USA > New Hampshire > Hillsborough County > Manchester > Willey's semi-centennial book of Manchester, 1846-1896, comprised within the limits of the old Tyng Township, Nutfield, Harrytown, Derryfield, and Manchester, from the earliest settlements to the present time > Part 16
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 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40
William Henry Blair met with a fatal accident In 1856 he began reading law with William Leverett at Plymouth, and was admitted to the bar in 1859, remaining with Mr. Leverett as part ner. He was appointed solicitor for Graftor county in 1860 and served two years with unusua efficiency, handling several formidable murde when the son, Henry, was but two years old, and the mother was left with several small children. She put them out among the farmers of that see- tion, but kept a home with the youngest, a babe in arms, at Plymouth, until she died a few years later. Henry made his home with Richard Bartlett, a eases like a veteran lawyer. During these years
132
J33
WILLEY'S BOOK OF NUTFIELD.
of preparation for a prominent publie life he had the intellectual assistance of Samuel A. Burns of Plymouth, a retired teacher who had moulded many young minds before and lent sueh aid to this young New Hampshire boy as only a seholar of leisure and deep learning eould.
When the War of the Rebellion broke out Mr. Blair tried to enlist in the fifth and twelfth regi- ments, but poor health had left him in such a bad condition physically that he was not accepted, until the fifteenth regiment was formed. For this he raised a company, enlisted as a private, was elected captain, and later appointed major by the gov- ernor and eouneil. He had about a year's serviee at the front, when his regiment was discharged in 1863, he then having the rank of lieutenant- colonel. Col. Blair's first battle service was at the siege of Fort Hudson, and he was severely wounded twice during that siege. He was in command of his regiment most of the time. After the discharge of his regiment Lieut. Col. Blair was appointed deputy provost marshal, held the posi- tion about a year, but rendered little active service on aeeount of wounds and siekness. He was unable through ill health, caused by his wounds and diseases eontraeted in the war, to do much at his profession for six years.
Col. Blair was elected to the New Hampshire legislature from Plymouth in 1866, and was prom- inent in the hot politieal battle that resulted in the election of J. W. Patterson to the United States senate. In 1867 and 1868 Mr. Blair represented the old eleventh distriet in the state senate. Then began for lawyer Blair a season of prosperity. He had practically regained his health and with it the ambitions of youth were revived. Between the thirty-third and the fortieth years of life he built up what was considered as large and lucrative a praetiee as that of any country lawycr in the state.
recovered by the Republicans in the spring of 1875. This opinion seemed to prevail among leaders of the party throughout the country, and strong candidates must therefore be nominated in the Granite state to stem the tide as far as pos- sible. Accordingly Col. Blair was nominated for congress in the old third district against Col. Henry O. Kent, and after a hard fought eampaign was elected in spite of the faet that party leaders had considered it a hopeless struggle. Hon. P. C. Cheney was ehosen governor by a narrow margin, his eleetion being made possible by the sueeess of Col. Blair in the third congressional district. Mr. Blair had only 164 majority, but it was the begin- ning of many phenomenal politieal vietories. Demoerats were elected in both the other districts. Col. Blair had lost his law praetiec and had spent his money in the campaign, but the Republicans seeured the next president after a contest over the Hayes-Tilden eleetion.
Mr. Blair was elected to eongress again in 1877, after another hard struggle; was elected United States senator in 1879, and again in 1885. He was then tendered the United States distriet judgeship for New Hampshire, but deelined for reasons plain to him as a man of highest honor. In 1891 ex-senator Blair was appointed minister to China by President Harrison, but was rejected by the Chinese government because of the em- phatic opposition the senator had shown to Chinese immigration. Eleeted to the national house in 1892 from the first New Hampshire dis- triet, and declining a renomination, Mr. Blair retired after two years of hard serviee in the fifty- third congress, and is now in private life practising law in Manchester.
It is seldom given to one son of any state to serve so well and so long her interests in national affairs. Full of the eourage of his eonvietions from the beginning to the end, Mr. Blair eame out of the political wars bearing an unblemished reeord. His head and hands were always active in the cause of right and of progress. He was a elose student and a deep thinker at all times, and gave all the best of his talents to his official life, and the measure was never stinted.
