USA > New Hampshire > Rockingham County > Derry > Willey's book of Nutfield; a history of that part of New Hampshire comprised within the limits of the old township of Londonberry, from its settlement in 1719 to the present time > Part 5
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for very brief periods of a few days at a time. The benefit of a quarter of a century's unbroken record of running machinery, and certain, sure, and defi- nite pay-days, has been seen and appreciated in the material growth and stability of Derry Depot. In the earlier years it was discovered that the total amount of money paid out for wages on an aver- age was about twenty-five per cent of the amount of money used in carrying on the business, includ- ing the buying of stock, machinery, etc. But for the last twelve or fifteen years this average has increased until the laborers now receive fully one third of all the money consumed in the pro- duetion of the finished goods. It now requires, in round numbers, six hundred thousand dollars a year to pay the wages and all the expenses of ma- terial, and keep the machinery in running order.
A quarter of a century brings many changes in the habits and dress of the American people, and very noticeably in the varying styles of the shoe. The class of goods manufactured here when Colonel Pillsbury opened his factory, in 1870, could not be sold at any price today in this country. His goods were well made and finely finished, and of the best material, but the demands of the market have wrought a complete change in the style and make-up of these goods. In the earlier years the Colonel employed men in the manufacture of both boots and shoes, and the variety of samples reached about five hundred. Then he furnished boots and shoes for men, boys and children, as well as for women. But the progress of distributive labor and specialization have made it more practicable for him to confine his business to the production of shoes for women, misses, and children. About three hundred varieties are now manufactured here.
The shoes manufactured under the superin- tendence of Colonel Pillsbury have found a ready market in this country, and over a wide extent of the civilized world. The largest sales have been effected in the southern and western states. The New England group has called for a reasonable proportion of the products, Rhode Island in partic- ular having been a regular and valued consumer beyond her relative area. 'It is interesting to ob- serve the extent to which foreign countries have
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WILLEY'S BOOK OF NUTFIELD.
contributed to the deserved reputation of this American methods of doing things, has been a American industry. Most European countries en- large purchaser of American products, and Colonel gage the services of shoemakers and other laborers at much lower prices than arc paid to men in the same grades of work in the United States. And yet England has been no small consumer of the products of this new village of Derry Depot, in what was once called His Royal Majesty's Province of New Hampshire, in New England. But the styles of a year in New England arc now as numcrous Pillsbury has received and filled some good orders for shoes made here. Far away in Russia the sam- ples of this factory found interested examiners, and elicited one of the largest orders received for ship- ment of shoes. Even under the shadow of the pyramids in Egypt shoe dealers have heard of these shoes and forwarded orders for consignments. Very many shipments are made to the West In- dies, presumably to meet the needs of Americans who have settled there, or annually flock there to escape the scveritics of our winter climate. Large consignments have frequently been made to Yuka- tan, and both coasts of South America are open to the sale of these goods, and under favorable cir- eumstances, that is, when not engaged in warfare, or contracting their import trade, they have given this manufacturing house a fair proportion of orders.
WILLIAM H. BENSON.
Foreman of the Bottoming Room.
and varied as those of a century in the old coun- tries of Europe, and the shoes that are worn there are no longer made in this country, and the shoes made for this country arc as yet chiefly confined in European countries to the use or influence of Americans who are living abroad, or connected with commercial houses there. Notwithstanding this, Germany, through the admiration they who have settled in America feel for America and
There have always existed the most harmonious relations between Colonel Pillsbury and the men and women associated with him in this industry, so fruitful in the founding of a vigorous community. This manifestation of appreciation may indicate the character of the people, and promises well for the permanent maintenance of good feeling. He has endeavored to introduce as few changes as possible in the divisions of labor or the wages. Certainly there have been no radical changes, un- less an exception is made in the instance of aban- doning the old system of pegged work for the morc modern system of sewed work, and the use of the standard wirc screw. There has never been a strike at this factory since the commence- ment of the Colonel's interest therein, and he has never once failed to give the operatives their wages on the regular pay-days. Until June, 1893, the shops were never shut down for want of orders.
