USA > New Hampshire > Coos County > Lancaster > The one hundred & fiftieth anniversary of Lancaster, New Hampshire, 1764-1914; the official report of the celebration held in August, nineteen hundred and fourteen; > Part 8
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HER ILLUSTRIOUS SONS
While I have said that the Town has not had many illustrious sons yet its average has been high in all walks of life and especially so in the case of
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the legal profession. The Town's first lawyer was Richard Claire Everett, who settled here in 1793, married a daughter of the Town, and lived and died in the house at the corner of High and Main streets, now known as the Cross House. He was the forerunner of a bar which has included among its members men of great legal attainments.
Forty years ago it had among its active attorneys the Heywoods; the Fletchers; Ray, Drew & Jordan; Hon. William Burns; Judge William S. Ladd; Hon. Jacob Benton; Hon. Benjamin F. Whidden; George A. Cossitt and immediately before and after that time other men who attained distinction in their profession. It is very unusual to find, in these days of compromise and tendency to settle suits, more than two or three lawyers of the first class in a town of this size. There will be general agreement that the men to whom I have referred formed one of the most unusual bars that could be found anywhere in the United States in such a community.
Lancaster has furnished its quota, more than its quota, to every war in which our country has been engaged since the foundation of the Town- very few to be sure in the great war which made us a nation because there were not many here available for that purpose-but if one doubts the ready response to the call of our country's support in other times he has but to look at the list of names on the monument in Soldier's Park where he will find that there was scarcely one of the older families which has not contributed of its numbers to the contests in which our country has been engaged. The records show that two of the seventeen males who were then residents took part in the Revolutionary War; that the company which Captain John Wingate Weeks led into the War of 1812 included 143 men, all coming from this section, and that when volunteers were called for in 1861 five per cent. of the voting population had enlisted at the close of the second day. Among these there may have been no military genius, but there was at least one son whose career in the Civil War should send a thrill of pride through every loyal native of this Town. I refer, of course, to Colonel Edward E. Cross, the gallant commander of the Fifth New Hampshire Regiment in the Civil War, a regiment which in proportion to its numbers engaged lost more men during its career than any regiment in the northern armies. For more than two years it was led by this intrepid and adventuresome spirit who was always in the fight and in the fight until the finish. His service warranted his expecting and hoping for the star of a Generalship; indeed, he was serving as a Brigadier General in command of a brigade when killed in the wheat field at the foot of Little Round Top in the battle of Gettysburg where 98 out of 182 men of his old regiment were killed or wounded in the evening of the second day of that great battle. If he had been spared to continue his career to the end of the war he would easily have established himself as one of the most successful non-pro- fessional soldiers of that great conflict. So to him and to all others who
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have taken part in National contests we may this day acclaim our satis- faction that when the supreme test has required it the sons of Lancaster have always been ready for the sacrifice.
SUCCESS DUE TO CHARACTER
The character of this Town and the success of its people as well as of large numbers who have gone to other localities is due to the Lancaster Academy and the training which our youth has been given within its walls. It was elementary and it was not without breaks and temporary failures, but it is worth noting in this day of systematic and all comprehensive school teaching that the graduates of this school have met with unusual success in every section of the Union competing with the graduates of more famous schools and colleges. Its alumni are here in large numbers. An association has been formed which with other interests should work to keep the schools of this Town up to the best standards and the hope that the results will be equal to those of the past.
Those who came as the first settlers to Lancaster were firm believers that Government should be based upon morality and religious sentiment; that the good Christian is naturally a good citizen and, therefore, among the first things they did was to establish a church and call to it Parson Willard who, for many years, was the religious and moral leader of this Town. Such a man may stamp his individuality not only on those who are directly in contact with him but upon the whole community. We see to-day, even in a time when there are multitudinous interests which take the time of men, women and children, some men who, by their conduct and example, are exercising a strong influence upon those with whom they are brought in contact. As time has gone on, other churches have been organized in the Town; new divisions, incident to creed and methods, have been emphasized by separate places of worship and a long line of excellent men have filled their pulpits. But I believe that a better day has come in matters relating to religious activities. There is a distinct movement towards concentration of effort. Men still insist on their particular faith as the one best suited to the religious requirements of the community, but the age of hostile criticism and doubt because others do not agree with them is passing away and a better day is coming when we shall all recognize the fundamentals of a Christian life and modify or entirely remove our faith in creeds and dogmas.
