 | Part 95 | Part 96 | Part 97
But the people soon abandoned the task of making their computations by the depreciating currency, and resorted to a more substantial standard. In 1780, we find them voting Mr. Sprague two hundred bushels of rye, or the value thereof in beef, pork, Indian corn, butter, cheese, sheep's wool, flax, or any other article that shall be acceptable to him, as a salary for that year; allowing, for rye, six shillings a bushel; Indian corn, five shillings and four pence; butter, one shilling a pound; cheese, eightpence; sheep's wool, two shillings and threepence; flax, one shilling; beef, threepence three farthings; and pork, fivepence.
The next year they voted him the same salary, - two hun- dred bushels of rye, or the value thereof in other articles, at the same rates as last year, - to be delivered at his house by those who were to pay it. It will readily occur to any one that this method of receiving his salary could not have been particu- larly convenient, nor was likely to be peculiarly advantageous to him. There is an anecdote widely circulated of Mr. Sprague, that his people once proposed to increase his salary, but that he begged them not to do it, since it plagued him almost to death to get what they agreed to give him at first. Considering the way in which his salary was paid, one can readily appreciate the feeling which must have prompted the deprecatory reply that was thus given, or certainly might well have been, had the proposal in question actually have been made.
The difficulties growing out of the depreciation of the cur- rency, coupled with some others relative to Mr. Sprague's im- provement of certain of the town's land, led to rather a sharp
26
HISTORY OF DUBLIN
encounter between him and the town, in 1781, in which he sent to them two or three letters, couched in language very plain, and not slightly tart. The troubles, however, were amicably adjusted. The next year the town voted Mr. Sprague, for his salary, "two hundred hard dollars, or two hundred bushels of rye."
In 1801, Mr. Sprague, having received from the estate of his father, who died three or four years before that time, a con- siderable amount of money, made a proposition to the town, which was accepted, to relinquish his salary entirely, upon certain conditions. A letter from him was laid before the town, setting forth that, in consequence of bodily indisposition and infirmities, he had been advised by the best physicians to a change of air and situation, and not to retain a permanent resi- dence in Dublin; and he proposed to relinquish, from the 12th of May, 1801, his annual salary of sixty pounds, and thirty cords of wood, but to retain his pastoral connection with the church, and the right of supplying the pulpit with men of piety and good abilities, when he might find it inexpedient to preach him- self, - the town paying such preachers for their services. Upon the acceptance of the proposition by the town, he sent in a formal release of his salary. Notwithstanding this arrange- ment, it is understood that Mr. Sprague, during the rest of his lifetime, was absent very little from Dublin, and that he continued himself to preach, for the most part, though he had frequently other persons to preach for him; but, it is presumed, this was never attended with any expense to the town.
After the matter of the relinquishment of his salary was ad- justed, no further mention, except incidentally, is made of Mr. Sprague, in the town records, until, at the March meeting in 1818, it was voted to erect a monument to perpetuate his memory. He died on the sixteenth day of December, 1817. His death was occasioned by an injury received in being thrown from his carriage, a week previous. The Rev. Elijah Dunbar of Peterborough preached the sermon, at his funeral, which was subsequently printed, by a vote of the town.
Mr. Sprague was born in Boston, May 20, 1750, and gradu- ated at Harvard College in 1770. He was a son of Dr. John Sprague, a physician of very considerable eminence, who re- sided in Boston, and afterwards in Dedham, and who accumu- lated a large property.
Probably no other man who lived hereabouts, in those times, had, or still has, so general a notoriety, throughout a region of
.
27
ADDRESS OF CHARLES MASON
considerable extent, as Mr. Sprague. He is commonly spoken of in connection with the thousand anecdotes related of him, many of which, so far as he was concerned, probably had none, and others but a slight, foundation in fact. These anecdotes are of a kind to give the impression that he must have been exceedingly ignorant and shallow. Such, however, is said not to have been the case. Living, as he always had, in and about the large town of Boston, he was undoubtedly not well versed in the business and customs of agricultural life; and he had no great aptitude or taste for acquainting himself with such mat- ters. He is said to have been a good scholar, and to have kept himself well informed, by reading and otherwise, of what was going on in the world. He was not, however, given to close ap- plication to professional studies, or to an elaborate preparation for his public exercises.
