USA > New Hampshire > Rockingham County > Derry > The history of Londonderry : comprising the towns of Derry and Londonderry, N.H. > Part 21
USA > New Hampshire > Rockingham County > Londonderry > The history of Londonderry : comprising the towns of Derry and Londonderry, N.H. > Part 21
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
Mr. Anderson, on entering upon his charge at North Yarmouth, devoted himself unreservedly to the work of the ministry. He was a man for work, and he was a man for prayer. His habit was to pray in secret three times a day. He had that indispensable requisite in a minister, an earnest desire to save souls. He labored in season and out of sea- son, especially with the youthful portion of his people. Nor did he labor in vain. Not only did many give evidence of deriving spiritual profit from his labors while he was with them, but an extensive revival, which occurred soon after his dismission, was regarded as mainly the result of his instru- mentality. The inadequacy of his support, and the necessity of some change for the benefit of his health, led him to ask a dismission, after a settlement of almost ten years. This was very reluctantly granted, in September, 1804.
Mr. Anderson's next pastoral charge, in which he re- . mained till his death, was in Wenham, Mass. He was inducted into this new relation on the 10th of June, 1805. A short time before his removal from North Yarmouth, he was married to Elizabeth Lovett, of Beverly, who survived him a number of years, and died in her native place, in 1820. This removal to Wenham was doubtless the means under God of prolonging his life. His new situation combined, in a far higher degree than did the place of his former resi- dence, the things which he then needed, in order to enjoy
214
HISTORY OF LONDONDERRY.
even tolerable health. A revival of religion in the year 1810, greatly rejoiced his heart, but he never recovered from the effects of the extraordinary labors which were necessa- rily put forth at that time. A consumption gradually fastened upon him, though he continued to preach till near the close of the year 1813. As he perceived the design of his gra- cious Lord to remove him, he became more sensitive to the things of the heavenly world. " I remember," remarks his son, " his being so overcome, one morning when on his knees engaged in the family devotions, that he could not proceed." His social affections were ever strong, and he had some friendships among his ministerial brethren which were pecu- liarly dear. The dearest and most intimate of them all was with Dr. Samuel Worcester, of Salem, Mass., well known as the First Corresponding Secretary of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions. This high fraternal regard was fully reciprocated. As two or three of Dr. Wor- cester's brothers had departed somewhat from the orthodox views of the person and offices of Christ, Mr. Anderson, shortly before his departure, and while yet able to converse freely, requested an interview with Dr. Worcester, and spent a long time with him in his study ; after which he was heard to say, with great emphasis, to his wife, as he came out of his study, " All is right; Samuel is safe!" It was this interview, probably, which induced Dr. Worcester to select the Deity of Christ, as a subject for the sermon which he preached at his funeral.
Mr. Anderson died on the 11th of February, 1814, when he had nearly completed his forty-ninth year. His funeral was numerously attended, and the sermon preached by Dr. Worcester on the occasion, from 2 Timothy, 1 : 12, was after- wards published, and contains a glowing description of his character and worth. The preacher closed his memorial of his departed friend by saying, “ Might an expression of per- sonal feeling be indulged, I would say, I am distressed for
215
BIOGRAPHICAL NOTICES.
thee, my brother Anderson ; very pleasant hast thou been unto me."
Mr. Anderson published two fast sermons in the year 1802, designed more particularly to resist the ingress of French infidelity and licentiousness. In 1805 and 1806, he published two pamphlets, directed against the distinctive principles of the Baptists. They show a discriminating mind, and a clear apprehension of the subjects of which he was treating. He also published a primer for children. At the close of his life, he was preparing an historical work on modern missions to the heathen ; a subject which had then begun to attract the attention of the American churches, and had secured his warmest interest. The outline of the work was drawn up, and various materials collected, which are now in the hands of his son, Dr. Anderson. As Dr. Ander- son was employed by his honored father to transcribe these documents, it served not only to give him thus early some knowledge of the field to which Providence afterwards assigned him, and where he has labored so long and so effi- cently, as Secretary of the American Board for Foreign Missions, but to enlist his feelings deeply in the work of Christian Missions, an object so dear to the heart of his venerated parent, who lived to see only the dawn of the long- predicted and desired day.
ROBERT BARTLEY.