Politieal conditions drew the soldier and lawyer into the service of his party, his state, and his country. New Hampshire had fallen into the habit of electing Democratic governors and eon- gressmen with an ease that filled the Republican eamp with apprehension. A national election was due in 1876, and prospeets were good for Dem- The congressional history of his time is full ocratie success unless New Hampshire could be of his work. Some of the principal measures
131
WILLER'S BOOK OF NUTFIELD
which Mr. Blair originated and advocated are the in securing the beautiful public building for Man- proposed amendment to the national constitution chester, and in the movement for a national monu- ment for Gen. John Stark to be placed in Stark Park, Manchester. prohibiting the manufacture of and traffic in alco- holic beverages ; the amendment of the constitu- tion providing for non-sectarian public schools; the Common School or the Education bill; the Sunday Rest bill ; the Dependent Pension bill, and other public and private legislation providing for the soldiers of the country and their relatives ; the establishment of the department of labor and much of the labor and industrial legislation of the past twenty years, including the law providing for rebates upon foreign materials manufactured here for exportation ; the joint resolution first proposing political union with Canada, and legislation for the promotion of the interests of agriculture through- out the country. The amendment giving the right of suffrage to women was introduced by him and was under his special charge in the senate.
Some of Senator Blair's speeches and reports, which have been most widely circulated, arc upon finance and the nature and uses of money, temper- ance, woman suffrage, education, Chinese immigra- tion, foreign trade and relations, reconstruction, suffrage, social and political conditions of the country, the tariff, the relations between labor and capital, and all the more important and funda- mental questions, some of which have been con- sidered of an advanced and radical nature. Bishop Newman said of him : " The only just eriticism upon Mr. Blair is that he is fifty years ahead of his times."
No public servant can point with more honest pride to an active career during which he has cared better for the interests of his constituents than can Mr. Blair. He is more widely known than any other New Hampshire man, and hon- ored everywhere. His speeches on the stump at home and in various parts of the country have been numerous and diversified. In 1888 Mr. Blair published a book on " The Temperance Move- ment ; or, the Conflict of Man with Aleohol," of which Bishop Hurst of the Methodist Episcopal Church said : "It is probably the most important contribution to temperance literature that has been made by any author." His hand has been felt in many public benefits. He was leading fac- tor in the establishment of the State Normal School at Plymouth, and the Holderness School for Boys,
Mr. Blair was married in 1859 to Eliza Nel- son, daughter of Rev. William Nelson of Ply- mouth, N. II., and to her owes much of the sus- taining power that has made his public life a credit to him. They have one son, Henry P'. Blair, now practising law in Washington, D. C. Mrs. Blair has been widely connected with literary societies, particularly in Washington and New Hampshire. She was a trustee of the New Hampshire State Normal School, and is a trustee of the Garfield National Hospital, Washington, D. C., and Blair tower on the building was named in her honor. She is connected with the Woman's Relief Corps, has done much work on the ladies' auxiliary board of Elliot Hospital. Mrs. Blair is the author of the novel "'Lisbeth Wilson, a Daughter of the New Hampshire Hills," published in 1894 by Lee & Shepard, which has been widely read.
SLAVERY was not unknown in Londonderry before the Revolution. According to the census of 1773 there were twelve male and thir- teen female slaves in the town, and they seem to have been regarded as chattels, not as human beings, although they were humanely treated. Rev. William Davidson, minister of the East Parish, owned two, a mother and a daughter, named Poll and Moll. In the West Parish, Thomas Wallace and Deacon James Thomp- son, both very devout men, were slave owners. It is related of a negro boy named Toney, who was the property of Mr. Wallace and who had cost his master one hundred dollars, that ho was very proud of his money value. Once in the spring freshet he built a raft and went to ride on the flowed meadow of the fourteen-acre meadow brook. His frail craft, not being solidly made, began to go to pieces, and Toney, having in view both his own life and his master's property, shouted to Mr. Wallace : "Come and save your hundred dollars." Soon after the Revolution slavery ceased in most of the northern states, and there is no record of slaves being owned in Londonderry after the beginning of the present century.
WILLEY'S BOOK OF NUTFIELD.
135
1
VIEW OF MANCHESTER .- LOOKING EAST FROM THE TOP OF THE KENNARD.