This is a record of twenty-four years that can scarcely find a parallel in the history of manufactur- ing industries, and with pardonable pride the Colo- nel may look upon the business he controls, the buildings ereeted under his superintendence, the growth of the town, the evidences of material pros- perity of the people, and other enterprises of more recent beginning, as all due in a great measure to his own energy and perseverance.
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WILLEY'S BOOK OF NUTFIELD.
C' OL. WILLIAM S. PILLSBURY, son of the last call, and was commissioned lieutenant of Co. late Rev. Stephen Pillsbury, a Baptist cler- D, Unattached Artillery, under the command of gyman, well known throughout New Hampshire, was born March 16, 1833, at Sutton. His early educational advantages were limited, and he learned the shoemaker's trade when fourteen years of age. His energy and ability placed him, when twenty years of age, in the position of superintendent of a shoe factory at Cilleysville. From there he was engaged as agent by a firm of shoe manufacturers just starting business at Derry Depot. Upon the opening of the war he enlisted and was commis- Capt. George Colbath of Dover. Being later ap- pointed ordnance officer of the First brigade, Har- ding's division, stationed at Fort Reno, Md., he re- mained there until the close of the war, and was mustered out at Concord, June 15, 1865. He soon began the manufacture of shoes at London- derry, successfully carrying on the business there until the need of larger buildings induced him to remove to Derry Depot, where he has since re- maincd. Colonel Pillsbury has filled numerous
mon for
NEW SHOE FACTORY, DERRY DEPOT.
sioned first lieutenant in Co. I of the Fourth N. H. Regt. A severe accident which he met with at Annapolis forced him to return home, but he re- enlisted upon recovery, being made first lieutenant in Co. H, Ninth N. H. Vols., and was in the en- gagements at South Mountain and Antietam. Ill- ness compelled him to resign his commission, and he was next engaged to superintend experts in the manufacture of shoes by New England methods at Wheeling, W. Va. Returning to Londonderry when he had fully regained his health, he raised for the town its quota of thirty men under Lincoln's
offices of public trust. In 1869 he was elected a commissioner for Rockingham county ; he has rep- resented his town in the legislature; he was elected a member of Governor Goodell's council, running ahead of his ticket ; he served on the staff of Gov- ernor Prescott, deriving thence his title of colonel, and he has been moderator at town meetings for a great many years. Colonel Pillsbury is a lifelong Republican, and a member of the Presbyterian church, of which he has long been a trustee.
Colonel Pillsbury was married April 15, 1856, to Miss Martha Silver Crowell, daughter of Capt.
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WILLEY'S BOOK OF NUTFIELD.
Peter Crowell, of Londonderry. Their children not prove a paying investment, however, for he are : Rosecrans W., Charles H. L., Harriet L., and Ulysses Grant.
J. T. WHITELEY was born in Yorkshire, England, in 1842. Both his parents dying before he was a year old, his advantages for secur- ing even the rudiments of an education were very limited, and he was early thrown upon his own re- sources. He was put to work in a factory when seven years of age, being obliged to labor half of each day, and attend school the other half, until he was twelve years old, when he began to work all day. When he was about sixtecn hc awakened to the fact that knowledge is of great assistance in fighting the battles of life, and so he began to de- vote his evenings to study, devouring every book that he could borrow. Two of his uncles were in America, and having a strong desire to come to this country, he saved up his pennies until he had enough to buy a postage stamp, which at that time cost a shilling, in order to write to them. It did
never received a reply, and so he kept plodding along in the old country. In his twentieth year, on June 9, 1863, he was married to Miss Ann Dy- son, all the capital the young couple possessed being their willing hands. One child, Mary J., born May 10, 1865, has been added to the family. Ten years later a favorable opportunity of coming to America was offered to Mr. Whiteley, and although the firm for which he had worked more than twenty ycars endeavored to dissuadc him, he set sail with his wife and daughter, and landcd in Bos- ton May 16, 1875, settling in Haverhill, and find- ing employment in a shoe factory, through the kindness of Mr. John Pilling. In 1877 Mr. White- ley came to Derry, where, with the exception of three visits to his native land, he has resided ever since. For five years he has occupied his present position, that of foreman of the cutting room in the shoe factory. Mr. Whiteley ascribes the suc- cess he has attained in life to the assistance given him by his faithful and energetic wife.
VIEW OF DERRY DEPOT, FROM THE WEST.
