USA > New Hampshire > Hillsborough County > Hillsborough > The history of Hillsborough, New Hampshire, 1735-1921, Volume 1 > Part 16
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Dated January 6th, 1790.
Names of the Signers belonging to Hillsborough :
David Goodell
William Love
Tho miller Miller
John mcClintock
David Livermore James Miller
John MeCleary
Samuel Pope
William Tallant
Andrew Bixbee
Issachar Andrews
Samuel Preston
Moses Steele
benjamin Jones
Robert patten
Thomas murdough
benjamin Jones Jun
I John McNeaill has
John Bixbe
John Gibson nothan against be-
Joseph Taggart
Archibald Taggart
ing Sat of-
Alexander mcClintok
I william Hutching-
hugh Smith
Fortuns Wheeler
son has nothan
Solomon Andrews
against being sot- of-
Names of the Signers belonging to Campbell's Gore :
Josiah Swett
Daniel Bixbe
Asa Dresser
David Perkins
Josiah Swett Jun
Eben Curtice
Stephen Wyman
James Jones Daniel Gibson
John Goodell John Roche
Henry Bagley .
Nathan Barker
John Roach Jr
William Jones
Joshua Jones
James Roche
Daniel Gordon
Jonathan Swett
In House of Representatives, January 16, 1790, Robert Wallace, of Henniker, Ninian Aiken, of Deering, and Capt. Daniel Miltimore, of Antrim, were appointed as a committee "to view the situation" and report to the next session. Council non- concurred.
Another petition dated May 28, 1790, and signed by eighteen men in Hillsborough and sixteen in Campbell's Gore, was sent to the court, which was looked upon with favor by the House of
185
PRAYERS MADE IN VAIN.
Representatives, but this called forth the following remonstrance against being incorporated with "any part of Washington or Stoddard":
The Petition of Sundry of the Inhabitants of Campbells Gore, humbly Sheweth, that whereas there is a Petition, now laying before your Honours the Prayer of which is-that Campbells Gore part of Hillsborough and other Lands be Incorporated into a town-the Order already taken on said Petition now lays in the Report of your Honours Committee and Appointed for a day of hearing, and as it Appears to us your Petitioners that if the Report of said Committee Should be that we are to be Annexed with any part of Washington or Stoddard it would be much more to our Disadvantage, than to be as we are-We your petitioners, therefore humbly Pray, that we may not be Incorporated into a Town, with any part of Washington or Stoddard-All which is humbly submitted to your honours to do as in your great Wisdom may see meet-
And your petitioners as in duty bound shall ever Pray- Given at Campbells Gore
Feby 23d 1791-
Jonathan Swett William Jones Junr. Danill Gordon
David Perkins Sam Bradford Juner Benjamin Jons Jr
Saml Jones Junt James Roche John Roche Jr
Nathan Barker
Abiathar Eaton Stephen Wyman
Josiah Proctor Jur Joel Richards Isace Curtice
The petition referred to, following its preamble, had said :
The petition of us the Subscribers, being Inhabitants of a track of Land called Campbell Gore-and also of Sundry of the Inhabitants living in the South west part of the town of Hillsborough-
Most humbly Shews-
That the said track of Land first Mentioned, containing between 3 and 4000 Acres, which is to small ever to become a town, or parish sufficient to maintain the Gospel, or carry on publick business, and its Situation is such, that it cannot be Joined to any Lands for its relief, except a track of Land, lying in the South West of said Hillsborough, on which a number of your petitioners reside, and are desirous of being United with the Inhabitants of Campbells Gore by an Incorpora- tion vesting them with such town privileges and Immunities as other towns in the State hold and do Enjoy-
That the whole town of Hillsborough contains about the Quantity of 26000-and part hereby requested to be Joined to the said Gore Contains only about 6000 Acres-Your petitioners therefore most humbly pray, that an act may pass the honourable Assembly-In-
186
HISTORY OF HILLSBOROUGH.
corporating into a town the said Gore, with the South West part of Hillsborough, according to the following Description & Boundaries (Viz) Beginning at the South east Corner of Lot Nº 39 in the third Division (so called) being the south bounds of said Hillsborough thence North about 15 Degrees West, in the east bounds of the Wester- most range of the said 3d Division Lots, to the Northeast Corner of Lot Nº 6 in said Division, thence south Eight Degree and an half West, to the North West Corner of said Lot Nº 6, thence Northerdly about 30 Rods to the North east Corner of Lot Nº 58 in the second Division, thence Westerdly in the North bounds of Hillsborough, Then pursuing the North West and South Lines of said Gore as the same as are now reputed to be-till it shall come to the South West cornerbounds of said Hillsborough-thence easterdly in the south Lines of Hillsbor- ough to place of beginning.