He was preeminently of a social and jovial character, fond of conversation, anecdote, repartee, and good cheer. He is re- ported to have possessed, in a marked degree, the qualities of shrewdness and sharpness of intellect; and in the encounter of wits with his clerical brethren, which was not unusual in those days, his opponent was quite as likely as himself to come off second best. He was a man of the most kindly, generous dis- position, and of ready sympathy with affliction and distress.
"As a minister of the gospel," it is said by Mr. Dunbar, in his funeral sermon, "Mr. Sprague was considered as excelling more particularly in his pathetic addresses, and sermons on funeral occasions, and generally in his public prayers." Of his sermons, generally, I doubt whether much can be said to their advantage. It is presumed he had not the industry and appli- cation necessary to prepare them thoroughly and carefully. Those that he left are written in a character and hand so com- pletely illegible that nobody, so far as I have heard, unless it were Mr. Dunbar, has ever pretended to the ability to decipher them; and I have been told it was not always without consid- erable difficulty that he could read his sermons himself.
In his will, made three days before his death, Mr. Sprague gave to the town of Dublin five thousand dollars, to be left at interest forever, for the support of the Christian religion, in the Congregational [now Unitarian] Society, in the town. After giving to Dr. Moses Kidder two thousand dollars, making some other bequests of small amount, and leaving to his wife the use of the rest of his estate during her lifetime, he gave to the town of Dublin all the remainder of his estate, "to be kept for
28
HISTORY OF DUBLIN
schooling in said Dublin." Mrs. Sprague dying soon after, this fund, amounting to nearly ten thousand dollars, came into possession; and the income of it has ever since been applied to the support of the public common schools.
The subject of building a new meetinghouse began to be agitated soon after the commencement of the present century. At the March meeting in 1808, the town voted to build a new meetinghouse. But nothing came of it. In November, 1810, they voted to accept the report of a committee from out of town, for fixing the spot, and chose a committee to let out the building of the house. The spot selected was upon land of Cyrus Chamberlain, probably not far from the place where the brick church now stands.1 But there was dissatisfaction in regard to the location. Some desired that it should be built upon the schoolhouse hill. There was a succession of excit- ing town-meetings in 1811, which, however, resulted in nothing.
Here the matter subsided, and rested till 1815, when it was again voted to build a new meetinghouse, and to set it on the schoolhouse hill. But, this proving unsatisfactory, in March, 1817, a committee was raised, consisting of four from the east and four from the west part of the town, to agree upon a spot for the house. This committee made a report, at the same meeting, which was accepted, and which was, "to set the meet- inghouse north of Joseph Appleton's blacksmith's shop, and turn the road south of the potash, to the post-guide south of Esquire Snow's, from thence south of the burial-ground, across the point of the pond," - where the road now is.
The road thus proposed was laid out by the selectmen; but the town, at a town-meeting held June 2, voted against accept- ing it, and, by consequence, against building the house upon the spot designated. At the same time, it was voted to build a meetinghouse upon the schoolhouse hill, and to have it done in a year from the next November. At an adjournment of this meeting, on the 23d of June, a report of a committee, fixing the spot 2 where the house was finally built, was accepted by a vote of eighty to thirty-seven. This vote was decisive of the matter, and the house was built accordingly. It was raised in June, 1818. The raising occupied two or three days, and was regarded as a momentous occasion. Former residents of the town took that opportunity to revisit their kindred and friends,
1 Not standing now. It was near the site of John A. Gleason's residence. - J. L. S.
2 About on the site of Mrs. Farnham's summer residence. The present edifice was built in 1852, and dedicated, March 2, 1853. - J. L. S.
29
ADDRESS OF CHARLES MASON
and the people of the neighboring towns flocked in to witness the achievement. The house was built by Messrs. Cutting of Templeton, Mass., and Kilburn of Fitzwilliam, and was fin- ished in the course of the season. The dedication, which took place on the 3d of December following, was very numerously attended. The Rev. Thomas Beede of Wilton delivered the sermon on that occasion.