ORIGIN OF THE NUTFIELD COLONY.
IT has been said of the emigrants of 1719, who Surrounded as they were by the native Irish Cath- olics, with whom it was impossible for them to affiliate, and breathing the subtle atmosphere of hostility, their position was most uncomfortable. The hundred years of residence in Ireland had only served to accentuate the differences between the Scotch and Irish characters, as Macaulay has so well shown in his summing up of the state of affairs ex- isting at that time. He says: "On the same soil dwelt two populations, locally intermixcd, morally and politically sundered. The difference of religion was by no means the only difference, and was per- haps not the chief difference, which existed between them. They sprang from different stoeks. They spoke different languages. They had different na- tional characters, as strongly opposed as any two na- tional characters in Europe. They were in widely different stages of civilization. There could, therc- fore, bc little sympathy between them, and centuries of calamities and wrongs had generated a strong an- tipathy. The relation in which the minority stood to the majority resembled the relation in which the followers of William the Conquerer stood to the Saxon ehurls, or the relation in which the followers of Cortez stood to the Indians of Mexico. The appellation of Irish was then given exclusively to the Celts, and to those families which, though not of Celtic origin, had in the course of ages degen- eratcd into Celtic manners. These people, proba- bly somewhat under a million in number, had, with few exceptions, adhered to the Church of Rome. Among them resided about two hundred thousand colonists, proud of their Saxon blood and of their Protestant faith. The great preponderance of numbers on one side was more than compensated by a great superiority of intelligence, vigor, and or- founded the colony of Nutfield, that in the as- sured hope of securing freedom of conscience and religious liberty, they were willing to take their chances in worldly matters, whereas the emigrants of today would, if necessary, reverse that order, and imperil their religious rather than their material in- terests. However that may be, certain it is that in these piping times of religious toleration no Protestant ever leaves Catholic Ircland, and no Catholic ever leaves Protestant England, in order to obtain freedom of conseiencc. It is rather the freedom which money will buy that he seeks upon these shores. So it is often difficult now to real- ize that less than two centuries ago the founders of Nutfield colony preferred the hardships and dan- gers of the wilderness in an inhospitable clime to the comforts of established homes in a beautiful land. It would, however, be erroneous to suppose that those high-minded men, with their lofty ideals and noble characters, were guided wholly by reli- gious motives in their determination to emigrate. There were material as well as spiritual reasons for leaving their native land. Although the Protest- ant eause had been firmly established in Ireland, and they were permitted to maintain their own forms of worship unmolested, still, as Presbyterians and dissenters from the Church of England, they were hampered in many ways. They were eom- pelled to give up a tenth part of their income for the support of the established religion, and they held their lands and tenements by lease from the crown, and not as proprietors of the soil. This taxation was not only burdensome, but it was gall- ing in the extreme. Nor was this trammelling of their eivil and religious rights the only cause of their dissatisfaction with the conditions at home. ganization on the other. The English settlers
48
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WILLEY'S BOOK OF NUTFIELD.
seem to have been, in knowledge, energy, and per- severance, rather above than below the average level of the population of the mother country. The aboriginal peasantry, on the contrary, were in an almost savage state."
Small wonder then that the Nutfield settlers were not loth to escape all these embarrassments, and that they were willing to forego many material comforts for the sake of a larger civil liberty. The sturdy old James MacGregor, one of the four pas- tors who accompanied their flocks to America, and the first minister of Londonderry, preached a ser- mon to his people just before their embarkation, and it is interesting to note his reasons for their removal to this country. He was no hypocrite, but frank and honest, and it is significant that he puts the worldly reason first, and the spiritual rea- son last : " I. To avoid oppression and cruel bond- age. 2. To shun persecution and designed ruin. 3. To withdraw from the communion of idolators. 4. To have an opportunity of worshiping God ac- cording to the dictates of conscience and the rules of His inspired Word."
LONDONDERRY, IRELAND, FROM THE NORTH.