Robert Bartley, M. D., was born June 13, 1759, in the county of Armagh, in the north of Ireland. His parents were of Scotch origin, and his father was an elder in the Presbyterian church. Dr. Bartley received his collegiate education at the Dublin university in Ireland, and his pro- fessional education at the university of Edinburgh. At each of these institutions he completed the regular course of instruction, and received his medical diploma in the year 1784. The two subsequent years he spent as assistant in
216
HISTORY OF LONDONDERRY.
different hospitals, in the city of London. He afterwards served, for a year or two, in the capacity of surgeon's mate, in a British man-of-war. He came to America about the year 1790, and settled in Londonderry, about two years afterwards, where he pursued the practice of his profession for the remainder of his life. He was highly esteemed as a physician, and had a very extensive practice. · He died in November, 1820. He left several children, among whom were Hugh, who succeeded his father in the practice of med- icine in Londonderry, John M. C., pastor of the church in Hampstead, N. H., and Robert, of Windham, N. H.
JOHN BELL.
John Bell, born August 15, 1730, was the youngest of the family of John and Elizabeth Bell. In early life, he had only such advantages of education as the common schools afforded, which, it is needless to say, were very inconsider- able. Though not a scholar, he was through life a diligent reader, and a thinking man. He married, December 21, 1758, Mary Ann Gilmore, a daughter of James Gilmore and Jean Baptiste, and a granddaughter of Robert Gilmore and Mary Kennedy, who were early settlers in Londonderry. She was thought to possess much personal beauty in early life, was a woman of great prudence and good sense, and of a kind and affectionate temper. They had twelve children, several of whom died early.
At the commencement of the revolutionary war, Mr. Bell was forty-five years of age, with a family of eight children, circumstances which must have prevented his taking a very active part, if he had desired it, in the military movements of the day. In the spring of 1775, he was elected town clerk, and a member of the committee of safety of the town. In the autumn of that year, he was elected a member of the Provincial Congress, which met at Exeter, December 21, 1775, and which, early in 1776, resolved itself into a house
Rufford & Co luth Boston.
HON. JOHN BELE.
John Bell Justice Peace
From a sketch taren in the 96 th year of his age by his grandson, the late John Be.l. M."
217
BIOGRAPHICAL NOTICES.
of representatives, and put in operation the independent government of New Hampshire, under the temporary consti- tution. In the autumn of 1776, he was reelected and attended the seven sessions of the legislature which were held in 1776 and 1777, and was again a member from Dec. 1780 to Dec. 1781. In 1776, he was appointed a muster- master of a part of the New Hampshire troops ; and in 1780, he was appointed colonel of the eighth regiment of the militia. Throughout the revolutionary struggle, he was a firm and decided whig, and much confidence was reposed by the more prominent men in the State government in his sound judgment and steady support of the cause. In 1786, under the new constitution, he was elected a senator, and held the office by successive elections until June 1790, and in 1791 he was elected to fill a vacancy, and served at the winter session. He was a member of the committee who succeeded in effecting a compromise of the Masonian proprietary claim, a subject which, in its time, was a matter of great interest in the State ; and, before the adoption of the consti- tution of 1792, he was a special justice of the Court of Com- mon Pleas. He held during many years the office of mod- erator, selectman, or town clerk, and discharged their duties with unquestioned integrity and good judgment. He was a magistrate, from an early period after the Declaration of Independence, until disqualified by age. He was early a member of the church, and sustained the office of elder from 1783, until his infirmities required him to withdraw. He was justly esteemed as a pious, devout, and sincere Christian, and a steady and consistent supporter, through a long life, of all the institutions of religion.
At the age of seventy, he determined to close his connec- tion with the business of others, and ceased to act in the capacity of magistrate, and of administrator and guardian, in which, through the esteem and confidence of his townsmen, he had been extensively engaged. He was never anxious
19
218
HISTORY OF LONDONDERRY.
for the acquisition of wealth, but had property enough for his moderate wants, and continued to find occupation and employment in the cultivation of his farm. He was a man of large frame, six feet and one inch in height, had a pow- erful voice, and great personal strength and activity, having been for twenty years the champion in the wrestling-ring, a favorite amusement at public meetings at that day. He had naturally a good constitution, which, with his temperate habits, secured to him, with the exception of a single attack of a rheumatic kind in middle life, almost uninterrupted health till near the close of his ninety-fifth year. He died November 30, 1825, having survived his wife more than three years. She died April 21, 1822, aged eighty-five.