After the death of Mr. Sprague, the pulpit was supplied by several candidates. Mr. Levi W. Leonard commenced preach- ing as a candidate on the first Sunday of April, 1820. In June succeeding, he was invited to settle as the minister of the First Congregational [Unitarian] Church and Society, and accepted the invitation. His ordination took place, Sept. 6, 1820. The sermon on the occasion was preached by the Rev. Henry Ware, Sen., D.D., of Harvard University.
A Baptist church was organized in Dublin 1 in 1785. Elder Elijah Willard was ordained, June 5, 1793. A meetinghouse was built, soon after, upon the Bemis farm, where it stood until recently, when it was removed further west, and fitted up anew. Mr. Willard continued to preach till near the time of his death, which took place in August, 1839, at the age of eighty-eight years. [See account of Baptist Church in Chapter VIII.]
The Trinitarian Congregational Church was formed, No- vember 21, 1827. Their meetinghouse2 was built in 1835. They were supplied by different preachers, but had no settled minister till October, 1840, when the Rev. Henry A. Kendall was or- dained. He was dismissed, at his own request, in July, 1850; and the Rev. Alonzo Hayes was installed in April following.
A Methodist meetinghouse was built 3 in the northwest part of the town, about ten years ago.4 A part of the society are inhabitants of Dublin, as are also some members of the re- ligious society at Harrisville.
The first mention that is made of schools, in the town rec- ords, is in July, 1773, when the town granted four pounds "to keep a woman's school, to be kept in three parts of the town." For the next three years, they granted six pounds a year, to be laid out in like manner.
1 In the part of the town which is now in Harrisville. - J. L. S.
2 Not now standing. It was about on the site of John A. Gleason's house. The present edifice is much further east, at the foot of the hill. - J. L. S.
3 West of Russell's mill, in the corner between the old hill road and the new road to Marlborough, in the west end of the present town of Harrisville. - J. L. S.
4 In 1842. - J. L. S.
30
HISTORY OF DUBLIN
In 1778, it was voted to build two schoolhouses, one in the northwest part of the town, the other in the east part. But it seems they were never built, and it is presumed that, up to the year 1784, there was no schoolhouse in the town. In that year, a vote was passed to build seven schoolhouses, at the cost of the town. This vote was carried into effect, eventually, though it was several years before the houses were all com- pleted. The town voted one hundred fifty pounds for the purpose, to be assessed and divided into seven equal parts, and to "give each man liberty to work or find stuff for said housen, to pay his rate."
A good deal of difficulty was experienced in fixing the location of some of the schoolhouses, particularly that "for the street," which was finally built by Moses Greenwood's,1 and that "for the northwest part of the town." Instead of the one originally provided for, it was determined, in 1791, to build two houses in the northwest part, - one west of Eli Greenwood's,2 and the other near Andrew Allison's.3 It was "voted that the select- men shall prefix the places for said schoolhouses to be built by the great; provided they don't give more than forty-five pound for building both schoolhousen." Possibly the selectmen may have felt constrained to leave the money to accumulate for a time, - as it appears by the records that the house by Andrew Allison's was not accepted by the town till 1799. In the mean time the schoolhouse by Moses Greenwood's was given up, and, in its stead, one was built in the middle of the town, and another by Drury Morse's,4 in 1795. There were now nine districts. The tenth was formed about the year 1805, by the division of the northeast district.
The schoolhouses which were first built, it may safely be presumed, were but rude structures, small in dimensions, rough in workmanship, and inconvenient and uncomfortable in their arrangements. They cost about thirty pounds, or a hundred dollars, each, - several of them considerably less than that sum. The two which it was first voted to build were to be "25 by 20 feet." The town had but fairly got around with building the schoolhouses, when it became necessary to repair them; and, before many years, several of them required to be renewed. At the March meeting in 1809, it was voted to build
1 Who lived on the site of Miss Thayer's, formerly Albert Metcalf's house. - J. L. S.
2 Near the site of the present Chesham schoolhouse. - J. L. S.
3 The schoolhouse stood on "Parker Hill Road," on the west side of it. - J. L. S.
4 Who lived near Bond's Corner. - J. L. S.
31
ADDRESS OF CHARLES MASON
a new schoolhouse in each district that was destitute of one. Under this vote, it appears that houses were built in the south- west district, the south, and the southeast, - at an average cost of about one hundred seventy dollars. A house was built by Drury Morse's 1 in 1815, and in 1817 one 2 by Eli Green- wood's, and another3 by Eli Hamilton's. These houses cost about two hundred twenty-five dollars apiece.