They were great men, those first settlers of Nutfield, but after all they were human, and made of the same stuff as their descendants, who possess quite as much latent heroism and nobility of char- acter. Still, the story of events in Ireland preced- ing the emigration of the Nutfield colonists will
always be a fascinating one, for those dark and tragic years between 1640 and 1689 in the north of Ireland are memorable in the world's history. Some of the bitterest conflicts were waged there that have ever been fought for human liberty, and the brave defence of Londonderry marks a great
LONDONDERRY, IRELAND, FROM THE SOUTH.
epoch in the world's progress. Hence the appro- priateness of a brief outline of those historic events in this Book of Nutfield.
Londonderry, Ireland, was settled by the de- scendants of a colony which migrated from Argyle- shire, Scotland, about the year 1612. They were induced to settle in Ireland by the fact that James I., after the suppression of a rebellion by his Cath- olic subjects, had acquired almost the whole of the six northern counties of Ireland, and he encour- aged his Scotch and English subjects, by liberal grants, to settle there, in the hope that their pres- ence might quell the turbulent Irish spirits. The Irish rebellion in the reign of Charles I. originated in the hatred with which the Irish Catholics re- garded their Protestant neighbors. A general mas- sacre was planned, but the plot was fortunately dis- covered in Dublin. In other parts of Ireland, how- ever, it is said that one hundred and fifty thousand persons were killed. During Cromwell's time the Protestants were protected from the enmity of the Irish Catholics, but James II. greatly disaffected his English subjects by his attempts to re-establish
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WILLER'S BOOK OF NUTFIELD.
the supremacy of the Church of Rome. William, The gates were closed against the regiment, and Prince of Orange, was encouraged by many in that was the beginning of the famous siege of Lon- England to attempt a revolution and ascend the throne. He accordingly landed in England in No- vember, 1688, and was soon joined by the principal lords. James escaped to France, where Louis
WALKER'S MONUMENT, LONDONDERRY, IRELAND.
XIV. advised him to attempt regaining his throne. Though William of Orange had been elected king, Ireland still maintained its allegianee to James, and Tyreonnel, the lord lieutenant, began raising new levies of troops. James resolved to eross over to Ireland, subdue the places which offered resistanee, proceed to Seotland, and then meet William's forees in England. Had not his plans been spoiled by the bold defenee of Londonderry, there is little doubt that he would have been sueeessful, and that Catholicism would have been re-established in Great Britain. So this small eity of Londonderry became the arena on which the fate of religious freedom was deeided.
Londonderry, situated one hundred and fifty miles northwest of Dublin, was the Protestant stronghold of the north of Ireland, and was the only place, excepting Enniskillen, which offered effeetual resistance to the arms of James. Tyreon- nel determined to seize the eity and hold it for the deposed king, but the inhabitants, learning that a regiment of Papal troops was on the way to the city, refused to desert the cause of Protestantism.
donderry, which lasted from December 7, 1688, until July 28, 1689. During those seven or eight months the sufferings of the besieged were such as ean be only imagined, not described. So often has the harrowing tale been told that its repetition here is unnecessary. All the horrors of bombard- ment, starvation, sickness, pestilence, dangers with- out and treacherous foes within the walls, hope of relief deferred again and again, until the very last extremity was reached,-all this, and more, was en- dured by the brave men and women who held out for principle. In July, so redueed was the supply of provisions that a rat sold for a shilling, and a mouse for sixpence, while a eat brought four shil- lings and sixpenee. Tallow and salted hides were a luxury. One corpulent man, fearing that the soldiers might kill and eat him, concealed himself for several days. Despair had begun to settle down on nearly every heart. But deliveranee was soon at hand, and the siege was at an end. It had eost nearly five thousand lives of the beleaguered and nine thousand of the Catholie forees.
SHIP QUAY STREET, LONDONDERRY, IRELAND.
Some of these brave defenders of London- derry, or their deseendants, were the settlers of Nutfield, and such men were well prepared to en- counter the hardships of founding a colony in the wilderness. So important did the king and parlia-
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WILLEY'S BOOK OF NUTFIELD.
ment consider the defence of Londonderry, that an act was passed exempting from taxation through- out the British dominions all who had borne arms in the city during the siege, and of this act those who settled in Nutfield availed themselves until the American Revolution, occupying lands known as the " exempt farms."