SAMUEL FISHER.
Dea. Samuel Fisher was born in the north of Ireland, in the year 1722, and was of Scottish descent. His father was a weaver. Dea. Fisher came to America in 1740, in the nineteenth year of his age. The ship in which he came was usually spoken of as " The starved ship." The vessel was so scantily supplied with provision, that long before the voyage was completed, one pint of oat-meal for each individual on board, and a proportionate allowance of water, was all that remained. Mr. Fisher once went to the mate with a table- spoon to obtain some water, which was refused him, there being but two-thirds of a chunk-bottle full on board. Mr. Fisher's custom was, to take a table-spoonful of meal daily, and having moistened it with salt water, to eat it raw. The passengers and crew, having subsisted in this manner for fourteen days, were at length reduced to the necessity of eating the bodies of those who died. Even this resource failed them, and at length Mr. Fisher was selected to give up his life to preserve the lives of the rest. Providen- tially, however, a vessel hove in sight, and their signals of distress being observed they obtained relief and were
219
BIOGRAPHICAL NOTICES.
saved. So deep an impression did the horrors of that pas- sage make upon the mind of Mr. Fisher, that, in after life, he could never see, without pain, the least morsel of food wasted, or a pail of water thrown carelessly upon the ground.
On his arrival in this country, he was bound by the captain to a man in Roxbury, for the payment of his passage. He came to Londonderry, probably about one or two years after, and became a member of the family of Mr. Matthew Taylor, whose daughter he married, when he was twenty- five years of age. He was made a ruling elder of the church in the West Parish, during the ministry of Rev. David Mac- Gregor, and remained in this office until he was no longer able to perform its duties on account of his age. He seemed to be well instructed in the great principles of the gospel, as set forth in the Westminster Catechism, and in the Confes- sion of Faith of the Church of Scotland. These principles he taught diligently to his children, for whose spiritual welfare he felt a deep solicitude.
One of his grandchildren (Mrs. Dickey), writes thus of him : "I can only speak of the impression he made on my mind when visiting in his family when quite young. His family worship was strikingly impressive. When he read a portion of Scripture, he became remarkably interesting. I shall never forget his manner, in reading the chapter in which Isaac blesses his son Jacob. It seemed as though he was the very patriarch himself. When he knelt in prayer, how deeply impressive were his devotions ; how ardently would he plead the promise, 'I will be a God to thee, and thy seed.' He had a most happy faculty of improving the occurrences which took place about him for the religious instruction of his family. He was a great lover of Watts and Doddridge ; would frequently address me on the subject of religion, and give me some of his books."
Deacon Fisher was married three times, and had twelve children; eleven of whom arrived at adult age, and ten of
220
HISTORY OF LONDONDERRY.
whom survived him. Ten of his children were married, and most of them lived to advanced age. The average age of four of them was ninety-one years. His descendants now (1850) number nine hundred and fifteen, and are scattered through nearly all the States of the Union, through Nova Scotia, and the Canadas. Some of them are ministers, and some elders in the church. It is estimated, that three-fourths of those over twenty years of age are professors of religion.
Deacon Fisher was, in his personal appearance, tall and commanding, and his countenance was grave and solemn, so that few would willingly be guilty of levity in his presence. He died at Londonderry, April 10, 1806, in the eighty-fourth year of his age.
WILLIAM GREGG.
William Gregg was born at Londonderry, N. H., October 23, 1730. He was the son of Captain John Gregg, who emigrated with his father, Captain James Gregg, from the county of Antrim, Ireland, when about sixteen years of age. At the commencement of the revolutionary war, Colonel Gregg commanded a company of minute-men, in the town of Londonderry. He joined his countrymen in Boston early in the year 1775, and tarried there till more urgent calls required his presence at home as muster-master for his regi- ment and a member of the committee of safety. The ensu- ing year he was commissioned by the council of the State as major in the first regiment of militia raised in New Hamp- shire to recruit the army at New York, where he performed various military services and suffered numerous privations and hardships. In the year 1777, Colonel Gregg and James Betton, Esq., were appointed agents to proceed to the seat of government, then at Baltimore, where they obtained and brought to the New England States a large sum of money, for the purpose of prosecuting the war. After making dis- bursements in New York and at Hartford, Conn., he returned to Boston, and from thence to his native State, when he
221
BIOGRAPHICAL NOTICES.
received the thanks of the legislature for his services. In the same year, he sustained the commission of lieutenant- colonel in the brigade commanded by the intrepid General Stark, and commanded the vanguard in the memorable battle at Bennington, where he was honored by the confi- dence and approbation of that distinguished officer.