VOTERS IN CAMPBELL'S GORE, 1791.
A trew Record of the inhaberance of Campbels Gore being Voters at the Prescent Day
John Roch Juner
Joel Richards James Roch
James Jones
Nathan Barker Danil Gibson
Danill Gorden
Isaacher Andrews Ebenezer Curtis
William Jones Junr Joshua Jones John Curtis
Benjamin Jones Juner Stephen Wyman
Isace Curtis
Josiah Swett Juner Davod Pirkins
David Morrison
Sam1 Jones Asa Dresser
Henry Bagly
Josiah Proctr
Jonathan Swett
Sam Bradford
Isaac Dodge John Roch
Abither Eaton
A trew Coppy of the above inhabetance by me Joel Richards T: Cleark
Campbels Gore June the 9 yr 1791
The number of the inhabitants of Campbell's Gore increased, a regular town government was established and seems to have flourished fairly well, but it was not until December 27, 1798, that a town was incorporated under the name of Windsor. It was one of the smallest towns in the state in area, while its in- habitants number only sixty-five. June 21, 1797, a small tract of land lying next to Washington, known as Wheeler's Gore, had been annexed, so the new township contained five thousand, three hundred and thirty-five acres. Joshua Lovejoy was authorized to issue a warrant for the first town meeting in January, 1799, which was held in his house. The soil and physical features of the new town were considered favorable for its growth, but its
187
DESERTED HOMESTEADS.
pioneers, for reasons of their own, settled far apart, and the corporation never had a collection of dwellers of sufficient num- bers to deserve the name of a "village." Its isolated situation was against any permanent extension of business, and whenever, for any reason either by death or removal, a family abandoned one of the homesteads no one was ready to continue its cultiva- tion, so one by one the farmsteads were deserted, until to-day only a very few remain to remind us of the original grantees with their trials and disappointment. Its title had come too late.
CHAPTER X.
THE TOWN CHURCH.
First Ministers in Hillsborough-Organization of the First Church So- ciety-When Meeting Houses were Built by the Town-Religious Elements in Town-Congregationalist-Presbyterian-Ancestors of the Early Settlers-Yorkshire Men-Scotch Irish-Colonel Hill's Gift to the Town-Settling a Minister-Building the Sec- ond Meeting House-The Reverend Jonathan Barnes-The Ordi- nation-Growth of Town-First Warning "to Meet at the Meeting House"-How War Retarded Religious Work-The Glass Saved from First Meeting House Used for Second-The People Outgrow the Meeting House-Removed for a Larger and Handsomer Edifice.
The first minister to hold meetings in town in the pioneer meeting house of Number Seven was the Rev. Daniel Wilkins of Amherst, a sturdy disciple of the gospel. There is no record to show how often he came nor if other preachers came to the isolated settlement striving to make a place for itself on the map.
The earliest ministers to visit Hillsborough in the churchless days of the second settlement in the wilderness were the Rev. Messrs. William Houston of Bedford and Samuel Cotton of Litchfield and James Scales of Hopkinton. They assisted in the organization in the first church society in 1769, which accepted the Congregational mode of church government, though there were several earnest Presbyterians among the inhabitants.
Taking into consideration the formation of the religious society in the town and the building of what was practically the first meeting house, we cannot or should not fail to remember the shadow under which it was accomplished-the shadow of a great war and the wonder becomes that they should have per- formed their task as well as they did. This is explained in part by the words of Mr. Lyman W. Densmore in his excellent monograph on the "old" meeting house so called :
"My readers of New England birth do not require to be told that from the earliest settlement of the colonies provision for public worship and the building of 'meeting houses' was
188
189
RELIGIOUS CHARACTER OF THE SETTLERS.
strictly the business of the town as a body politic, and that until the increased wealth of the struggling communities justified the erection of town halls the practice generally was to hold town meetings in them. The term 'church' as applied to houses of divine worship, was universally tabooed by public sentiment, the rural population being almost entirely non-conformists, and hold- ing the practices, as well as the designation of things connected with the worship, of the English church in utter abhorrence. Hence, always 'meeting house,' never 'church'."