The grants of school money were at first very irregular. For several years, there is no record of any money having been raised. In 1787, the sum granted was fifty pounds, or $166.67. It rose gradually in amount, but never exceeded three hundred dollars, till 1805, when it was raised to four hundred fifty dollars, which continued ever to be the sum till 1820. It should be observed, however, that, prior to 1805, the board of the teachers had always been paid by the town from its general funds, and was not taken out of the school money. But, after that time, each district was required to pay the board of its teachers out of its proportion of the school money.
While the town paid for the board, the price was pretty uni- formly four shillings a week for boarding a schoolmaster, and two shillings and sixpence for a schoolmistress, until 1795, or thereabouts, when it had come to be six shillings and four shillings respectively. The wages paid to teachers can be ascertained in but few instances. In 1788, Alexander Eames was paid for two months five pounds four shillings, or eight dollars and sixty-seven cents a month, which was probably higher than the average price. In 1790, Samuel Appleton had eight dollars a month, for nine weeks. It is said he was paid in rye, which Mr. Ivory Perry carried to him at New Ipswich, where he then lived. The same year, 1790, Sarah Twitchell was paid for eight weeks, at the rate of forty-four cents a week, - which was probably about the usual price for female teach- ers at that time. It rose by degrees till about the year 1800, from which time, for twenty-five or thirty years, the common price was a dollar a week.
The school-fund of the town, derived mainly from the be- quest of Mr. Sprague, and a small part from the proceeds of sales of the school-lands, amounts now to upwards of $11,000. The income of this fund became available in 1820, and has
1 Near Bond's Corner. - J. L. S.
2 In what was afterwards Pottersville, now Chesham. - J. L. S.
3 The schoolhouse (till 1841) in what is now the Harrisville district. It stood in the 13th lot of the 9th range, on the old road once leading due north from the second corner east of the late residence of S. Willard. - J. L. S.
39
HISTORY OF DUBLIN
since been applied for the support of schools. From that time, the town has never raised a school-tax, under that name; but to the income of this fund, and the money received from the state, known as the "Literary Fund," there has been added, from the general funds of the town, sufficient to make up the sum divided, which has been sometimes one thousand dollars, sometimes less, and, for the last three or four years, more than that amount.1
In 1806, Mr. Sprague and eleven others were chosen a com- mittee to inspect the schools in the town. This is presumed to have been the first school-committee. A like committee was chosen in 1809, and again in 1818 and 1819. In 1821, as the record shows, "The town chose the Rev. Levi W. Leonard, the principal committee-man, to visit the schools in the several districts, in this town, with the agent belonging to the district which is to be visited, whose duty it is to inform Mr. Leonard of the time he is desired to attend for that purpose." At the March meeting in 1823, a report upon the schools was made to the town. Every year since that time, a written report has been prepared, which, with a single exception, has been read in town-meeting, and for the last ten years has been printed for the use of the inhabitants. Mr. Leonard has been upon the school-committee every year since 1821. For many years he was in the habit of visiting every school, summer and winter, at its commencement and close, - a service which he never failed to perform unless prevented by some necessity. The men who, from year to year, have been associated with him upon the committee, have generally been efficient and well qualified for the duty; and altogether the schools of the town, for the last thirty years, have had the benefit of a supervision, it may safely be asserted, superior to that enjoyed by the schools of any other town in the state.
The schools of Dublin have long been deservedly famed for their excellence; and they may well be regarded by the inhabit- ants of the town with emotions of mingled satisfaction and pride. And it is but an act of simple justice in us, who have enjoyed their advantages, here publicly to acknowledge our
1 These words were spoken in 1852. Since then the rate of interest has become much lower. In 1911, the income from the Sprague school-fund amounted to $679.44, Dub- lin's share of the Literary Fund was $50.82, and Dublin's proportion of the state aid was $156.25, making $886.51 derived from these three sources. To this must be added the town appropriation of $2385, the sum of $200 raised by the "school district," which now includes the entire township, and an unexpended dog-tax of $161.70, all of which sonrces furnished $3633.21 for school purposes. - J. L. S.