At the close of the war he retired to his farm, and em- ployed himself in the pursuits of husbandry until within a few years of his death. He died at Londonderry, Sept. 16, 1815, at the age of eighty-five.
The leading feature in the character of Colonel Gregg was perseverance. Whatever he undertook, he saw accom- plished. In the prime of life, his industry and resolution in the discharge of his affairs were unrivalled. Those who were in his employ partook of the same spirit, for he went forward and cheered them in the midst of severe toil with tales of " high emprise," and pleasing anecdotes. He inherited the spirit of hospitality by which the emigrants of Ireland have long been signalized. His house was always the resting- place of the weary, and none left it without feasting on the bounties of his board. Youth and age were delighted in his company, and his hospitality gained him numerous friends, in addition to those who esteemed and honored him for the good he had done his country.
JARVIS GREGG.
Prof. Jarvis Gregg, son of Deacon James Gregg, of Derry, N. H., was born in Derry, September, 1808. At an early age he entered the Pinkerton Academy, in his native town, then, and for many years subsequent, under the charge of Abel F. Hildreth, Esq. Here, while a mere lad, he became greatly distinguished for the rapidity and accuracy of his acquisitions, and, at this early period, had a wide reputation for varied scholarship. He graduated at Dartmouth College in 1828. He was for a time a teacher in one of the public
19*
222
HISTORY OF LONDONDERRY.
schools in Boston, and subsequently took the charge of the Academy in Boscawen, N. H. In 1833, he was appointed tutor in Dartmouth College, which office he held for one year. He pursued his theological studies at Andover, Mass., where he graduated in 1835. While at Andover, he received the appointment of professor of rhetoric and mathematics, in Western Reserve College, at Hudson, Ohio. This appoint- ment he accepted, and entered upon his duties soon after leaving Andover. The next spring he returned to New England, and was married to Miss Alice Webster, daughter of Hon. Ezekiel Webster, of Boscawen, N. H., and niece of Hon. Daniel Webster.
On Sabbath morning after his return to the place of his labors, he was attacked with the scarlet fever, and died on Tuesday evening, June 28, 1836, just one week after his return to Hudson, not having been considered dangerously ill more than an hour before his death. Professor Gregg was a young man of superior abilities, of great brilliancy, of extensive and varied learning, and gave promise of eminent iusefulness, not only in the departments of instruction to which he had been called, but extensively in that part of the country in which he resided. Even thus early, he had gained an enviable distinction as a rapid and finished writer. His style was bold, graphic, and imaginative. He wrote several Sabbath-school books, and several articles in the larger periodicals, which were considered very able produc- tions. Few young men of his age excelled him as a public speaker, possessing, as he did, in a very high degree, the graces and the power of true oratory. The writer well recollects with what a thrill of delight and admiration his first sermon was received. Two of his public addresses were published ; one, a Eulogy on Lafayette, delivered before the students of Dartmouth College, another before the New Hampshire State Lyceum.
A friend of his at the West, who knew him well, and could
223
BIOGRAPHICAL NOTICES.
appreciate the value of his services to the college, as well as his great excellence of character, says, in view of his death : "His loss to the college, at this crisis, will be peculiarly afflictive. Although the period of his professorship had been short, he had already attained a high and enviable standing ; and such was the suavity of his manners, and the sweet- ness of his disposition, that he had endeared himself to all with whom he had become acquainted, and it may with truth be said of him, 'None knew him but to love him, none named him but to praise.'"
SAMUEL LIVERMORE.