In 1718, for the reasons given above, four Pres- byterian ministers of Londonderry, James Mac- Gregor, William Cornwell, William Boyd, and John Holmes, with portions of their respective congregations, determined to emigrate to America. They embarked in five ships for Boston, and ar- rived there August 4, 1718. Sixteen of the fami- lies went to Casco Bay, Me., and remained there during the winter, suffering great privations from lack of food and shelter. James McKeen, the grandfather of the first president of Bowdoin col- lege, was one of the company. 'In the spring of 1719 the little colony left their winter quarters and went to Haverhill, where they heard of a fine tract of land about fifteen miles distant, called Nutfield, from the abundance of its chestnut, walnut, and
THE DIAMOND. LONDONDERRY, IRELAND.
returned from Haverhill by way of Dracut, in or- der to bring with them Rev. Mr. McGregor, who had spent the winter there in teaching, and the two parties met, according to tradition, at a spot which has ever since been known as Horse hill, on the farm now occupied by James M. Bachelder. Here
ENNISKILLEN, IRELAND.
they ticd their horses, and Mr. MacGregor made an address, congratulating his flock on their safe arrival, and cxhorting them to continued confi- dence in God. On the following day, April 12. 1719, old style, he returned to his family in Dracut, but before going he delivered the first sermon ever preached in Nutfield. The spot chosen for this first religious service was under a large oak, on the cast side of Beaver pond, and Mr. MacGregor's text was from Isaiah xxxii. 2: " And a man shall be as a hiding place from the wind, and a covert from the tempest ; as rivers of water in a dry place ; as the shadow of a great rock in a weary land." After standing more than a hundred and twenty- five years the oak tree fell through decay, and the owner of the field planted an apple tree on the spot as a memorial, which also fell through decay some years ago. Some time in May following the ar- rival of the settlers, Mr. MacGregor removed with his family from Dracut to Nutfield and assumed the pastoral charge of the society. Thus was the first Presbyterian church in New England formally
butternut trees. Here they determined, after an investigation, to take up the grant which they had obtained from Massachusetts of a township twelve miles square. After building a few temporary huts they returned to Haverhill for their families, house- hold goods, and provisions. Some of the company organized, and to that church most of the other
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WILLEY'S BOOK OF NUTFIELD.
2,
3
-2
11/2
THE FIRST SERMON IN NUTFIELD.
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WILLEN'S BOOK OF NUTFIELD.
churches of this denomination in New England, directly or indirectly, owe their existence. Mr. MacGregor, who was then forty-two years of agc, had received a thorough classical and theological education, and was a man of great courage. Though only twelve years old at the time of the siege of Londonderry, hc borc an active part in its defence, and had the honor of firing the great gun in the tower of the cathedral, [thc cuts of Londonderry herewith given show the cathedral on the highest point of land] answering the ships which brought relief from the long agony. His death in 1729 was mourned as a public calamity.
The events immediately following the estab- lishment of Nutfield colony, the many trying ex- periences of pioneer life, the long and vexatious delays in getting clear titles to the lands, and in securing the incorporation of the town, are narrated elsewhere in this work.
REV. MATTHEW CLARK, the second min- ister of Londonderry, came to this town in 1729. He supplied the desk, made vacant that ycar by the death of Rev. James MacGregor, four years, until the settlement of Rev. Thomas Thompson, in 1733. He lived but six years after coming here, dying January 25, 1735, and though never installed over the church, morc is known of him by the peo- ple of the present day than is known of two of his successors - Mr. Thompson and Mr. Davidson - though their united pastoratcs amounted to fifty- five years.
The following poem, written by Marian Doug- las, was read by Hon. Jamcs W. Patterson at the Londonderry celebration, 1869 :
Fresh leaves glisten in the sun, And the air is soft and clear : 'Tis the spring-tide of the year Of our Lord Seventeen hundred thirty-one. "Tis the robin's wedding time, And a breath of plum and cherry Makes the air of Londonderry Sweet as Eden in its prime.
On the road the shadow falls Of the Reverend Matthew Clark, Man of prayer and man of mark, Out today, Making some parochial calls.
Keeper of the village fold, Seventy years he's seen already : Still his step is firm and steady, And his eye is keen and bold.
Neither wrong nor vice he spares ; Not alone the pastoral crook, But the smooth stones from the brook.
Close at hand, And the ready sling he bears ; And. if any go astray. He is not afraid to use them :- Better wound his flock than lose them, Blindly wandering away.
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