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 18
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VII. We believe that there will be a general resurrection of the bodies both of the just and of the unjust ; that all mankind must one day stand before the judgment seat of Christ, to receive a sentence of just and final retribution, according to their respective works.
VIII. We believe that Christ has a visible church in the world into which believers and their seed are introduced by baptism.
During the forty ycars' pastorate of Rev. Edward L. Parker (a sketch of whosc life is given in this work), the church was unusually prosper- ous. At the January communion in 1825, thirty- six were added to the church; in October, 1831, thirty-three wcre received, and in May, 1838, ninety-six. Since the death of Mr. Parker, in 1850, the pastorates have been brief, compared with his. . Six of the pastors repose in the old graveyard near the meeting-housc, surrounded by most of their flocks. The chronological record of pastorates of the first church is as follows: James MacGregor, began May, 1719; died March 5, 1729. Matthew Clark, began 1729 ; closed 1732. Thomas Thompson, ordained October, 1733; died Sept. 22, 1738. William Davidson, ordained 1739; died Feb. 15, 1791. Jonathan Brown, ordained 1795 ; dismissed September, 1804. Edward L. Parker, ordained Sept. 12, 1810; died July 14, 1850. Joshua W. Wellman, ordained June 18, 1851 ; dis- missed May 26, 1856. Ephraim N. Hidden (acting pastor), Sept. 1, 1857, till Dec. 1, 1859. Lconard S. Parker, installed Feb. 20, 1861 ; dismisscd June
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10, 1869. David Bremner, installed April 27, 1871 ; dismissed Sept. 10, 1873. Edward S. Hunt- ress, installed Feb. 25, 1875; dismissed Feb. 21, 1877. J. L. Harris, installed July 8, 1880; dis- missed July 8, 1882. H. M. Penniman, settled April 8, 1884 ; dismissed June 19, 1889. R. C. Drisko (acting pastor), Feb. 1, 1891, till April 1, 1894. The present membership of the church is 132 ; Sabbath school, sixty-five; Christian Endeavor, thirty-five.
MIRS. MARY J. TENNEY, GEN. STARK'S GRANDDAUGHTER. Photographed at her home in Londonderry, 1894.
R EV. WILLIAM McDONALD, the pioneer Catholic priest of Manchester, who laid well the foundations of the present prosperity of Cath- olicity in the Queen City, and whose memory is held in loving regard by thousands, was born in county Leitrim, Ireland, in June, 1813. He was the youngest son of John and Winifred (Reynolds) MeDonald, and the first twenty-three years of his life were spent with his parents. In 1836 he went to Quebee, beginning at once his studies at the Laval University. He took the academie and theological courses. Hc was ordained in 1843 and assigned as assistant to the parish priest at St. John, N. B., having charge subsequently of the parishes at Eastport and Calais, Me. In 1847 he went to Boston, and in the following year was assigned to Manchester by Bishop Fitzpatrick of Boston, to which diocese New Hampshire then belonged. Father MeDonald found on his arrival about five hundred Catholies, almost all of whom were Irish, but lately arrived in the country. They were very poor, but they extended to their " sog- garth " an Irish welcome, sincere and hearty, and pastor and people with a united purpose began their arduous task of building up the Catholic Church of Manchester. Within a year he had begun the erection of St. Anne's church, on the site it now occupies, and from that time to his death there was scarcely a year that he did not inaugurate some improvement of lasting benefit to the church. He was a man of remarkable fore- sight, and had unlimited confidence in the future of Manchester -- so much so that he early began to buy land intended for future use as church property, and to this is due the fact that the church is now possessed of so much valuable real estate. In 1853 he purchased St. Joseph's cemetery, and in 1855 he bought the land where the convent stands. built the beautiful Mt. St. Mary's, and, two years later, installed therein a small band of Sisters of Merey. In 1859 he secured the property at the northwest corner of Laurel and Union streets, for a parochial school for girls, and established in the same year a school for boys in the church base- ment, over which he placed Prof. Thomas Cor- coran as principal and the Sisters of Mercy as teachers. A few years later he procured the use of the old "south grammar " of the city, and to
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this building the boys' school was removed and man. As it was, he died poor. He did not care became known as the Park-street grammar school. for the wealth he gathered except as it was a means of doing good.
