USA > New Hampshire > Merrimack County > Sutton > The history of Sutton, New Hampshire : consisting of the historical collections of Erastus Wadleigh, Esq., and A. H. Worthen, part 1 > Part 21
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1.50
David Davis
2.34 Francis Como
4.00
.Jonathan Davis, Jr.
3.34 Jesse Fellows 3.50
Isaac Bean
3.34 Ezekiel Davis 2.00
William Hutchins
2.00 David Eaton
9.00
Thomas Messer
4.00 Daniel Whicher
2.00
Adamı Messer
2.00 Benjamin Wadleigh
5.00
Samuel Bean
8.00
This subscription list was dated August 28, 1794, Sutton.
The fractional sums set against each man's name seem at first almost whimsical, but the sum is doubtless the estimated value of farm produce or labor for which he gave his note.
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HISTORY OF SUTTON.
By the conditions with the committee, the house was to be built according to the New London meeting-house with some small alterations, as the committee saw fit. The pew ground was to be put up at vendue-Samuel Messer, vendue-master.
The committee is empowered to find Rum for the Vendue and for hewing the timber for said house at the expense of the society.
Voted that all the subscribers to build the house shall give their notes to the Committee for the sum they have subscribed for to be paid in grain or corn at 3/ and 4/ per bushel, or Neat Stock.
Sept. 22, 1794. The Vendue Sale of the Pews in the North Meeting-house took place, nearly all being thus sold in advance of their construction, at the following prices :
No. 7, Philip Sargent $54.00 No.28, Theophilus Cram $33.00
2, Matthew Harvey 53.00 " 34, Cornelins Bean 32.00
" 1, James Eaton 52.00 " 22, Reuben Gile 28.00
" 8, Simon Kezar 52.00 " 33, Samuel Bean 29.00
4, Daniel Messer 52.00 " 23, Benj'n Philbrick 28.00
" 32, Samuel Bean 50.00 " 27. Benj'n Philbrick, Jr. 30.00
" 31, Ephraim Gile 47.00 " 13, George Walker 34.00
" 24, John King 44.50 " 20, Stephen Woodward 30.00
" 3, Benj'n Philbrick 43.00 " 21, David Davis 29.00
" 9. Simon Kezar 39.00 .. 19, Benjamin Fowler
29.00
" 17, William Bean 38.00 " 26, Ephraim Hildreth 27.00
" 10, Thomas Wadleigh 37.50 " 16. Benjamin Philbrick 25.00 " 5, Francis Whittier 35.00 " 29, Benjamin Philbrick 26.00
" 18, Hezekiah Parker 35.00 " 14, Moses Bean 25.00
" 6, Amos Pressey 34.00 " 25, Levi Harvey 22.00
" 12, Moses Hills 34.00 " 31, Simon Kezar, Jr. 20.00
July 17, 1802, the following sold.
Pew No. 30 was struck off to Jacob Mastin for $17.00 23 Jonathan Eaton for 8.00
In 1816, Aug. 31-Elisha Parker bought Pew No. 36 for $37.00. At same time bought Pew No. 37 for $28.00, and Benjamin Farrar bought Pew No. 38 for $25.50, and John Chadwick bought Pew No. 39 for $25.50.
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BUILDING THE MEETING-HOUSES.
Copy of Deed of Pew No. 4. Daniel Messer.
Know all men by these Presents that we Samuel Bean, Matthew Harvey, and John King being chosen a committee to build a meet- ing house in the North part of Sutton the pew ground of No. 4 in the ground pews was set on an open fair sale and struck off to Dan- iel Messer who was the highest bidder for the same. So conse- quently became purchaser of the same. We therefore as commit- tee, for ourselves onr heirs and assigns do warrant and secure the pew ground to him the said Messer his heirs and assigns so long as said house shall continue. In witness whereof we do hereunto set our hands and seals this 6th day of October A. D. 1794.
Samuel Bean
Building
Matthew Harvey John King Committee.
Deed of Pew, No. 30. Jacob Mastin. [Twelve years later].
Know all men by these presents that we Jonathan Eaton. Amos Pressey and Jonathan Harvey all of Sutton in the County of Hills- borough and state of New Hampshire in our capacity as Committee for the Society to build a meeting house in the northwardly part of said Sutton, for and in consideration of twenty dollars before the delivery hereof paid by Jacob Mastin of said Sutton state and county aforesaid, having bargained and sold to the said Jacob all the pew ground of No. 30, on the lower floor in said north meeting house, we promising in our said capacity to warrant and defend the same against the lawful claims of any persons whomsoever until said house is dissolved. Given under our hands and seals this 30th day of June A. D. 1806.