Those who first came to the Town gave to it such a substantial character that there was a permanence and stability in the settlement even from the building of the first log cabin and that general air of satisfaction and happiness, cleanliness, respectable appearance, which the Town has always had, is maintained with undiminished excellence down to and including the present day. Where will you see better ordered streets, better maintained
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W. E. Bullard F. C. Cleaveland Dr. H. S. Pratt
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houses and surroundings, more beautiful trees, a more general air of thrift and comfort and the plenty which is sufficient to drive away the possibility of want than in this Town? To be sure, there are no palaces here; there is nothing extraordinary in architecture or in any of the qualities which go to make up a New England village, but there is that general average of com- pleteness in all that is necessary, which can not be excelled in any similar community.
The Town has not only done this but it has sent into many other com- munities its sons and daughters, some of whom have returned here to-day to join in this celebration, hundreds of whom are worthy and important members of some other community, continuing the habits of life which they have acquired here and bringing to their adopted homes the best elements of these surroundings.
ELEMENTS IN TRUE SUCCESS
Occasionally one of them has in some degree excelled his fellowmen in the accumulation of money or in important position which he may have obtained or in some other department of life. There may be among those who have remained and who have seemed to have lived a more reserved- at least a quieter life-who may think at times that they have not accom- plished as much in the world's affairs as they might have done if they had gone to other fields; I want to say to them, if there are such in this presence, that success in life is not important position, it is not the accumulation of money, it is not doing important and prominent things in any capacity, but it is doing the best you can with the material you have at your disposal, in whatever surroundings you may find yourself, and those who have gone to other fields-a distinguished example of whom has just passed from the stage of life-the late Henry W. Denison, for many years the advisor of the Japanese Government in all of that Government's foreign affairs, the last American citizen to be retained in an important place by that govern- ment, and all others like him who have seemed to do more important things than you have accomplished-have simply done the best they could and have made the fullest use of the opportunities which have come to them. If you have done the same in this community, if you have brought up your family as God fearing, loyal citizens, if you have done your part to make this community as good a place in which to live as it was when you joined it or even to better the conditions which you originally found, then you are entitled to the same credit and should be as happy in the consciousness of having done as well as he who has seemed to accomplish more in other fields. All of us have a bit of envy in our natures, but envy is never justi- fiable and position in life is the last reason why we should envy our fellow- men.
Regard for or pride in ancestry may be an evidence of a tendency to depend upon reputation rather than upon works but a suitable regard for
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ancestors and the example which they have set must be, I think, an in- centive to better living and doing. What sense can be stronger than the feeling that we are worthy of those who have preceded us and what will cause us to perform our duties more efficiently than the thought that we are continuing the excellent policies of those who have gone before us.
BUILDING FOR THE FUTURE
This is a period of great changes in Nations as well as smaller com- munities; it is a period of experimenting in governmental and in social problems. Much of this is the undigested production of impractical minds. Some of it will result in improving conditions if for no other reason because it will mean the replacing of old worn-out methods with modern methods fitted to the special conditions which prevail. There is no occasion for Lancaster to become a political or social experimental station. On the contrary it may well abstain from changes until the proposed procedure has been tested by time and usage elsewhere. Then and only then should you give up what has served you well in the past. Why should you follow any other course? You are remote from the great activities, unaffected by the seething, fermenting thought which is so prevalent in all large communities. You can or should view the great questions which are agitating mankind dispassionately and wisely. You have every agency necessary for the pro- motion of health, comfort and real happiness, you are intelligent, charita- ble, religious and your history is one of happy memories and sane per- formances. All nature smiles on this town. Let us be satisfied that these conditions are sound, that they should be protected.
It should give the people of Lancaster no concern that its growth has been slow. This condition might have been obviated perhaps by the establishment of industries requiring the bringing here of a class of un- desirable people. There is no satisfaction in mere bigness; it may be the antithesis of greatness. Such growth as has come to this town has not changed its character which is what makes a community great.
