USA > New Hampshire > Rockingham County > Derry > The history of Londonderry : comprising the towns of Derry and Londonderry, N.H. > Part 18
USA > New Hampshire > Rockingham County > Londonderry > The history of Londonderry : comprising the towns of Derry and Londonderry, N.H. > Part 18
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In the organization of the church, forty members were
15*
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HISTORY OF LONDONDERRY.
admitted from the Presbyterian church in Derry, twenty- three from the Presbyterian church in Londonderry, and one from the church in Pelham. In the course of a few months, thirteen others were admitted by letter. Nathaniel Parker, Abel F. Hildreth, and John Perkins, were chosen deacons. In the same year, the society erected a neat and commodious meeting-house, on the summit of a gentle swell of land, in the westerly part of the village.
On the 12th of August, 1837, the church voted, unani- mously, to give Mr. Pliny B. Day a call to settle with them in the gospel ministry; in which call the society, with like unanimity, concurred. The invitation being accepted, Mr. Day was ordained on the fourth of October following. Mr. Day is a native of Norwich, Mass. He graduated at Amherst College, in 1834, and at Andover Theological Seminary, in 1837. His pastoral connection with that church and society still continues.
A Methodist Episcopal church was formed in Derry, August 6, 1834, consisting, at the time of its formation, of fifteen members. Caleb Dustin, J. T. G. Dinsmore, W. S. Follansbee, John March, and John Taylor, were appointed stewards. In 1836, a neat and convenient meeting-house was erected for their accommodation, in the Lower Village. The church at the present time consists of eighty members ; and has since its formation been supplied by the following ministers, in succession. Rev. Philo Brownson, Rev. James McCane, Rev. Samuel Hoyt, Rev. W. H. Brewster, Rev. Michael Quimby, Rev. Jonathan Haseltine, Rev. James Dow, Rev. James Adams, Rev. Richard Newhall, Rev. Ezekiel Adams, Rev. G. W. T. Rogers, Rev. Freeman Q. Barrows, and Rev. Joseph Palmer.
In closing this summary view of the churches and their several pastors, in this ancient town, I remark, that the eccle- siastical is by far the most important chapter in the history of a people, whether considered in relation to the life that
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now is, or that which is to come. While in the narrative of some communities it presents a dark page, in regard to this town it is cause of devout gratitude that in no instance has the ministry been dishonored. Of the thirteen ministers who have held the pastoral charge of its respective parishes, there is not one but has sustained, unblemished, the Christian character, and been acceptable, and in a degree successful, in the discharge of the duties of the sacred office. Of the five ministers preceding the present pastor, who have had charge of the first or original parish, all but one died while sustaining the pastoral relation, and now repose in the same graveyard, surrounded by their beloved flocks .* There rests also the dust of the Rev. Mr. Brown, who, although he had early resigned the pastoral charge, continued to offi- ciate in the Christian ministry till advanced age, and died respected by those who had long known him as a friend and a neighbor.
In the West Parish, three of its ministers sustained the pastoral relation until it was dissolved by death. Two of its pastors, at their special request, were dismissed, while each of the Presbyterian societies, as well as the Congregational society, enjoys the labors of a settled pastor. The Methodist
And now the remains of the sixth pastor lie in the same yard. It is probably true of no town in New England, which has been settled the same length of time, that all the pastors of the parish are buried together in the same cemetery. To these may be added Rev. David MacGregor, of the West Parish, making seven of the pastors of Lon- donderry who now rest there from their labors, and will sleep together till the resurrection.
In the month of November, subsequent to the death of Rev. Mr. Parker, Mr. Joshua W. Wellman, a native of Cornish, N. H., and a graduate of Dartmouth College in 1846, and of the Theological Semi- nary, Andover, in 1850, supplied the pulpit of the Presbyterian church in Derry, for a few Sabbaths. Mr. Wellman was the first and only candidate of the society, and at a parish meeting, Jannary 1851, received an unanimous call to become their pastor. This call was subsequently accepted, and he is to be ordained in June of the present year.