NOINA
00000000009: 0000987
ยข
11
THE FIRST CHURCH IN NUTFIELD.
T IIE oldest organization with an unbroken pointed out, no movement seems to have been made by the colonists to build a house of worship. At a publie meeting, however, held June 3, 1720, it was voted that a small house should be built " convenient for the inhabitants to meet in for the worship of God," and that it should be placed " as near the senter of the one hundred and five lots as ean be with eonvenianee." The location of the meeting-house was definitely determined at another general meeting, held on the 29th of the same month, the site ehosen being a little north of the present house of worship. Six months later, or on Jan. II, 1721, it was voted that "a meeting- house shall be built in this town as speedily as may be," and that "it shall be fifty feet in length, forty-five feet broad, and as high as may be eon- venient for one set of galleryes." For some rea- son, however, probably from laek of means to meet the cost, or because they had not yet ob- tained an altogether satisfactory title to the land selected for their town, the work of building was not begun until the following year. In June, 1722, a charter was obtained, and the town incor- porated. It was thus about three years after the first log house had been ereeted that the ehureh was completed and dedicated. During these first three years, however, the settlers faithfully main- tained religious ordinanees, holding their serviees either in one of their log dwellings or in the open air, as the season of the year and the weather might permit. This first house of worship was not built without great sacrifiee on the part of the settlers, nor without some peeuniary aid from abroad, but it is signifieant of their eonseientious- ness and devotion that in their straitencd cir- history in what may be termed the Nutfield seetion of New Hampshire,- older even than the civil government itself - is the First Church in Derry. Before the first settlers had seeured the incorporation of their town, or had decided what name to give it, or had even obtained a satisfae- tory title to the land they had selected, and prob- ably within six weeks of the day when the first log eabin was built, they took measures for the per- manent establishment of religious ordinances. In the month of May, 1719, they organized them- selves into a Christian church and ealled the Rev. James MaeGregor to become their pastor and religious teacher. The exact date of his installa- tion is unknown, but it was in the month of May, and could therefore have been but a few weeks after the preaching of the first sermon on the shore of the lake, an account of which is given on page 52. There being no presbytery in New England at that time, and it being impossible for them to instal their minister in the regular way, those Scotehmen, who were accustomed to dealing with emergencies, took the matter into their own hands and appointed a day for the solemn service. Where this service was held, whether in some log house or barn on Westrunning brook, or in the open air, we do not know, but Mr. MaeGregor himself conducted the services, offering the in- stallation prayer and preaching the installation sermon. His text was from Ezekiel xxxvii. 26: " Moreover I will make a covenant of peace with them ; it shall be an everlasting eovenant with them; and I will place them and multiply them, and will set my sanctuary in the midst of them for evermore." During the first year, as Rev. Dr. Wellman has eumstanees they built a framed house of worship,
136
137
WILLEY'S BOOK OF NUTFIELD.
"convenient and well finished," while they eon- strueted their own dwellings of logs and covered them with bark.
For nearly fifty years the people worshipped in this first sanctuary, and in 1769, during the ministry of Rev. William Davidson, a larger and more imposing edifiee was ereeted. Its dimen- sions were sixty-one by forty-five feet, and it was high enough for the introduction of gal- leries and a lofty sound- ing board suspended over the high pulpit. It was also ornamented with a steeple more slender and towering higher than the present one. This house, we are told, was well finished, and equalled, if it did not surpass, in its appearance, most of the ehureh edifiees of that period. The "raising " of the building was a great event. A large multitude of people as- sembled, and the parts of the huge, heavy-tim- bered frame were lifted into position by hun- dreds of" strong arms amidst the thundering of commands and the mighty shoutings of the people. According to the eustom of the time, a custom which to our modern ideas seems hardly consistent with earnest piety, intoxieating liquors were dispensed on the oeeasion with lavish hand. How our forefathers reeoneiled drunken- ness with religion we do not know, but they did it sueeessfully.
REV. EDWARD L. PARKER.