Jonathan Eaton Amos Pressey Com. Jonathan Harvey
The North meeting-house, begun in 1794, was nearly completed in 1797. as the following notifica- tion will show. The paper has in it yet at the corners the small holes made by the pins used in posting it up.
330
HISTORY OF SUTTON.
To the Inhabitants belonging to the Society which have been building a Meeting House at the North end of the town of Sutton. We your Committee who were appointed to warn meetings for the future when thought necessary, therefore in our capacity do notify and request all the voters that belong to said Society to meet at said Meeting house on Thursday the twenty second instant at one o'clock in the afternoon to act on the following articles :
1. To choose a Moderator to regulate said meeting.
2. To choose a Clerk.
3. To see if the Society will accept of the Meeting House from the Committee so far as the building of the pews as their time is almost expired wherein they engaged to build said house.
4. To see if the Society will make choice of a Committee to settle all matters with the above said committee concerning said house.
5. To see if the Society may think best to sell the house John Harvey now liveth in making a repair of the same, till said Meeting house is finished.
6. To see what the Society will order shall be done with the securities of those that are delinquent of paying their engagements.
7. To see what shall be done with the pew ground yet to be sold in said House.
8. To act on any other article that may be thought proper when met.
Sutton Sept. 8, 1797.
Samuel Bean
Matthew Harvey - Com.
John King.
The labors and responsibilities of this committee had been many and perplexing, and were necessa- rily increased by the fact that scarcely anything needed to go into the construction of the house, except the stone and lumber, was obtainable at home. Everything else must come from quite a distance, and the heavy and bulky material they had to offer in exchange, the corn and grain, must of course be transported the same distance over poor roads, while even to negotiate such tradings required no
331
BUILDING THE MEETING-HOUSES.
little skill and prudent management. See what an infinity of trouble and vexation they had about a lock for the house.
First, Mr. Harvey avails himself of the aid of some one who is going to Weare, to get him to call on a Mr. Stevens of that town to see if he can make a lock and a pair of pulpit hinges. Mr. Stevens sends back word that he will do it, but must first have a pattern for the lock. Without waiting for it, however, he makes the lock, and sends Mr. Harvey word that he has done so, and that the charge is five dollars. Mr. Harvey declines the lock as being too expensive. Mr. Stevens gets angry, and soon after Mr. Harvey receives from Baruch Chase, Esq., a lawyer of Hopkinton, the following letter:
Hopkinton March 19, 1798.
Dear Sir.
Soon after you left my office this day Mr. Thomas Stevens of Weare left in my hands an account for making a lock for Sutton Meeting House. He has charged it to you as his employer, and begs for payment. Your friend and Servant
Baruch Chase
The following is Mr. Harvey's reply :
Sutton March 20, 1798.
Dear Sir,
I received your kind letter. and information concerning Mr. Stephens. Sir, the fact is I spoke to some person going to Weare to speak to Mr. Stevens to make for Sutton Meeting House a pair of pulpit hinges and a lock for one porch door. Mr. Stephens sent back word he would make them when I should send a pattern, or inform him how I would have them made. I sent to the joiner that did the work on the house to send down a pattern, but by inquiring I learn that he has not yet done it. Sir, Mr. Stephens told me yes- terday at Hopkinton he had made the hinges and had sold them, but the lock he had on hand, and would sue me if I did not take it.
332
HISTORY OF SUTTON.
I asked him his price ; he told me five dollars. I told him I should not give it. He threatened me so I thought him beside himself, and said no more to him. But Sir, he has sold the hinges and made such a lock that I am not allowed to take it for the Society, but any time when he shall make a common lock worth eight or nine shill- ings, that is good, I wish to take it, and will pay him the money, and not sooner.
From your humble Serv't
Matthew Harvey.
The last letter in this series is from James Hogg, of Dunbarton, who seems to have served as a board of arbitration in the matter:
Dunbarton May 19, 1798.
Sir. I received your letter of the 15th instant, and observed what you said respecting a lock and have been with Mr. Stephens this day, and he says you agreed to take a lock worth five dollars, and he has it made for you, and as it is made he has agreed with me to abate one dollar in the price rather than to have any dispute with you. And the meanest stock lock he makes fit for a Meeting House is worth 15/. As the odds will be only 9/ I think you had best take the 4 dollar lock, as it is a good one.