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society also, since its organization, has uniformly been sup- plied with the preaching of the gospel. No one year has passed since the settlement of the town, in which there has not been a stated pastor to conduct the services of the sanc- tuary, and usually two; nor a Sabbath in which the Word of God has not been read and expounded in the public congre- gations of the people. If there is any advantage, then, in the constant employment of an able and faithful ministry, this town has probably possessed it as fully as any other in New England. That there are real and substantial benefits con- nected with the stated ministry, and the ordinances of reli- gion, will not be denied by any who admit the truth of the divine word. "Faith cometh by hearing," and "by the foolishness of preaching, it pleases God to save those that are lost."
The records of the churches in this town exhibit evidence that the ordinance of the Christian ministry, here so uni- formly maintained, has not been without its appropriate fruits. Previous to the division of the original town into parishes, we find that the number of communicants at the table of the Lord was large, that many were added to the church from one communion season to another. The state of the churches after a division took place, is not so well known, as very imperfect records were kept and preserved. We have adverted to the interest felt in this town on the subject of religion, during " the great awakening in 1741." A very considerable number became the hopeful subjects of divine grace, and were added to the church of Christ. In the first church in Derry there have been, since 1810, repeated and powerful manifestations of divine grace, as has also been the case in the other religious communities within the limits of the original township.
The first of these seasons was in 1815, when thirty-one members were added to the church. It occurred in connec- tion with the usual means of grace. A like season of refresh-
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ing was experienced by this church in 1823, resulting in the hopeful conversion of nearly forty individuals. The year following (1824), the General Association of New Hampshire held its anniversary in the East Parish of Londonderry. A divine blessing attended its deeply interesting and solemn services. Sixty-two were, in consequence, added to the church. In 1827, an awakened interest in religion was manifested in the community ; more than thirty individuals publicly professed their faith in Christ.
The first " protracted meeting " (as such religious convoca- tions were usually termed) held in this town, was in 1831. It continued four days, which was the usual term of such meetings. There were public services during the day, the same as on the Sabbath. The regular discourses were generally preceded and followed by brief extemporaneous addresses by ministers in attendance. The intermission of public exercises was improved as an inquiry meeting, afford- ing any who might be in an awakened and anxious state of mind, an opportunity to receive appropriate instruction from the pastor and others. In the evenings of these days, there were more usually religious services in the different neighborhoods. The mornings were seasons of special prayer, both private and social. The exercises were more commonly sustained by the neighboring ministers, occasion- ally by an evangelist.
Such was the order generally pursued in these meetings, which soon became general throughout the land, among all denominations of evangelical Christians. They were attended in most instances with very happy results, until at length an undue reliance came to be placed on these special services, to the neglect of the ordinary but more important means of grace. Then the divine influence was withheld, and in some sections of the land, and by certain eccentric teachers, irreg- ularities and improprieties of conduct, in respect to these services, were introduced and sanctioned. They were there-
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fore, at length, suspended by the churches generally, and reliance for the revival and promotion of religion was placed more entirely on the divinely appointed ministrations of the stated pastor, in his pulpit and parochial labors. But though these protracted meetings were in some cases perverted from their original design, attended with irregularities, and the occasion of evil, they were in general the means of great good, and attended with signal blessings to the churches.
The first meeting of the kind held in this place was highly salutary in its effects ; sixty-eight were in consequence added to the church. In 1834, a similar meeting was held here, and attended with like effect ; a goodly number gave evidence of a saving change, and made public profession of their faith.
In 1837-8, a very general attention to the subject of religion prevailed throughout the town, and all its religious societies were blessed with the special influences of the Spirit. To the Presbyterian church in Derry, more than an hundred were added by profession. Ninety-six persons, comprising individuals of various classes and ages in the community, from the aged of more than threescore and ten, to the youth of fourteen, were received to the communion of the church on one Sabbath. The scene was most deeply solemn and impressive. Rev. Dr. Woods of Andover was present, and preached to a large and attentive assembly. It was estimated that more than two hundred, within the bounds of Derry, became the hopeful subjects of divine grace, during this season of revival. The last revival season enjoyed by this religious community was in 1841 ; thirty were then added to the church.