The early settlers of Hillsborough were composed of repre- sentatives of the sturdy yeomanry that composed the predominat- ing inhabitants of the Merrimack valley, and the equally sterling refugees of northern Ireland, whose ancestors had emigrated previously from Scotland. The first class, who were somewhat in the majority, without the austerity of the Pilgrim or the aristocracy of the Puritan, were men and woman who had come to New England mostly from Western England with the avowed purpose of founding for themselves homes in the wilderness and to better their conditions. Their leading trait was a love of liberty, tempered with an unswerving fidelity in their social rela- tions. They were preeminently a home-making people. They were Protestants of the Orthodox faith. Unlike the two ele- ments already mentioned, they did not nurture in their hearts a religious grievance, but they came here with a desire to improve their condition in life. They were the progressive pioneers of New England. Scarcely a town granted in New Hampshire that was not made up largely of these people. In the cosmopolitan make-up of the English-speaking races these colonists could claim a remote kinship with the Pilgrims and Puritans, but far enough removed to have moulded a new type of citizenship
Possessing as rugged virtues as the others, and bearing a yoke of religious persecution that made the loads of the Pilgrims and Puritans seem light, the Scotch-Irish colonists belonged to an entirely different ancestry. A complete analysis of their fore- bears would require more space than could be given here. In the remote past their distant ancestors had entered Ireland, and driving the native population known as Celts from their pathway, they crossed the island, giving their names and titles to the race they had subjugated to a certain extent. In 626 certain ones of
190
HISTORY OF HILLSBOROUGH.
this uneasy body of Milesians or Scots crossed over the North Channel into Ancient Caledonia to overpower the Picts on the highlands and the Saxons on the lowlands, as they had the Celts in Ireland. Then the country became known as Scot's Land or Scotland.
Scarcely had the new-comers become located in their adopted land than they found themselves environed by perils and hard- ships. One-half of the land of a poor nation had been engrossed by its lords and bishops. The churches and cathedrals glittered with wealth taken from the hovels and cottages of the peasants, so the great majority of the people grovelled in poverty. The Moses to bring light to the benighted land was a young student at Wurtenburg, Patrick Hamilton, who had listened to the inspired teachings of Martin Luther. Upon returning to his native coun- try to declare the doctrine of the new religion he was met with a cordial reception from the "Scotch-Irish," as the newcomers into Scotland were denominated for the first time.
Young Hamilton and scores of others equally as brave and patriotic lost their lives, while hundreds of years of bitter battling followed. Often the brave Presbyterians were so hard pressed that their cause seemed hopeless. But the fire kindled by Hamilton would not be quenched, and it was no uncommon spec- tacle to see hundreds of the outlawed people coming out from their concealment to listen under some wide-spreading tree to the fervid pleadings of a spiritual leader upon whose head at that moment even, was a heavy reward. In the early part of this long interval of semi-darkness a considerable number of the Scottish Covenanters returned across the Channel into the north of Ire- land, which since the departure of their ancestors had been terribly ravaged by the English, so that the land was deserted of its inhabitants and despoiled of its wealth. Under this most depressing situation, after more than a thousand years, the descendants of the early Scots of Ireland returned to the scenes of their forefathers. With no open arms to receive them, they set about to repair their shattered fortunes. It is well to remem- ber that in the long period between the exit of the fathers and the return of the sons, the Scots had mingled more freely with the Picts and Saxons than they had ever done with the Celts, and
191
FIRST CHURCH SOCIETY IN TOWN.
that over thirty generations of this mixed product had appeared and vanished during an interval long enough to have obliterated many racial characteristics ; aye, to have created a new race in the crucible of destiny.
If these earnest Presbyterians had hoped to escape persecu- tion by their flight to Ireland, they were woefully mistaken. Zealous Protestants, in the days of James the Second of England, they supported William of Orange against his tyranny. In the fierce struggle that ensued they seemed to have been forgotten by their English ally, who in truth had all on hand he could attend to at home, so the oppressed refugees were obliged to intrench themselves within the walls of Old Londonderry. Then followed that siege which forms one of the most stirring chapters of famine, torture and fortitude that history records, until, when it was almost too late, relief came.
Soon after the closing scene in this drama of warfare, in 1689, or within twenty-five years, these oppressed people began to come to New England. Obtaining a grant of New Hamp- shire ten miles square, which they named Londonderry, they rapidly settled that section and pushed into the adjoining towns. From that vicinity came the Scotch-Irish pioneers of Hillsbor- ough and adjacent towns.