You will not repent if you conclude to have it I will pay for it, and send it immediately.
From your real friend and humble Serv't James Hogg.
This gentleman's view of the case was finally accepted by the building committee, and so the lock found its way at last to Sutton North meeting-house porch door.
The idea of building two meeting-houses in a town which, according to the statement of the remonstrants, was "very poor," had seemed a heavy undertaking, but the people really built three. The building of the North and the South meet- ing-houses, conducted by the same methods, was commenced about the same time, and they were
333
BUILDING THE MEETING-HOUSES.
finished in about two years or more. But a great misfortune befell the one at the South. Being nearly completed, it had been thought safer to remove the shavings from the building, and the removal had been partially effected, but a trail of shavings was carelessly left by the way. By some unknown accident the pile that had been carried away got on fire. The fire followed the trail till it reached the mass of shavings remaining under the house, which by this means caught fire and was soon reduced to ashes. Not discouraged, however, the people, that same night, raised by subscription enough to build another house, which was quickly completed, and ready for occupancy nearly as soon as the one at the North.
Daniel Page was the framer and master builder of the two houses at the South, and John Harvey (father of Dea. Joseph Harvey) of the one at the North. All three were of the same dimensions, 40 by 50 feet, with porches at the sides. The present house at the South was built in 1839.
In the North meeting-house much of the finish- ing, as well as the framing, was also done by John Harvey, but there was one thing which was never finished, and that was the gallery floor. This gal- lery ran round three sides of the building, the inside or lowest step being furnished with bench seats and a few pews. Outside of this all was empty space, calculated, doubtless, to be taken up by seats and pews which should be built afterwards as they should be needed. None were ever built, however. The gallery was so constructed that if an outside row of seats had been made they would have been
334
HISTORY OF SUTTON.
much higher than the inside seats, the floor of the gallery being an inclined plane, with the inclination, of course, towards the inside. By reason of this great inclination of the floor, as steep and sharp as the roof of a house, it was truly an awful opera- tion to take one's place in the singing seats. To climb the many stairs leading up through the porch, to reach the upper porch at last all out of breath, to look in at the gallery door and step up on the slippery threshold, to follow with the eye the slid- ing floor worn as smooth and shiny as glass, to feel the almost absolute certainty of slipping, and as you glanced at the seats already filled, to realize that if you tripped and fell your misfortune would not go unwitnessed,-all this required more cour- age than usually falls to the lot of women, or men either, unless they made the descent barefooted, which in those days was not at all contrary to law. Women of course could not even then go to meet- ing barefoot. Neither could they wear the old shoes wherein lay some small chance of safety. New shoes meant meeting-shoes, that and only that. So, even if they walked barefoot through the woods till just before they came in sight of the village, they stopped there and put on their shoes preparatory to entering the sanctuary, thus com- pletely reversing that custom of the Jews of old, which required the people to put off the shoes from the feet when standing on holy ground.
In doing this, however, they knew they were risking the chance of a tumble in the very place where they least desired to slip or fall. Standing in that gallery door-way, one saw that his choice lay
335
BUILDING THE MEETING-HOUSES.
between rolling, sliding, and running to his seat. Of course he chose the latter, or at least a walk so rapid that it amounted to a run, though he well knew that the operation, even if attended by no especial mishap, must inevitably be heard by every one in the house, by reason of the louder clattering of the loose boards under his feet. These loose boards, unmatched and untrimmed, which formed the single floor of the gallery, were of immense length and width, and were never fastened down. Waiting for the additional seats which were never made, they lay there, and clattered under every foot- step ever taken across them, telephoning the same all over the house for sixty years, till they were removed at the rebuilding of the temple in 1855.
Many women have been born in North Sutton, have lived there and grown old, and when their time was come have there given up the ghost. But some are living yet who can remember to have experienced all, yea more, of shame and terror than is here described, in making that transit from the gallery door to the singing-seats. Let them all speak now who can, and say if it does not at this day seem the greatest earthly marvel that in all those sixty long years no one ever thought to put up a strip of board for a hand-rail, or even to throw a rope across to hold on by, or to nail on a cleat here and there to the floor to check its downward tendency, or lay down a rag-mat? or, better than all other expedients, why did they not get up a dona- tion party and devote the proceeds to finishing the galleries?