In the Presbyterian society in Londonderry, there were, during the years 1831 and 1832, times of refreshing, under the ministry of Rev. Mr. Adams ; and as the fruit of these revivals about seventy were added to the church. There was also a special attention to the subject of religion, near the
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close of the year 1834, and as the result, about fifteen made a public profession of their faith in Christ. There was also a general revival of religion in that society, in 1842, under the ministry of Rev. Mr. Brainerd, and about eighty gave evidence of a saving change. Among these were to be found the man and woman of grey hairs ; but most of them were in middle age, and in the morning of life. By this out- pouring of the Holy Spirit, the church was much refreshed, and increased in numbers and strength.
Besides these more marked displays of divine grace, attended with most happy effect, there have been, in the mean time, lighter showers of divine influence, which have produced many precious fruits of righteousness. And it is deserving of notice, that the far greater proportion of those who have become members of the church of Christ, since the commencement of the second century, were fruits of these seasons of revival. The Word and ordinances of God, how- ever regularly and faithfully dispensed, are ineffectual to the salvation of the soul, if unattended by the special influences of the Spirit. "Paul may plant and Apollos water, but it is God who giveth the increase."
Let then the Holy Spirit, the author of these sacred influ- ences, by which men are awakened from the slumbers of impenitence, convinced of their guilt and danger as sinners, renewed in the spirit of their minds, sanctified in lieart and life, and fitted for the light and purity of heaven, be duly honored, and his agency humbly and fervently sought.
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HISTORY OF LONDONDERRY.
CHAPTER V.
SETTLEMENTS MADE
BY EMIGRANTS FROM LONDONDERRY. - WINDHAM - PETERBOROUGH -BEDFORD - CHERRY VALLEY -> NOVA SCOTIA - ANTRIM - ACWORTH.
THE descendants of the early settlers of Londonderry, and those who joined them from Ireland, becoming numerous, furnished a large number of pioneers of civilization, in New Hampshire, Vermont, and Maine. Many towns in its vi- cinity were settled from this colony. Windham, Chester, Manchester, Merrimack, Bedford, Goffstown, New Boston, Antrim, Peterborough, Colerain, and Acworth, together with settlements more remote, derived from Londonderry a con- siderable proportion of their first inhabitants. A brief notice will be given of some of these settlements, derived chiefly from the centenary discourses which have been published commemorating their settlement, and from other authentic sources.
WINDHAM.
In 1742, an act to incorporate a new parish in the town- ship of Londonderry, by the name of Windham, passed in the General Assembly of the province.
The boundaries of the parish, as described in the charter, are as follows : "Beginning at the dwelling-house of one John Hopkins of said Londonderry, yeoman, thence running on a due west course to Beaver Brook, so called ; then begin- ning again at the said house at the place where it began before (so as to leave the said house to ye northward), and from thence to run on a due east course, till it comes to ye easterly line of said Londonderry; then to run as said line
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runs, till it comes to the southerly boundary of said London- derry ; then to run to westward as the said boundary runs, till it comes to the said Brook, and then to run as the said Brook runs, until it comes to the place on the said Brook, where the said west line runs across the same, excepting out of these limits the polls and estates of John Archibald, James Clark, James Moor, John Hopkins, and John Cochran, and their respective families."
The charter provides, that " the said parish shall be and hereby is invested with all the powers and authorities that ye several towns in the province are invested with," with the exception of the right to send a representative to the Assembly ; for which purpose they were to unite with the inhabitants of Londonderry.
In 1750, a considerable tract of land was taken from the southeasterly part of Windham, and annexed to Salem. The town now comprises fifteen thousand seven hundred and forty-four acres, and, in 1840, contained nine hundred and twenty-six inhabitants.