This in brief is the story of the ancestries of the early settlers of Hillsborough, and who were now ready to unite in forming a church society and building a meeting house. The first actual move made with that object in view was the formation of a Congregational society in 1769. No doubt the disturbing in- fluences of the brooding Revolution to a considerable extent delayed decisive action, as the coming war interfered with the building of the church.
CHURCH AND STATE.
The colonists of Hillsborough and their children, while not as rigid in their religious views as the Pilgrims and Puritans, were still zealous adherents to the tenets of the church and lived devoutedly Christian lives, feeling the influence of their religion upon the working days as well as upon the Sabbath. As has been remarked by far the largest percentage of them preferred the ancient Congregational mode of church government and
192
HISTORY OF HILLSBOROUGH.
discipline. Out of respect, however, to the minority the leaders consented to what was known as "Half Way Covenant," a modified form of the Congregational faith. Faded and time- eaten sheets of an old record book contains all that comes to us of the written words of that important occasion, as follows:
"IN HILLBOROUGH.
"A Convenant was signed & a Church imbodied October 12th 1769.
CHURCH COVENANT.
"Whereas it hath pleased the great & glorious God of his free & rich grace to call & except us sincere & unworthy creatures into covenant with his majesty in christ : we do therefore in a deep sense of out unworthiness & and with an humble dependance on divine grace for assistance & acceptance ; solemnly prefessing our firm belief of the christian faith according to the Doctrine of the holy Scripture, avering that God whose Name alone is JEHOVAH, father son and Holy Ghost, to be our God and the God of our seed.
"Particularly we profess the Doctrine of the (not legible) & guilt brought upon all the Natural Posterity of the first Adam by his sin in eating the forbidden fruit & of the Doctrine of free justification & salvation of all if are chosen to salv, by union to save thro his merits, meditation & interception without any merits of their own.
"Also the Doctrine of the Church Membership of the infant Seed of Visabl Believers & their Right thro. the gracious grant of God to ordances of Baptism & of Baptism by sprinkling is sufficient & Natural & that it is ye Duty of all persons who expect Saly by Christ to be subject to him & to wak in all his commandents & Ordinances Blaim- less We do therefore make afirm Covanant with God & Christ acknowledging the Lord Jesus Christ to be our Prophet Priest & King promising by his gracious assistance, to submit to his government ; to all his Holy Laws & ordinances, to shun all errors with al ungodlyness & unrighteousness ; to keep up & practice Religion in our families, to bring up out Children in his fear & service, & to Walk before him all things according to his word.
"We also promis to walk together as a Congregational Church in the faith & order & fellowship of this Gospel in mutual Love & watch- fulness for the regular carrying on of worship & ordinances of God ; according to his instruxion & promoting our mutual edification in faith & holiness according to the Ruless of Government & Descipline mentioned in the Cambridge Platform."
There is no list of members appended to this document, and nothing to indicate of whom or how many it was composed, nor is there any record of any church meeting for more than three
شاقةالـ
Photograph by MANAHAN.
OLD TOWN HOUSE AND CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH, HILLSBOROUGH CENTRE.
193
"MEETING HOUSE HILL."
years, when the call was made for Mr. Barnes to preach. How- ever, John Mead, had been chosen to the office of Deacon, and in 1775, May 15, Tristram Cheney was chosen to the same office.
Col. John Hill, who had so generously aided and encouraged the upbuilding of the religious interest and construction of the meeting house for the first party of pioneers, was no less friendly to this second band. Unfortunately for some of these settlers, as well as for himself, he had met with financial reverses so that he was unable to lend the assistance he would otherwise have given. As it was, he donated, or set apart from his reserve of land, about two hundred and fifty acres for the benefit of the first settled minister. He also gave the inhabitants a ten-acre plot of land for a building lot and yard as a suitable site for the forthcoming meeting house.
The meeting house lot was situated on the summit of a commanding elevation of ground nearly three-eights of a mile southeast of the exact centre of the town, but geographically as well located for the people as could be secured. As far as its natural attractions were concerned, a happier location could not have been selected. Rising over five hundred feet above the banks of the Contoocook River which appeared here and there through the rifts in the forest like links of silver on the green mantle of the wildwood, the view westward was stopped only by the dividing ridge of highlands running parallel with the Con- necticut valley ; on the south the beholder saw grand old Monad- nock at his best, while swinging towards the east and round to the north the panorama embraced "the hundred hills" of the Merri- mack valley and the cordon of highlands and mountains more than fifty miles away. Small wonder if "Meeting House Hill," as it became known, won a wider reputation than local circles, and "beautiful for situation was the joy of Hillsborough."