Very few of us who are present to-day will be present to join in the 200th anniversary of the settlement of this Town, but we may hope that those who follow us, who will conduct and take part in that celebration, may find much that makes this a better world in which to live and in re- calling our actions and efforts will be able to say that we lived up to our obligations as good citizens and that they will be able to recount many changes similar to those which have made the immediate past the most fruitful and progressive period in the world's history. Let us hope that they will see that we contributed to the cause of good government and to religious liberty and that we were insistent in promoting any cause which would make better the condition of man and his surroundings. Then they will look back upon us with the same feeling of gratitude and appreciation which we feel for those who have preceded us.
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Judge Albert R. Savage
Albert R. Savage. Born at Ryegate, Vermont, December 8, 1847, son of Charles W. Savage (a native of Lancaster) and Eliza M. (Clough) Savage of Ryegate. Parents removed to Lancaster in January, 1856. His father was a farmer. He went to school in District No. 7, and later attended Lancaster Academy, from which institution he gradu- ated in 1867. Graduated from Dartmouth College, 1871. Taught in Northwood, N. H., Seminary and Northfield, Vt., High School, 1871-1875. In 1875 removed to Auburn, Maine. Admitted to the Bar in 1874. Practiced law in Auburn, 1875-1897. County attorney for Androscoggin County, 1881-1885; Judge of Probate, 1885-1889; Mayor of Auburn, 1889-1890-1891; representative to the Legislature 1891-1893; speaker of the House, 1893; senator in Maine Legislature 1895-1897; associate justice of the Supreme Judicial Court of Maine, May 15, 1897-April 9, 1913; chief justice of the same Court, April 9, 1913, to the present time. A distinguished jurist. Given degree of LL. D. by Bates College, 1897; Bowdoin College, 1909; Dartmouth College, 1911. Married, August 17, 1871, Nellie H. Hale of Lunen- burg, Vermont, who died August 24, 1912. Their three children have all died. Married, September 2, 1914, Frances A. Cooke of Weston, Massachusetts.
MR. DREW: Ladies and Gentlemen: Our next speaker will be Hon- orable Albert R. Savage. He is a descendant of one of the oldest families in our Town. He was reared in Lancaster. His father lived here many years. He has become a distinguished Judge, and is now Chief Justice of the State of Maine. He writes as able opinions as any judge in New Eng- land. I know this because we have used them in practice many times.
He will now give you his views of Lancaster and her people.
MR. SAVAGE: Ladies and Gentlemen: In view of the very flattering introduction given to me by Major Drew, I think I better read to you one of my opinions, and let that go for the performance of my duty this after- noon; but I didn't bring one with me, so I am obliged to fall back upon what I had originally thought I would say.
I want in the first place to express my thanks for the privilege of meeting here to-day with my old friends in Lancaster. Lancaster was not my native town; I am not a son of Lancaster by birth; I am only a grandson; but I am an adopted son, also, for all of the days of my youth from almost my earliest memory were spent here in the Town of Lancaster upon one of the farms in the eastern part of the Town.
When your committee kindly honored me by inviting me to come to-day and say a few words they suggested that I might talk about anything I
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pleased. In a moment of absentmindedness I wrote back that I would say a few words about the Lancaster of fifty years ago as I remembered it; but when I came to think seriously of it, I feared I had made a mistake, for my geography, my local geography of Lancaster, I found was imperfect; I found that that part where I had lived and moved and had my being, that part of the Town I remembered pretty well; that other parts of the Town I did not remember so well, so that whatever I might say would necessarily be partial and imperfect. But I am going to spend a few minutes, and only a few minutes, in trying to recall to your memories Lancaster as it was in 1864, at the time of the Centennial Celebration and the year or two before and after.
LANCASTER FIFTY YEARS AGO
There are many of you here, I see, wearing to-day these buttons which indicate that you, too, were here on the 14th day of July 1864. You will remember that on that day, the day of the celebration, there was a parade as there has been to-day, but not so long and not so beautiful; there were then in line, as I remember, only two organizations, the Commandery of Knights Templar and the Fire Companies; there were no Odd Fellows in line; there were none of the other orders which have been represented here to-day. And that difference of itself shows perhaps, as well as anything, the great change which has come over social life since 1864. That proces- sion was headed by Whipple's cornet band, marshalled by Col. Henry O. Kent. They marched up this same Main Street to North, and back from North to this ground, which was then privately owned, listened to address- es made by distinguished citizens, had a banquet, and speeches at the banquet, and at the end they formally voted to adjourn to meet on this spot one hundred years from July 14, 1864. They all agreed to come pro- vided they could. We are met to-day, not in pursuance of that adjourn- ment, but by special call, a call no doubt inspired not only to bring forward the memories of the past and inspire the future, but to accommodate some of us who may not find it convenient to be here on July 14, 1964.