In the beginning of 1747, the Rev. William Johnston was installed pastor of this religious society ; and Nathaniel Hemphill, Samuel Kinkead, and John Kyle, were ordained ruling elders. In July, 1752, Mr. Johnston was dismissed from his pastoral charge ; not, as it appears, on account of any disaffection of the people towards him, or of impropriety in his conduct, but for want of support. During his ministry, there was no. house for public worship ; the meetings were usually held in barns, sometimes in private houses. In 1753, a meeting-house was erected in that parish, on the south side of Cobbett's Pond. The church and society, on application by their commissioner to the synod of New York and Phila- delphia, for a Presbyterian minister, obtained the Rev. John Kinkead, and a regular call having been presented to him and accepted, he was installed in October, 1760. Soon after, an addition was made to the eldership, of the following gentle-
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HISTORY OF LONDONDERRY.
men, namely, John Armstrong, Samuel Campbell, David Gregg, John Morrow, Samuel Morrison, Robert Hopkins, Gawin Armour, and John Tufts. Although Mr. Kinkead possessed respectable talents and acquirements as a preacher of the gospel, yet, not maintaining a Christian and minis- terial deportment, and being chargeable with immoralities, he soon lost the respect and confidence of his people, and was dismissed in April, 1765.
Soon after the dismission of Mr. Kinkead from his pastoral charge, the parish presented a call to the Rev. Simon Wil- liams, who was ordained their pastor, December, 1766, by the Boston presbytery. He continued their minister twenty- seven years, and deceased November 10, 1793, aged sixty- four years. He was highly respected and esteemed by his people, and by the neighboring ministers and churches. He was eminent as a scholar, and opened a private academy, which he continued a number of years. Under his tuition, many young gentlemen were prepared for admission to col- lege, some of whom became distinguished in professional life. Although, during the latter part of his life, Mr. Wil- liams was subject at times to a partial derangement of mind, and to other bodily infirmities, he still continued in the dis- charge of the duties of the ministry, with few interruptions, until his death. He died beloved by the people of his charge, who readily cast the mantle of charity over his eccentricities and frailties. During his ministry, John Dinsmore, Robert Park, John Anderson, William Gregg, Samuel Morrison, Robert Dinsmore, and Alexander McCoy, were ordained ruling elders in that church.
In 1798, a new meeting-house was erected, at some dis- tance west from the first, and more central to the town. After remaining destitute of a settled ministry twelve years, the church and society extended a call to the Rev. Samuel Harris, to become their pastor. He accepted their invita- tion, and was ordained by the Londonderry presbytery, Oct.
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9, 1805. Mr. Harris's connection with this church and soci- ety, as their pastor, continued until 1826, when, his voice failing, he was dismissed by mutual consent. During his ministry, the following persons were at different times added to the session, namely, David Gregg, James Davidson, Wil- liam Davidson, John Davidson, Jesse Anderson, Samuel Davidson, J. P. Johnson, Eleazer Barrett, James W. Perkins, Jacob E. Evans, and David McClary.
In April, 1828, Rev. Calvin Cutler was ordained ; and he sustained the relation of pastor to this church until his death, in 1844. During his ministry, some difficulties having arisen in the town, in regard to the right of occupying the meeting- house, a new house was erected, not far from the former place of worship. Mr. Cutler ordained the following elders, namely, Samuel Anderson, Jacob Harris, Silas Moore, David Campbell, and Jonathan Cochran, in 1833; and Theodore Dinsmore, Joseph Park, Benjamin Blanchard, David A. Davidson, and Rei Hills, in 1843.
November 5, 1845. Rev. Loren Thayer was ordained, whose pastoral connection with this church and society still continues.
The inhabitants of Windham, who are mostly the descend- ants of the first settlers of Londonderry, have firmly adhered to the religious principles of their fathers, to the doctrine and forms of the Presbyterian church, as originally established in Scotland, and administered in this country. Not given to change, they have remained united and firm supporters of religious institutions and of gospel order.
PETERBOROUGH.
The township of Peterborough was first surveyed and laid out by Joseph Hall, Jr., in 1737, and was granted in 1738, by the General Court of Massachusetts, within whose juris- diction it was supposed to lie, to Samuel Haywood, and
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others, who soon after transferred their title to Jeremiah Gridley, John Hill, Fowle and William Vassal. The first settlements in the town were made under purchases from the last-named gentlemen.
In the year 1739, there was an ineffectual attempt to form a settlement in this township. Three years after, five men from Lunenburg, Mass., made a small clearing, which they were compelled to abandon in the year 1744, on account of the alarm of war. About the same time, another party of three men cleared a parcel of land in the southerly part of the town, but left before they had put in their seed. The first permanent settlement in the township was commenced in 1749, when, upon the close of the war, the first adventur- ers returned, and received large accessions to their number from Londonderry, Lunenburg, and other places. From this time the colony increased rapidly, so that in ten years it embraced about fifty families. All the first settlers were of the Scotch-Irish stock, those who came from Lunenburg having but a few years before emigrated from the north of Ireland.