This was one of the first parochial schools in New England. Father MeDonald bought the present site of St. Joseph's Cathedral, established a new parish and built St. Joseph's church in 1869. The next year witnessed the purchase of the Harris estate, at the corner of Pine and Hanover streets, and the establishment of St. Patrick's Orphan
REV. WILLIAM MCDONALD.
Asylum for Girls. A little later he seeured the ad- joining property and founded the Old Ladies' Homc. He also built St. Agnes school, at the corner of Cedar and Union streets. He was the founder and promoter of the St. John's Temperance Society (sinee merged in the St. Paul's C. T. A. and M. B. Society), of St. Patrick's M. B. and P. Society, and of numerous church sodalities and associations.
In Father MeDonald were combined the clements of which the most successful professional and business men are made, and there is little doubt that, had he chosen a mercantile or profes- sional life, he would have become a very wealthy
He was stricken with apoplexy carly Monday morning, Aug. 24, 1885, and died Aug. 26. The mourning at his death was genuine and universal. Protestants and Catholics alike, rich and poor, high and low, recognized that Manchester had lost one whom she could ill afford to lose. Saturday, Aug. 29, the day of his funeral, was a day of public mourning. The mills were closed, and business generally was suspended. The funeral was at- tended by the mayor and city government, judges of the supreme court of New Hampshire and of the United States district court, Protestant minis- ters, bishops and priests from all parts of New England, and business men of cvery creed and race. Pontifical requiem mass was celebrated by Rt. Rev. Bishop Bradley, assisted by a host of priests in sanctuary and choir. In the course of his sermon Bishop Bradley said : " I have lost one who has been to mc from my childhood a father, a model, a wise counsellor," and he echoed the thoughts and feelings of every Catholic born or bred in Manchester. Father McDonald was buried in the churchyard of old St. Anne's, the church he loved, and wherein he ministered for nearly forty years. Over his grave has been erected a little chapel, and here one may find at any hour of the day some of his people kneeling in silent prayer.
His life work was a success. He lived to see the city of his adoption grow from scarcely more than a hamlet to be the first municipality of north- ern New England. From the poor, struggling little parish of St. Anne's he saw the church in- crease until it had more communicants and main- tained more charitable institutions than all the other churches of the city combined; and, to crown it all, made a diocesan see, and one of "his own boys" chosen its first bishop. He was the friend and confidant of his whole parish. No undertak- ing was entered into without the advice of Father " Mac," and no case was too trivial to enlist his earnest attention and secure his wholesomc advice. He was judge, jury, and advocate in the trial of many a cause, and never was a judgment given with more binding force, or one where the parties
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were not satisfied as to the absolute impartiality of the tribunal. His charity was not
" -- scrimped and iced, In the name of a cautious, statistical Christ,"
but was the natural outpouring of a generous, sympathetie heart that knew no ereed or race. He saw only needy suffering, and suffered himself if he could not alleviate.
Father MeDonald is best remembered as a man in declining years, about medium height, slightly stooped, with white hair and a kindly, benevolent face that at onee inspired confidenec. Through his old-fashioned bowed speetaeles gazed a pair of eyes, anxious, one would say, to see nought of sin and misery in the world, and yet they saw and appreciated everything within the Catholics of Manchester. their range, while an occasional twinkle in the
corners would indicate that "though a priest, he was an Irishman too," and had all the Irishman's love for bright repartee or good story. The best evidence of his universal acquaintance and popu- larity was to be seen by accompanying him on one of his daily strolls through his parish. With the regulation elerical eoat and collar he always wore a soft broad-brimmed hat and carried a cane or umbrella. He walked along with a slow, deliber- ate stride, and seareely a person would be met but Father " Mac" had a word with him. His intimate acquaintance with the personal affairs of nearly every family made these little talks pertinent and to the point, relative to some matter or other of importance. And all in the sweetest of English, that is, slightly tinetured with the Irish brogue. Father McDonald's memory will ever be dear to
JAMES A. BRODERICK.
OUSE
CITY LIBRARY, MANCHESTER.
DR. WILLIAM WHITTIER BROWN.