As has already been said, the gallery passed
336
HISTORY OF SUTTON.
around both ends and one side of the house; on the other side, which was the north side, was placed the pulpit, midway of the house. In front of the pulpit, and raised a little above the floor, was the narrow slip termed the deacons' seat, wherein sat sometimes, though not always, the deacons during public worship. Over the pulpit hung the sounding- board, made in imitation of a bell, but cased up entirely. It was suspended by an iron rod passing up through a beam overhead and secured by an iron nut, so that it could not by any possibility fall and crush the head of the minister standing direct- ly beneath it,-a catastrophe which the children in the congregation confidently expected some day would take place. It was supposed to assist the speaker in making himself heard. It was made of very thin boards. Whether of any real use or not, it was a graceful and not unpleasant object for the eye to rest upon. The front of the gallery as well as the pillars which supported it, the pulpit, deacons' seat, and sounding-board were painted a brilliant green, which afforded a pleasant relief to the eye, the house being extremely light on account of its white walls and almost innumerable windows, two tiers of them, without ever a blind or a curtain. To these windows it was due, doubtless, that, although the house was without a chimney and never warmed artificially, it really was not cold in winter. There being no carpets or cushions to fade, the sun had at all times free access to all parts of the house, and the air within was therefore dry and pure. Some- times people brought with them to meeting a foot- stove to keep their feet warm. This was a tin box
337
.
BUILDING THE MEETING-HOUSES.
perforated with holes, and set in a square wooden frame, containing a pan of hard wood coals which would retain their heat till the meeting-house ser- vices were nearly through.
The pews were square: the seats, passing around the whole of the inside except the door, were pro- vided with hinges so that they could be raised dur- ing prayer-time when the congregation remained standing. Considerable noise and slamming usually attended the letting of them down again, but this was not the fault of the women, who always cau- tioned the men and children against such irreverent and ill-bred carelessness, giving them private les- sons at home. For a finish around the top, the pews had a row of small wooden pins, prettily turned, a few inches high and about the same dis- tance apart, the ends inserted in an upper and an under board.
This open-work finish gave the pews a pleasanter and less exclusive appearance, and also gave the children a chance to do a little mischief to relieve their nerves weary with sitting so still. The pins not being glued into their sockets, could with a little effort be made to turn around and creak, and so break for a moment the monotony of prayer or sermon.
The broad aisle led directly from the front door to the pulpit, and another aisle passed around the body of the house inside of the wall pews, and of course afforded access to the body pews as well. The porches gave admission to the lower floor, and also by a stair-way to the galleries. The house was high-posted, so that when it was remodelled in
22
338
HISTORY OF SUTTON.
1855 the upper or gallery floor was fitted up for the church, while the lower floor affords a conven- ient town hall. In 1870 a belfrey was added and a bell hung therein, which was rung for the first time on the morning of July 4th, to the great delight of every man, woman, and child within hearing distance of it, not only of the constant residents, but those of us who, having left town years before to seek our fortunes, or more strictly speaking to earn our living, had managed to get home for this day, and more than anything else for the sake of hearing this bell rung for the first time. And " how happy were our ears to hear this joyful sound," which, if not exactly " kings and prophets," yet, most certainly, Kings and Peasleys, and all the other ancestral families, " had waited for, and sought but never found."
With no little self-complacency we congratulated ourselves on having lived to greet this day, as if it was something rather meritorious in us to have done so. We compared this day with the old times, when even faintly to hear the New London bell, if by chance a favoring wind brought the sound of it down into our valley, was an event worth naming.
Not thus, however, was it with the cattle that were quietly feeding on the common and in the neighboring pastures. At the first sound of that awful clangor high up in the air above them, they threw up their tails and ran violently in all direc- tions, frightened as if for them the day of doom had surely come, and if the rocks and mountains would only fall upon and hide them, they would be very much obliged to them.
339
TRAVELLING ON THE SABBATH.
The bell, however, was ring several hours that day, different parties relieving each other at the rope, and so they had opportunity to become accus- tomed to the sound, and by nightfall their terrors were all over.
A centennial celebration was held at the North Village that day, during which, among other cere- monies, portions of some of the early chapters of this history of Sutton were read to the assembled people,-the readers being first, Theresa Harvey, second, Charles A. Fowler, third, Erastus Wad- leigh, Esq. The chaplain was Prof. Knights of New London Institute. Benjamin Fifield was mar- shal of the day, and Matthew Harvey, of Newport, presided at the stand.