The town was incorporated January 17, 1760, and took its name from Peter Prescott, of Concord, Mass. The peti- tion for the act of incorporation is dated October 31, 1759, and is signed by Thomas Morrison, Jonathan Morrison, and Thomas Cunningham. One of the three, Jonathan Morrison, was the first male child born in Londonderry.
The hardships experienced by the first settlers of this town- ship were severe, far more so than those now experienced by the pioneers in our western territories. Being recently from a foreign country, unaccustomed to the axe, and by no means acquainted with the best method of clearing away the timber, they were here in the midst of an unbroken forest, and exposed to acts of Indian cruelty. When they retired to their beds at night, it was under the constant apprehension of a midnight attack ; and when they left their dwellings to
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cultivate their fields, it was with the same fearful forebodings. They were several times driven off by the enemy, and many of them almost ruined, as to their property ; yet, to use their own affecting language, as in their petition for incorporation, as a town, " what little we had in the world, lay here, we having no whither else to go, returned to our settlement as soon as prudence would admit, where we have continued since, and cultivated a rough part of the wilderness to a fruitful field." .
But aside from the apprehension of danger, they surely had difficulties and hardships enough. Till 1751, they had no grist-mill, and were obliged to bring all their provisions upon their shoulders five and twenty miles. For many years, there was not a glass window in the place. Their dwellings were miserable huts, not a board upon or within them, till 1751, when three frame houses were erected. The first meeting-house was erected in 1752, and for several years was furnished with no other seats than rough boards, laid loosely upon square blocks of wood. For a long period, there were no oxen, and still later no horses.
The first settlers of Peterborough and their descendants, have exhibited the energy, courage, and patriotism, which distinguish the Scotch-Irish. During the war, which com- menced in 1755, a number of their young men enlisted in Rogers's company of rangers. On the 13th of March, 1758, a party of eight of them fell into an Indian ambuscade, near Lake George, and six were killed, namely, John Stewart, Robert McNee, John Dinsmoor, Charles McCoy, David Wallace, and William Wilson. Alexander Robbe and Samuel Cunningham, escaped.
The inhabitants of Peterborough engaged with zeal in the struggle for independence. Twenty-two from that town were present at the battle of Bunker Hill, although but seventeen were actually engaged in the conflict. Seventeen days before the Declaration of Independence, the following
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resolution was signed by eighty-three able-bodied men, of that town, as an expression of " their determination in join- ing their American brethren in arms, in defending the lives, liberties, and properties of the United Colonies."
"We, the subscribers, do hereby solemnly engage and promise, that we will, to the utmost of our power, at the risk of our lives and fortunes, with ARMS, oppose the hos- tile proceedings of the British fleets and armies against the United Colonies."
This pledge, given not long after the commencement of hostilities, was nobly redeemed. Few if any towns furnished a greater number of soldiers during the revolutionary war, in proportion to the number of inhabitants, than Peter- borough. There was not a man in the town who favored the British cause.
The first school taught in the town was commenced by Mr. John Ferguson. The first representative was deacon Samuel Moore, elected in 1775. William Smith, Esq., was delegated to the Provincial Congress in 1774. The first person commissioned as a justice of the peace, in Peter- borough, was Hugh Wilson, Esq., a respectable magistrate.
A subject of no little interest in the history of this town is its manufacturing establishments. In 1780, a clothier's shop, for taking in wool to card and cloth to dress, was built, and was the only factory in town until 1793, when an impulse was given to the manufacturing enterprise of the place by Mr. Samuel Smith, who erected a large building for mechan- ical purposes. This turned the attention of the people to the valuable water privileges in the town. In 1810, the first cotton factory was put in operation ; since which time sev- eral cotton and other factories have been established. It was estimated in 1839, that the amount of property vested in the various water privileges was three hundred thousand dollars; that the cotton factories produced annually one million seven hundred and twenty-five thousand yards of
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