Now for Lancaster of fifty years ago. It had ceased to be the time of pioneers. Lancaster had found itself. The work of cutting down the forest, and fitting the land for cultivation was done for the most part; the axe had been followed by the plough and the harrow, and the shovel and the hoe. The hand of man had conquered the wilderness, and had made beautiful fields of waving grass and growing crops. Lancaster was famed then, and is now, for its beautiful and fertile meadows through which ran the Connecticut River and the Israel's River. The hillsides were then more rocky than now, but of good soil; and the hundreds of miles of stone wall attested the thor- oughness with which the hand of man had met and overcome the difficulties and adversities of nature. The century which was just then ended had been
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a busy one, and there was present here that day, living in this Town, three men who were the sons of the original Emmons Stockwell and Ruth Page,- Ephraim Stockwell, Emmons Stockwell and John Stockwell. And there were here on that day representatives of many others of the old families who settled Lancaster at the first, or at least during its first fifty years. Such were the Stockwells, whom I have already mentioned, and the Spauldings, and the Weeks and the Whites and the Bucknams and the Chessmans and the Bracketts and many others that I might name but whom I have no time now to call to your minds.
While I am speaking of the old families and the old names and the men who were here fifty years ago so nearly connected with the very first settlers, I want to add something to that which Senator Weeks has said; that there are in this Town to-day people who are examples of the persistency of families and of the persistency of those old names. There is in this Town to-day a Ruth Stockwell Gardner, in the fifth generation from Ruth Page and Emmons Stockwell; and there is in this Town to-day a David Page Currier, in the same generation from Emmons Stockwell and Ruth Page; grandchildren of your own Dr. Stockwell. And until a few weeks ago there was living in this Town another Emmons Stockwell, grandson of Emmons and Ruth. Three generations had covered the entire period from 1764 until now.
A VILLAGE OF TWO THOUSANDS
Lancaster of fifty years ago contained about 2,000 inhabitants, two- thirds of whom resided here in this beautiful village in about 150 houses. The streets were simple and earth wrought. There were no concrete side- walks until 1868, nor street lights until 1869, and even then the lights were of kerosene and maintained by private enterprise. The contrast between those streets and walks, and the well built roads and concrete walks of to- day,-garnished as they are by neatly kept, unfenced lawns on either side, is most striking to one who comes back out of the memories of the past to the living present. The general aspect of the village, or some parts of it, is very much changed. The general aspect of the Town at large is not so much changed. When I come to the village and pass to the lower end of Main Street I find that there the stores and buildings of fifty years ago have been, most of them, removed by fire or otherwise, and those broad, hand- some blocks so full of trade and business to-day are new to me. But in the Lancaster of fifty years ago there was still much business carried on in the stores of that day. And you will pardon me if I recall to your memories some of the men who were engaged prominently in business in 1864 in Lancaster. I cannot recall all.
Royal Joyslin, who has already been mentioned by Senator Weeks, had been here since 1825, conducting a general store, and in 1864, his store was
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under the old Town Hall, and he was postmaster. And then there was Richard P. Kent, who, at one time, in 1828, and for years afterwards, was a partner of Mr. Joyslin and who died a few years afterwards after having been fifty-seven years in trade in Lancaster. They were men of the old school. They were men of the highest type of integrity and citizenship, and I am very glad to-day to pay this tribute to their memories.