Hon. Samuel Livermore was born in Waltham, Mass., May 14, 1732, (o. s.) He graduated at Princeton, N. J., in 1752, and studied law with Hon. Edmund Trowbridge, and was admitted to practice in 1757. The next year he established himself at Portsmouth. He married, September 22, 1759, Jane Brown, daughter of Rev. Arthur Brown, of Portsmouth. At what time he removed from Portsmouth to Londonderry is uncertain, probably about 1765. He represented the town in the General Court in 1768, 1769, and 1770. Subse- quently, probably about 1775, he removed to the town of Holderness, N. H., of which town he was one of the original grantees ; and of which he became, by purchase, the principal proprietor. In 1769, he was appointed king's attorney ; in this office he remained four or five years, and after the Rev- olution, he held the office of attorney-general about three years. He was a delegate to the old Congress, from Dec., 1779, to June, 1782. In 1782, he was appointed Chief Justice of the Superior Court ; this office he held until 1790. In the fall of 1789, he was elected representative in Congress, and in 1793, was elected to the Senate of the United States, in which office he remained until declining health obliged him to resign it in 1802. He died at Holderness, May 18, 1803, at the age of seventy-one years. He left one daughter and three sons, Edward St. Loe, Arthur, and George.
.
224
HISTORY OF LONDONDERRY.
JOSEPH M'KEEN.
Rev. Joseph McKeen, D. D., was born in Londonderry, N. H., October 15, 1757. His grandfather was James Mc- Keen, Esq., one of the company by whom the settlement of the town was commenced. His father, Jolın McKeen, was born April 13, 1715, at Ballymony, in the county of Antrim, in Ireland, being one of twenty-one children, and about four years of age when his father emigrated to this country. He married Mary McKeen, his cousin, and had also a numerous family. He was for many years an elder of the first Pres- byterian church in Londonderry.
Of seven sons, Joseph was the third. At an early age, he engaged in classical studies under the tuition of Rev. Mr. Williams of Windham, N. H., and such was his proficiency, that he entered Dartmouth College in the thirteenth year of his age. Of his college life but little is known, excepting that he showed a decided predilection for mathematical studies, in which he made, while there, very respectable attainments, and graduated in 1774, with the reputation of a good classical scholar. On leaving college, he engaged as a school-teacher in his native town, and continued in London- derry in that employment eight years. Some time during this. period, as is supposed, he united with the Presbyterian church under the pastoral care of Rev. David MacGregor. The records of that church, including this period, being lost, we have no record of the event. While thus employed as a teacher, he improved what time his duties would permit, in reviewing his college studies, and in extending his acquaint- ance with general literature.
Mr. McKeen's labors in this employment were suspended, for a season, by the events of the revolutionary war. A pressing call being made for soldiers, he laid aside his pro- fessional duties, and joined the army as a private soldier, under General Sullivan, and was with that officer in his cel-
JOSEPH MCKEEN, D. D.
FIRST PRESIDENT OF BOWDOIN COLLEGE. Died July 1807. Aged 49 Yrs.
225
BIOGRAPHICAL NOTICES.
ebrated retreat from Rhode Island. After concluding his engagements as a teacher, he went to Cambridge. There, under the instruction of Prof. Williams, he pursued a course of studies in natural philosophy, mathematics, and astronomy, which had been his favorite pursuits while an undergradu- ate. At the end of this course, he commenced his theologi- cal studies, under the instruction of the Rev. Mr. Williams of Windham, his former tutor; and in due time was exam- ined and licensed as a preacher, by the Londonderry pres- bytery. About this time he was employed for several terms as an assistant in Phillips Academy, at Andover, Mass., then under the preceptorship of Dr. Pearson, who was afterwards professor in Harvard University.
After having preached some time in Boston, with much acceptance, to a society then recently collected by Rev. Mr. Moorhead, composed chiefly of " Presbyterian strangers," he received an invitation to preach as a candidate for settlement over the first church and society in Beverly, Mass., which had been left destitute by the removal of their pastor, Dr. Willard, to the presidency of Harvard College. Being at length invited with great unanimity to take the pastoral charge of that flock, he accepted the invitation, and was ordained, May, 1785. In this place he labored as a minister of Christ for seventeen years, till called in providence to the office of president of Bowdoin College, then recently estab- lished in Brunswick, in the " District of Maine," but which had not yet gone into operation. He was inaugurated Sept. 2, 1802, and as the college had then no chapel, and there being no church in the village, the public services of the occasion were performed in a grove, a little distance from the site of the present college buildings.
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.