W ILLIAM WHITTIER BROWN, M. D., for which he might casily have obtained a per- was born in Vershire, Vt., in 1805. manent pension, but he never applied for it. He Hlis education was obtained at the academies of was appointed pension surgeon, a position which he held only a short time. Dartmouth College conferred upon him the honorary degree of A. M. in recognition of his professional ability. He was a member of the Franklin-Street Congregational church, and always contributed liberally to the support of religion. Dr. Brown was elceted a fellow of the New Hampshire Medieal Society in 1836, and was chosen its president in 1869. He was a director of the First National bank, a trustee of the Merrimack River Savings bank, a member of the Washington Lodge of Masons and of Louis Bell Post No. 3, G. A. R. He survived all his children, leaving only a widow, Mrs. Martha W. Brown. His death occurred Jan. 6, 1874, at the age of sixty-eight years. He was a man of few words, easily approached, yet retiring ; ready to im- part information, yet never volunteering it; modest, vet self-possessed ; dignified in bearing, yet utterly devoid of ostentation in dress or mode of living. He was remarkably even-tempered, never hilarious and never mueh depressed ; always hopeful and cheerful. His temperament was no doubt saddened by the severe domestie afflietions through which he passed. His memory is cherished in affectionate regard by all who knew him, for he left behind him the example of a true Christian physician and upright man. Bradford and Randolph in his native state and at Hudson, N. Y. Ile taught school for two years in the latter state, and at the age of twenty-three began the study of medicine with Dr. John Poole at Bradford, Vt. After attending leetures at Hanover he was graduated from the New Hamp- shire Medical Institution in 1830, and at onec went in Poplin (now Fremont), N. H., remaining there until 1835, when he removed to Chester, where during his ten years' residence he built up an ex- tensive praetiee and enjoyed the confidenee of the people. Desirous of supplementing his early ad- vantages by further study, he went to New York in 1845 and attended a course of lectures and dili- gently followed the best elinieal teachers through the hospitals. His fifteen years' practice had revealed to him his deficiencies, and he labored zealously to remove them, finally returning to New Hampshire with his mind well stored with new ideas and all the reeent improvements in surgery and practice. In 1846 he moved to Manchester and soon had all he could do, many of his former patients in Chester and the neighboring towns having gone to the city before him, and many more still insisting that he should be their relianec in distress. To meet these demands of his old. friends he was obliged to start very early in the morning in order to be back in time for his day's work in the eity. Very few men could have endured these long journeys in all kinds of weather as he did, uneomplainingly even in advaneed life. During portions of 1849 and 1850 he was in California for one year praetising his profession.
D EER, BEARS, AND WOLVES were abun- dant in the forests of Nutfield. A large moose killed in 1720 in the West Parish gave name to a hill there five hundred feet high. Game wardens were elected by the town for more than He returned with a handsome amount of money, , sixty years, " to prevent the killing of deer out of season." Until after the Revolution, farmers brought their sheep every night to the fold to guard against the depredations of wolves, and boun- ties were paid on wolves' heads. Tradition says that the last bear seen was in 1807, when there was a great bear hunt, engaged in by fifty men for three days, until the animal was finally killed. He is said to have weighed two hundred pounds
which he invested in Manchester real estate, ereet- ing the briek bloek on Elm street, known as Brown's building. In 1861 he was appointed sur- geon of the Seventh New Hampshire Volunteers and served until the autumn of 1864, when he was obliged to resign on account of ill health. He was exceedingly popular with offieers and men and a camp was named in his honor. He never fully recovered his health, and he also received an injury dressed, and the capture was duly celebrated.
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John & Colonke .
COL. JOHN B. CLARKE.
JOHN BADGER CLARKE was born in the weckly and daily combincd was only nine
Atkinson Jan. 30, 1820, and was one of a family that has been illustrious in New Hampshire. His parents were intelligent and successful farmers, and from them he inherited the robust constitu- tion, the genial disposition, and the capacity for brain work which carried him to the head of his profession in New Hampshire. They also fur- nished him with the small amount of moncy necessary to give a boy an education in those days, and in due course he graduated with high honors at Dartmouth College in the class of 1843. Then he became principal of the Meredith Bridge Academy, which position he held three ycars, reading law meanwhile. In 1848 he was admitted to the Hillsborough county bar from the office of his brother, at Manchester, Hon. William C. Clarke, attorney general of New Hampshire, and the next year went to California, roughing it in the mines and prospeeting for a permanent busi- ness and location in California, Central America, and Mexico.