This second house of God, built in 1769, en- larged in 1822, remodelled in 1845, and renovated, adorned and rededieated in 1884, is still the home of the First Church in Derry. In this house Rev. Edward L. Parker preached for forty years,
and during the first twelve years of his ministry it stood unehanged as it had been built in 1769. He has left on record a deseription of the interior, which is as follows :
As you approached the pulpit you first came to the deacons" seat, elevated like the pews, about six inches from the floor of the aisles. In the deacons' narrow slip usually sat two venerable men, one at each end. Back of the deacons' seat, and elevated ten or twelve inches higher, was the pew of the ruling elders, larger than that of the elders and about square. Back of the elders' pew, and two or three feet higher, and against the wall, was the pulpit. There was appended to the pulpit an iron frame for the hour glass that was turned by the minis- ter at the commencement of his discourse. which was ex- pected to continue during the running of the sands. Some- times, when the preacher deemed his subject not suffi- ciently exhausted, the glass would be turned again, and another hour in whole or in part occupied. .... In many of the meeting-houses of that day there were, on each side of the centre aisle and in front of the pulpit, two or three seats of sufficient length to accommodate eight or ten persons. These were designed for the elderly portion of the congregation and for such as had no pews. In these the men and women were seated separately. on opposite sides. On these plain seats our grave and de- vout forefathers would content- edly sit during a service of two hours, without the luxury of cushions or carpets, and in the colder seasons of the year without stoves, and in houses not so thoroughly guarded against the penetration of the cold as those of the present day.
The enlargement of the church in 1822 was effeeted by eutting the house into two parts and then inserting between the two parts twenty-four feet of new strueture, thus making the building, as it is today, eighty-five feet in length. In this first change the general internal arrangement was re- tained. The pulpit remained on the north side.
1.38
WILLEY'S BOOK OF NUTFIELD.
and high galleries on the other three sides, but the rattling seats, were replaced by the straight and old sounding board over the pulpit disappeared. narrow slips. The audience room was painted and Two new front doors, about twenty-four feet frescoed in most excellent taste, and the general appearance of the interior was modernized. apart, were inserted on the south side, nearly op- posite the pulpit, cach opening into an aisle, Thus the church stood until 1884, when, after being thoroughly repaired, renovated, and beauti- fied, it was rededicated. On that occasion Rev. Dr. J. W. Wellman, who had been pastor of the church from 1851 until 1856, preached a notable sermon, in which he paid these tributes to the benefactors and prominent members of the church : whereas previously there had been but one door on that side, opening into one central aisle; and there was also a door at each end of the edifice as before. The new seats in the gallery facing the pulpit were reserved for the singers. But the old square pews on either side of the new ones re- mained, so that from 1822 until 1845 there were the old square pews on cach end of the church, and between them the new straight and narrow slips, like a piece of new eloth on an old garment. The old and unusually lofty and slender steeple was taken down and a stronger one erected in its place ; and in this new steeple was hung the first church bell ever heard in Derry. It was the gift by legaey of Jacob Adams, who foundcd Adams Female Academy.
In December, 1821, stoves were used in the church for the first time. A year after the en- largement they were placed in the improved edi- fiee, for the record says that on Oct. 27, 1823, it was voted that " one stove should be located near Capt. Redfield's pcw, and the other near Dr. Farrar's pew; and that the stove pipes should extend out of the windows north and south." Thus, for a whole century, lacking one year, the people of Derry worshipped, through the long cold winters, in an unwarmed meeting-house. The women sometimes used foot-stoves and heated hand-stones, but these were scorned by most of the people, even though the church was colder than their barns.
In 1845, or twenty-three years after the en- largement of the house, another change was made. This time the interior was entirely reconstructed, by which a town hall and a vestry werc provided below, and a spacious audience room above. The pulpit was transferred from the north side to the west end of the house, and the high galleries on three sides disappeared, one gallery on the east end, designed for the choir, taking their place. Instead of the two great front doors on the south sidc, two were placed at the east end of the house. All the old square pews, with their hinged and
First of all, it is becoming that we should gratefully remem- ber him through whose generous legacy, aided by gifts which his own benevolence prompted, this church edifice has been re- stored to more than its pristine beauty. Mr. David Bassett was the son of Thomas and Susannah (MacGregor) Bassett. He was born in Deerfield, N. H., in the year 1800. His mother was a descendant of the Rev. James MacGregor. With such .blood flowing through his veins, it is not strange that he cared for the Lord's house. It was worthy of his noble lineage that he should make that bequest, by means of which the exterior of this sanctuary has been thoroughly repaired and the interior elegantly renovated. As I remember Mr. Bassett, he was a man of few words, quiet in his disposition, living an unobtrusive life, but was not unthoughtful of divine and eternal things. For a time he was the sexton of this church, and the interest he then came to take in the church edifice seems never to have died out. And in his advanced years, when he observed the sad wear of time upon the ancient building, it was not unnatural that he should raise the question of his own duty to repair the house of the Lord. In his early life, if I am correctly informed, he had some reli- gious experience which made an ineffaceable impression upon his mind, but he never made any public profession of Christian faith until the year 1876, when he united with this church by con- fession of Christ. And may we not hope that his gift by will for the repairing and adorning of the Lord's house was designed to be an offering expressive of his own love and gratitude to his redeemer.