The cost of bell and belfrey was $1,152.58. Of this sum $800 was raised by the men, who organ- ized under the name of the "Bell Company," and $350 by the women,-the result of work and enter- tainments of a knitting society formed by them for the purpose. The friends of this enterprise worked earnestly and faithfully for its accomplishment, and in the years since have found their efforts repaid in the weekly and sometimes daily use of the bell, and in the enjoyment of its rich and melodious tones.
TRAVELLING ON THE SABBATH.
Originally the office of tythingman was of very great importance. In some of the earliest settled towns in Massachusetts one tythingman was appointed for every ten families, his duty being to compel the attendance on public worship of every
340
HISTORY OF SUTTON.
family in his district, as well as to maintain suitable behavior while in the sanctury; and to make this possible in some of those early settlements, every householder was required to locate his dwelling- place not more than half a mile from the meeting- house.
Such stringency of religious obligation of course could exist only in a more thickly settled community than ever got foothold in our rocky, mountainous town, and in fact had become essentially modified in the places where it originated long before they sent out colonies to build up towns in central New Hampshire. Still, in the early years of the present century tythingmen were annually elected, and one part of their duty was to put a stop to unnecessary travel on Sunday. A man travelling. out of town on Sunday without a " permit" was liable to be put to the trouble of detention by the tythingmen of the places he passed through on his journey.
The writer remembers to have seen one of these " permits," dated 1814, which had been preserved as a curiosity. It read as follows, being simply an order from the tythingmen of Sutton to tythingmen on the route proposed to be passed over:
Permit the bearer. John Harvey, to pass from his house in Sutton to the house of Joseph Emerson in Hopkinton on this Lord's Day, he behaving as becometh.
The passage of the Toleration Act by the legis- lature in 1819 put an end to compulsory support of preaching, and most effectually took the wind out of the sails of the tythingman. Though annually chosen for several years afterwards, his importance
341
SINGING IN MEETING.
diminished year by year, and there was so little for him to do that when he ceased his official existence scarcely any one knew of it.
SINGING IN MEETING.
To know what was said or sung at public wor- ship in the more ancient towns of eastern Massa- chusetts is one and the same thing as to know what our own remote ancestors said and sung, our sec- tion of the country having been largely settled by emigrants from those towns, the history of whose civil, religious, and social life really forms a sort of prefatory chapter to the history of Sutton. There- fore a few facts, showing the progress of church music from the beginning, will not be out of place in this connection.
The Pilgrims brought with them Ainsworth's Version of the Psalms, which was used in the churches for many years (from 1620 to 1732). A version of the psalms by Sternhold and Hopkins was also used at an early period. In 1640 the Bay Psalm Book was published, and it was in use for more than a century. It was revised and improved in 1758 by Rev. Mr. Prince, pastor of the old South Church in Boston, and. was then reinstated in some places where it had been abandoned.
In 1741 an edition of Watts' Psalms and Hymns was published by Benjamin Franklin, and was extensively used, as was also " Tate and Brady's Book of Psalms and Metre" which appeared about the same time.
In 1714 Rev. John Tufts, of Newbury, Mass.,
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HISTORY OF SUTTON.
published a small work on musie, entitled “ A very plain and easy introduction to the art of singing psalm tunes with the Cantus or trebles of twenty- eight Psalm Tunes contrived in such a manner as that the learner may attain the skill of singing them with the greatest ease and speed imaginable, by Rev. John Tufts. Price sixpence, or 5 shillings a dozen."
This book was the first publication of the kind in New England, if not in America. As late as 1700 there were not more than four or five tunes known in many of the congregations in this coun- try, and in some not more than two or three, and these were sung altogether by rote. These tunes were York, Hackney, St. Mary's, Windsor, and Martyrs. To publish at this time a book containing as many as twenty-eight tunes was a daring inno- vation on the custom so long in vogue, and the book had to make its way to public favor through much prejudice. The attempt to teach singing by note was strenuously resisted by those who believed that religion should be purely spiritual, and that religious worship should have in it nothing sensa- tional, nothing for show. A writer in the New England Chronicle, in 1723, observes, "Truly I have a great jealousy that if we once begin to sing by rule, the next thing will be to pray by rule and preach by rule, and then comes popery." The tunes in this book were in three parts, and purely choral.
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