33
ADDRESS OF CHARLES MASON
especial obligations to their two principal benefactors, - to the second minister of the town and to his successor, - of whom, speaking generally, and without disparagement to others, it may be truly said, the former furnished the capital, the latter the labor, by the combined agency of which the beautiful structure of our common schools was reared.
It has been the lot of the town, for the last half-century nearly, instead of advancing, rather to retrograde, in point of population and wealth. As an agricultural town, which almost exclusively it has been, its soil, comparatively sterile and hard of cultivation, yields a comfortable subsistence but to the most patient, persevering industry, and downright hard work. Richer soils and milder climate have lured many to engage in agriculture elsewhere, while many more have been withdrawn to follow other pursuits. From these causes, whether to their own advantage always it were useless here to inquire, it has happened, that a large proportion, especially of those in the prime and vigor of life, have, of late, left the homes of their youth to seek their fortunes in other scenes. Scattered all through the wide domain of our country may be found the sons and daughters of Dublin, pursuing their various avoca- tions.
But, wherever they may be, whatever may be their pursuits, truth, I believe, will warrant the assertion, that seldom, indeed, have they been known to bring dishonor upon the place of their birth. The habits of industry, economy, and sobriety, of staid, correct deportment, of honesty and integrity, of kindness and humanity, to which they were here trained, they very gener- ally still retain with a firm grasp, and exercise in their adopted homes; so that, however this constant drain upon its population may have diminished the industrial energies, and impaired the prosperity, of the town, there is yet the reflection, that the force thus withdrawn has not been lost, but has been brought to bear perhaps with more effect, and where it was more needed.
The apparent natural disadvantages under which the town has labored have not been wholly without resulting advantages. Our rigorous climate is nevertheless, in the main, healthful and invigorating, fitted to produce a hardy, robust, energetic people. Our stubborn soil, while it has demanded of its in- habitants unremitting labor to insure a livelihood, has, at least, albeit in a measure by necessity, saved them from indolence, extravagance, and many of the temptations to vice, and has inured them to habits of industry, frugality, and virtue. This
34
HISTORY OF DUBLIN
state of things, though not altogether the most agreeable, it admits not of a doubt, is more conducive alike to the happiness and the permanent welfare of a people than the possession of the richest soil, if coupled with its usual, though not neces- sary, concomitants, - idleness, dissipation, and low amuse- ments.
To an indifferent observer, regarding merely its rugged, rocky surface, its bleak hills, its piercing winds, and drifting snows, our town might seem to possess few attractions. But to us, in whose minds its memories are intertwined with so much that is dearest in life, it may be permitted to regard it with sentiments such as we cherish towards no other place. Here we first awoke to conscious being. Here we first experienced alike the joys and the sorrows of sentient, rational life. Here were the homes of our early years. Here are the graves of our fathers.
Neither, by any means, is the town devoid of scenes of nat- ural beauty and objects of interest. Witness the grandeur of its forests, studded with majestic trees, in the summer crowned with verdant foliage, which, touched by the autumnal frosts, assumes such richly variegated yet sombre hues; in the winter, standing, snow-imbedded, with their naked arms battling the fury of the blast; or on a bright morning, after one of those storms of mingled snow and hail, sleet and rain, see every branch and twig, cased in transparent ice, flashing in the sun- light, with all the shifting colors of the rainbow. Mark the rugged hills, the deep, secluded dells, the cultivated fields, the ponds, embosomed in dense, wild woods, or opening upon cleared grounds. Where, for instance, can be found a sheet of water more beautiful than the old "meetinghouse pond," with its cool, crystal waters and clear, sandy shore, so congenial to its delicious inhabitant, the trout; with its glassy surface now sleeping in the sparkling sunshine, now uplifted by the winds in tiny, silver-crested waves?
Here, too, we have the Monadnock, rising in cold, proud, isolated grandeur, an emblem at once of the essential stability and the superficial changes of nature. Its rugged sides, now compact of bald, cragged rock, were formerly covered with trees almost to its summit. But, years ago, the ravening fire, kindled whether by accident or design, spread over a great part of the superior portion of the mountain, killing every tree and shrub wherever it went. The dead trees, decaying and falling, furnished materials for another conflagration, which occurred
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.