The limit of time which I have imposed upon myself will not permit me to do more than name others, and to express the regret that there were still others whose names do not come back to me. There were Nelson Kent, dry goods; Charles B. Allen, watchmaker and jewcler; Nelson Sparks and Thomas S. Underwood, tailors; A. J. Marshall and Harvey Adams, carriage and sleigh makers; J. I. Williams, foundry; J. A. Smith, Frank Smith and D. W. Smith, groceries, flour, etc .; F. White, daguerrean artist (photog- raphy was a new art); Enoch L. Colby and Horace Whitcomb, saddlers and harness makers; John P. Hodge, grist mill; Hartford Sweet and Na- thaniel Stickney, boots and shoes; Lafayette Moore, dry and furnishing goods; Dr. J. W. Barney, soon succeeded by Edward Savage, drugs and medicines and books and stationery; Isabel Blodgett, millinery. There were also Oliver F. Nutter and Reuben L. Adams and James L. Rowell. I merely mention these names to call back to your memories who were the business men of Lancaster in 1864.
The Lancaster House, which stood as a substitute for the coming of the Grand Trunk Railway to Lancaster, had been in operation six years. Lan- caster's only newspaper was the Coos Republican, owned and edited by Col. Henry O. Kent. On Middle Street, near the bridge, was the White Mountain Bank, the only banking institution in Lancaster at that time. Not long after its doors were closed and its affairs liquidated, as perhaps some who are here to-day may remember unpleasantly.
SOME OF THE PROFESSIONS
Fifty years ago Dr. Jacob E. Stickney, a physician of the old type, splendid representative of the old-fashioned family physician, was in active practice here in Lancaster. He had practiced here for forty-three years. There was also Dr. J. W. Barney, not so actively engaged in practice as Dr. Stickney. Then, in our boyhood days, there were Dr. J. D. Folsom, who afterwards removed to St. Johnsbury; and Dr. Frank Bugby, whose tragic death a few years later has not yet passed from the memory of the citizens of Lancaster.
In 1864, as perhaps many of you remember, the Reverend Prescott Fay preached in the Congregational Church there, a man of beloved memory, a man whose memory we all revere,-those of us who remember him. He was succeeded shortly after by Rev. H. V. Emmons, a man of deep culture and profound piety. In the Methodist Church the minister was the Reverend
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Simeon P. Heath; and in the Baptist Church, which stood very near where the beautiful library now stands, was the Rev. George A. Glines. Rev. Father Noisseaux had charge of the spiritual interests of those of the Catholic faith in town, though I think not then settled in Lancaster. And the Unitarian pulpit was not then occupied.
Now the bar of Lancaster has been spoken of-one of the best bars, one of the best, ablest set of lawyers that the State of New Hampshire has ever had within its border, I venture to say. I will venture to say that in 1864, when Jacob Benton, Ossian Ray, William Burns, William Heywood and Hiram A. Fletcher and Benjamin F. Whidden were the active members of the bar (George A. Cossitt was not so actively engaged in court but still a very active lawyer; and there was Jared I. Williams who joined with his professional work a business career). I will venture to say that there did not exist in the State of New Hampshire in 1864 a brighter galaxy of legal lights than the Town of Lancaster could boast of. Turner Stephenson was Judge of Probate, John M. Whipple, Register of Probate, and Daniel C. Pinkham, Clerk of Court. And connected with the court was Enoch L. Colby, sheriff, whose dignity impressed my boyish eyes, as he, in full civilian dress, with silk hat and cockade, escorted the presiding Judge to and from the old Court House.
THE INFLUENCE OF THE ACADEMY
Now, my friends, to hasten on, I speak as Senator Weeks has of Lancaster Academy. Lancaster Academy in 1864 was in the height of prosperity. The new building had recently been built out of the proceeds of the twenty thousand dollars which the Grand Trunk Railroad paid for not coming into Lancaster, which was sifted through the Lancaster House, that is, the old Lancaster House, and what was left of it went into the new buildings of the Lancaster Academy. In 1864 Harlan W. Page,-do you remember him ?- was principal of the Academy-a fine, scholarly gentleman, still living in a hale and hearty old age in the State of Minnesota. It was my pleasure to meet him three years ago at a Dartmouth Commencement, and I was able easily to recognize him. He had the same features and the same appearance that Principal Harlan Page bore in 1864. He was followed by Principal Odell, to whose school I did not go, and then by Mr. O. C. Palmer, whom some of you must remember, an earnest, forceful, enthusiastic man who impressed himself upon all who came near him, who inspired the am- bitions and fostered the hopes of all the boys and girls who went to the old Lancaster Academy. And I take this occasion to pay my personal tribute of grateful remembrance to Mr. Page and to Mr. Palmer.
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