In 1851 he returned to Manchester and estab- lished himself as a lawyer, gaining in a few months a practice which gave him a living ; but in October of the next year the sale of The Mirror offered an opening more suited to his talents and ambition, and having bought the property he theneeforth devoted himself to its development. He had no newspaper experience and little money, but he had confidenee in himself, enthusiasm, energy, good judgment, and a willingness to work early and late for the success he was determined to achieve. For months he was editor, reporter, business manager, solicitor, collector, and bookkeeper for The Mirror establishment, and in these capacities he did a vast amount of work, which was so well directed that it carried him steadily along toward the goal he had resolved to reach. Every year added to the number of his patrons and the volume and profit of his business, until The Mirror had a larger circulation and exerted a wider influence than any other paper of its class in New England, and was by far the most valuable newspaper property in New Hampshire. When he bought it, for less than a thousand dollars, in 1852, the cireulation of
hundred copies. When he dicd, forty years later, it was sent regularly to more than forty thousand subscribers, and its gross income was more than twice as much cvcry week as the original purchase price. The Mirror, as he left it, was entirely his. From the first he had been its owner, manager, and controlling spirit. It always reflected his views; it moved as his judgment dietated; and in spite of sharp rivalry, business depressions, and other obstaeles, it made advances every scason and reflceted more and more strikingly the pluck, push, and perseverance, the courage, sagacity and industry of John B. Clarkc. He succeeded by kecping abreast of the times, by being steadfastly loyal to his state, his eity, and his friends, and by responding to every reasonable demand of his patrons. His motto was " One Better," and every volume of The Mirror was cvidenee that he was truc to it.
In making the paper successful above all competitors, he made more money than any other Manchester man of his time who was engaged in a private business and had only his own capital to use ; but if he gathered like one born to be a mil- lionaire, he scattered like one whom only rare capacity for getting would save from being a prodigal. He was a free giver and a good liver. He valued money only for what it would bring. He turned no onc away who asked help for a eause that commended itself to him. He bought what- ever he wanted, as he thought his family or friends needed. His home was the home of luxury and comfort. His farm was the place where costly experiments were tried. He was passionately fond of horses and dogs, and his stables and kennels were always filled with choice and costly specimens.
He attended closely to business and always declined to be a candidate for public office ; but the Republican party, of which he was a stalwart member after the fall of Sumter, elected him a delegate to the Baltimore convention that nomi- nated Abraham Lincoln for the second time to the presideney, and he was one one of the national committee of seven (including ex-Gov. Claflin of Massachusetts, ex-Gov. Marcus L. Ward of New
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Jersey, and Hon. Henry J. Raymond of the New He was an enthusiastic sportsman and a believer York Times) who managed that campaign. The in the policy of protecting the fish and game of the state, and propagating in our lakes and rivers such valuable food fish as would thrive there. With this in mind he organized the State Fish and Game League, of which he was the president. Franklin Street Congregational church, with which he worshipped, the community whose welfare he always had at heart, and the wide circle of friends to whom he was devoted, looked to him for coun- sel and generally followed his advice. He sought neither governorships nor senatorships. He was satisfied with selecting governors and senators and shaping and defending policies. He never wearied of working to promote the interests of Manchester, and its rapid and healthy growth during his active life was largely due to him.
He was a devoted friend of education. The Clarke prizes for excellence in elocution at Dart- mouth College and in the publie sehools of Man- chester were established by him, and in many other ways he contributed freely to the usefulness of these and similar institutions.
He was a sturdy and zealous champion of the farmers, who were in turn his stoutest friends, and he lost no opportunity to advanee their inter- ests, especially in the line of breeding fine stock.
Physically Colonel Clarke was a fine specimen of robust manhood. He was tall, erect, portly, broad-shouldered, and enjoyed excellent health. He was the best of companions and the truest of friends, a brilliant conversationalist, a good story teller and a patient and intelligent listener, a gentleman everywhere, and one of the people always. He died Oet. 29, 1891, after an illness of a few days, deeply and widely mourned and univer- sally respected.