Mr. Bassett's name is not inscribed upon these walls, but this communion table and this externally and internally reno- vated sanctuary are his fitting memorial.
The three men, James C. Taylor, Charles H. Day, and Frank W. Parker, whom he made trustees of his legacy and on whom he placed the responsibility of deciding what repairs should be made, have had a delicate and difficult task to per- form. With what fidelity and wisdom they have performed their trust, this transformed and beautifully adorned house of worship testifies today. These gentlemen deserve, and, I am sure, will receive, your sincere and grateful acknowledgements.
But others have supplemented Mr. Bassett's legacy by timely and noble gifts. This new and tasteful pulpit furniture, presented by the family of Deacon Daniel J. Day, tenderly reminds us of one who loved and faithfully served this church, but has now entered into the communion and service of the church triumphant,
139
WILLEY'S BOOK OF NUTFIELD.
These memorial windows, so rich in artistic beauty, and tasteful, suggestive symbols, are richer still in the names they bear. To give any just account of the characters and lives which these names represent would require a volume. I can only allude to them.
Nothing can be more appropriate than that the memory of the first pastor of this church, the Rev. James MacGregor, and of his devoted wife, Marion Cargill, should be honored in this house of worship. Tradition represents him as every way a noble man. Tall, erect, athletic, he swayed people by his commanding personal presence. Distinguished for his mental ability and self-control, for wisdom and goodness, manly energy and courage, for sagacity and prudence in secular and civil affairs ; a man of sincere and humble piety ; thoroughly evan- gelical in his faith : an able and eloquent preacher of the gospel ; a devoted pastor, loving his people as he loved his own family, and interested in all that concerned his flock, he was eminently fitted to be the father of this church, and the acknowledged leader of that noble band of men who founded this town. The members of this church rejoice today that his name and minis- try are commemorated in this house of worship.
But the same radiant window is rich in other historic names. The Rev. David MacGregor, a son of the first pastor of this church, was himself the first pastor of the church in the West Parish, now the Presbyterian church in the modern town of Lon- donderry. He was or- dained in 1737. The son inherited largely the commanding abilities and noble spirit of his father. His ministry was eminently evangelistic. He preached and labored for the salvation of his people. Sympathizing with the great evangelist, George Whitefield, he invited him to his pulpit : and his own fervid preaching and prayers were rewarded with revivals of religion. He labored with the church in the West Parish until his death. which occurred in 1777. The length of his able and faithful pastorate was forty years. It is fitting that the name of this distinguished son of the first pastor of this church, and also that of his accomplished wife, Mary Boyd, should have an honorable place in this Christian sanctuary.
On this same window is the name of Gen. George Reid who with Gen. John Stark, both of Londonderry, attained high fame in the Revolutionary war. He was the son of James Reid. The father was a native of Scotland and a graduate of the Uni- versity of Edinburgh. He was one of the first settlers of Derry,
VIEW OF DERRY VILLAGE.
a member of the First Church, and of its session. Afterward. for many years, he was an elder of the church in the West Parish. His famous son, Gen. Reid, was himself a Christian man, and through all the years of his military service under Gen. Washington, evinced a firm faith in the efficacy of prayer, as in the potency of arms. His wife, Mary Woodburn, was in every way worthy of her noble husband. She is described as a woman of rare endowments. Gen. Stark, who knew her well, once remarked : "If there is a woman in New Hampshire fit for gov- ernor, 'tis Molly Reid." This church honors itself in receiving her name, with the historic name of her husband, upon one of its memorial windows.
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.