It was ten years, however, after the coming of Daniel Mc- Murphy and his good wife to lay the foundation for the second settlement before the inhabitants felt equal to building a house. During the interval services were held with as much regularity as is possible with one or another of the families. When the weather would permit, the meetings were called in some one's barn, where a greater space for the audience could be obtained, the women
194
HISTORY OF HILLSBOROUGH.
being allowed seats in the center. In the colder or stormy seasons the worshippers met in one of the dwelling houses. There was no settled minister, and the names of only a few of those who ministered to the spiritual welfare of the people have been preserved. Among these were the names of Rev. Jonathan Barnes of Amherst.
In order to accomplish the permanent establishment of a religious society and build a meeting house, it was almost neces- sary to effect an organization and to incorporate a township. This matter began to be seriously discussed in 1771, and definite action was taken the following year, as has been described else- where.
November 9, 1772, Mr. Isaac Baldwin,, who had been selected by Governor John Wentworth to lead in the organization of the new town, issued the warrant for the first town meeting, fixing the date as November 24th, in the house of Capt. Samuel Brad- ford, innholder.
Simultaneously with this call there seems to have been another for the inhabitants to convene at an earlier hour to con- sider the proper course to pursue relative to settling a minister. The records of this meeting, dated 5 years after, read as follows :
Hillsborough, November 24th, 1777.
At a Church meeting it was, voted unanimously that Mr. Jonathan Barnes take the Charge and oversight of the Church and flock of Christ in this Town aforesaid and that he settle with us in the work of the gospell Menestry according to the platform of Church disapline Comanly Called Cambridge platform, so far as it agrees with the word of God or the sacred Scripture.
Voted : that They will give him thirty pounds Lawfull money by way of settlement, and that they will give him thirty five pounds Lawful a year for the next four year, and then forty pounds a year untill there be 70 famelys in Town, and when there is seventy famelys in Town, he is to be intitled to fifty pounds a year wether sooner or Later, and is to be fifty pounds a year from the time of 70 famelys Coming in to the Town till there be 90 families, and after there is 90 families, it is to be sixty pounds a year untill there is won hundred and ten famelies in Town, and after there is 110 famelies in Town it is to be sixty six pounds thirteen shillings and fore pence aneuely so long as he shall continue in the minestry among us, and forthermore that we will alow him two or three sabbaths in a year to visit his frinds.
195
CHURCH AND TOWN MEETINGS.
The same day Directly after the
Church meeting the Town meet and Concored with the Church in giving Mr. Jonathan Barns, a Call to settle with them in the work of the Gospell Menestry and would Give him a Settle- ment as Salerey aboue mentioned and there was Not one opposing
.
Timothy Wilkins
Joseph Clark Bejn Lovjoy John Mead
the
Congregation
George Booth Isaac Andrews
Joshua Estey
Sam Bradford
Isaac Andrews
Isaac Baldwin
Chose as a Committy to present there Call to The person Elect
The church meeting dissolved the town meeting was called to order by the moderator, Mr. Isaac Baldwin, at ten o'clock, the same place and day, when the provisions of the Governor in granting the town charter were considered and accepted. After disposing of the first three articles in the warrant, which related to the charter and election of a board of officers for the ensuing year, action was taken upon the 4th article, viz .:
To se if the Town Wil Confirm and Establish what they done with Regard to settling Mr. Jonathan Barns in the work of the Gospel Ministry
Voted on the 4th article to Renew the Call to Mr. Jonathan Barns to setle in the work of the Gospel ministry
Voted that Capt Samll Bradford should keep the Counsel at the ordenation
The town meeting then adjourned to a date in December, when the newly elected board of town officials were sworn to their duties.
The preliminaries must have been attended to and Mr. Barnes been prepared for the call, as the ordination took place the day following the first town meeting. It must have been an un- common event, in more ways than one, for the newly fledged town, probably the most noteworthy the community had ever
Willm Pope Saml Bradford Junr Timothy Bradford willm Jons andrew wilkins Samll Bradford 3d Isaac Baldwin John Sargent Nehemiah wilkins Anthony morin Willm Williams archable Taggart Jonathan Durant Baxter how
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