Mr. Clarke married, July 29, 1852, Susan Greeley Moulton of Gilmanton, who died in 1885. Subsequently he married Olive Rand, who survives him. His sons, Arthur E. (see page 157) and William C. (see page 121), and his widow sue- eeeded to the ownership and management of The Mirror, which they still retain.
KIMBALL
CLARK & KIMBALL FLATS, CHESTNUT STREET.
COL. ARTHUR EASTMAN CLARKE.
C OL. ARTHUR EASTMAN CLARKE, the son of John B. and Susan (Moulton) Clarke, was born in Manchester May 13, 1854. Graduat- ing from Dartmouth in 1875, he entered the Mirror office in the fall of that year to familiarize himself with all branches of newspaper work. After mastering the details of the composing and press rooms he acquired further experience in the job department and in reading proof. He then became city editor of the Mirror, and for a number of years did all the local work alone, subsequently with an assistant. Later he assumed the duties of general, state news, and review editor, remaining in this position several years, and then taking charge of the agricultural department and other features of the Mirror and Farmer, assisting at the same time in the editorial, reportorial, and business departments of the Daily Mirror. For four years he was the legislative reporter of the paper at Concord, and for one year he served as telegraph editor. In these various capacities he acquired an all-round experience such as few newspaper men possess, and it has stood him in good stead, for upon his father's death he became the manager of both papers and of the job printing and book- binding business connected with the establishment, and has sinee conducted most successfully the extensive concerns of the office, besides doing almost daily work with his pen for both papers. Mr. Clarke has inherited his father's energy, great capacity for work, and executive ability. He has been a member of the Manchester common coun- cil ; has represented Ward 3 in the legislature ; was adjutant of the First Regiment, N. H. N. G., for a number of years; was agricultural statistician for New Hampshire during Garfield's administration ; was colonel on Gov. Tuttle's staff ; is president of the New Hampshire Press Association and the New Hampshire member of the executive committee of the National Press Association ; is a member of the Boston Press Club, of the Algonquin Club (Boston), of the Manchester Press Club, of the Coon Club, of the Calumet Club of Manchester, and of the Amoskeag Grange. He is Past Exalted Ruler of the Manchester Lodge of Elks, ex-president of the Derryfield Club, a member of the Manchester
board of trade, and a director of the Northern Telegraph Company. From his school days Col. Clarke has been an enthusiastic student of elocu- tion, and has attained conspicuous distinction in reading and reciting, carrying off high honors at Phillips Academy and at Dartmouth College. He has gratuitously drilled a number of pupils of the Manchester public schools who have won first prizes in the annual speaking contests. He gives prizes yearly for excellence in elocution to the schools of Hooksett, and is often invited to judge prize speaking contests at educational institutions. Ever since becoming associated with the Mirror he has had charge of its dramatic and musical departments, and enjoys a wide personal acquaint- anee with noted actors and actresses. He has written some most interesting and valuable inter- views with many distinguished players which have been extensively copied by the press of the country. Denman Thompson received from Col. Clarke's pen the first noticeably long, analytical, and com- plimentary criticism of his work that was ever vouchsafed to this eminent actor. It was given when Mr. Thompson was an obscure member of a variety company.
Mr. Clarke has always been fond of athletic sports, and has won distinction in many lines. He organized and captained a picked team of ball players in Manchester that defeated the best club in the State for a prize of $100. The longest hit made on the old West Manchester baseball grounds was made by Mr. Clarke, the ball going over the left field fence. In a game at the North End fair grounds he made three home runs. He is one of the finest skaters, both roller and ice, in New Hampshire. With a shot gun, rifle, and revolver he is quite an expert, and holds a record of thirty-eight clay pigeons broken out of forty in the days of the Manchester Shooting Club, a score that was not equalled by Manchester marksmen. He held the billiard championship of Dartmouth College, and upon his return to Manchester in 1875 defeated the best players in the city, winning substantial prizes. He is a devotee of hunting and fishing, has pursued many phases of the sport with great success, and no angler in Manchester
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has probably taken so many large trout as he has travelled abroad extensively, and has embodied his during the past ten years. He owns four hunting impressions of foreign lands in a most interesting dogs, in the company of which in fall and winter he maintains the superb health and robustness that have always characterized him. book entitled: "European Travels." Jan. 25, 1893, he was married to Mrs. Jacob G. Cilley of Cambridge, Mass.
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