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 5
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
President Pieree gave the office to his cousin, Thomas P. Pierce, and he was retained during two administrations. David J. Clark was appointed by President Lincoln in 1861 and reappointed in 1865, and upon his death, soon after his second
43
WILLERS BOOK OF NUTFIELD.
appointment, Col. Bradbury P. Cilley was chosen by President Johnson to fill out the unexpired term. In 1862, under Postmaster Clark's administration,
JOSEPH L. STEVENS.
John T. Spofford entered the postal service and became so cfficient that he was retained in the Manchester office thirty-two years, during twenty- four of which he was assistant postmaster. Hc retired May 11, 1894, on account of the infirmities of age. In 1870 Joseph L. Stevens was appointed postmaster by President Grant, and held office for sixteen years. In his administration the office was removed to Odd Fellows' bloek on Hanover strect, and when the postoffice block was built on the opposite side of the street, a lease was taken of a suite of rooms there, and a much more pretentious and convenient office fitted up, with marble floors in the corridors, a private office for the postmaster, furnace heat, and other modern conveniences. President Cleveland appointed Josiah G. Dearborn postmaster in 1886. The rapid increase of the city's business obliged him to have three additional
carriers, two only having been appointed in 1865, when the free delivery system was adopted in Manchester. July 1, 1889, the office was made a second-class office, allowing the postmaster a salary of $2,900, and one year later it was made a first-class office, with a salary of $3,000. Samuel S. Piper was appointed postmaster by President Harrison in April, 1890, and he held office until May 11, 1894.
The business of the office had assumed such proportions that it was apparent, as early as 1880, that a large and substantial building would soon be necessary for the safety and convenience of the postal transactions. Through the influence of Gen. R. N. Batchelder, Senator Blair, and others, an appropriation of $200,000 was secured for the construction of a federal building, to contain the postoffice and the United States courts, and the
JOHN R. WILLIS.
work was begun in the spring of 1889. Additional appropriations were found to be necessary, and the building, when completed, in November, 1890, cost
45
WILLEY'S BOOK OF NUTFIELD.
$251,000. It is a fine structure of Concord granite, eight-hour law as related to them, and the distribu- 124 by 67 feet, two stories and basement. On the tion of the last night mail from the south imme- first floor are the working rooms for elerks, carriers, etc., and the postmaster's and assistant diately upon its arrival. The offiec employs 13 clerks, 23 carriers, 2 special messengers, and one mail messenger to and from the station ; there are 79 letter boxes ; 36 mail pouches go out daily, and 38 are reecived ; 75 mail saeks of newspapers and periodicals are received, and 70 are sent out. The number of letters handled daily averages 20,000, and about six tons of newspapers and periodicals pass through the office every week ; 10,000 letters are registered annually, and about the same num- ber received, while money orders to the amount of $150,000 are issued each year, and nearly the same amount is paid out on ineoming orders.
JOSIAH G. DEARBORN.
postmaster's rooms adjoining, all fitted up in hand- some and substantial manner. On the second floor are the United States court room, pension office, and offices of the district attorney, marshal, internal revenue collector, and judges. The building is one of the finest federal structures in New England. (See cut, page 127.)
Under the administration of the present post- master, Edgar J. Knowlton (see sketch and por- trait, page 122), who was appointed by President Cleveland and assumed office May 11, 1894, many radical and beneficial changes have been intro- duced, including a window for the exelusive sale of stamps, a new Sunday afternoon mail south, the employment of additional special delivery messen- gers, letter earriers, and elerks, an early morning collection from the letter boxes in the thiekly settled districts, an inereased number of lock boxes, the "filing" system in the money order department, improved methods in the registry department, the discontinuance of all elerieal work by the earriers and the striet enforcement of the
There has been a great development of postal facilities in Manchester sinee 1849, when Joel Taylor was appointed a penny postman, delivering letters in any part of the village for two eents, and newspapers for one cent. This sum was in addi- tion to the postage and was paid by those reeeiv- ing the mail. Joseph Ferren succeeded Mr. Taylor as penny postman, and D. W. Lane at one time delivered letters and papers on his own account as a competitor for publie favor. The serviee, however, was not popular, and it was
JOEL TAYLOR.
discontinued. Many old citizens remember well the time when all the mails were carried between the office and the railway station in a small eart drawn by Curtis K. Kendall.
16
WILLEY'S BOOK OF NUTFIELD.
SUBURBAN POSTOFFICES.
The first office near Manchester was at Pis- cataquog, or Piscataqnogville, as it was called in the early commissions, and sometimes abbreviated to " Squog." This office, established in 1816, with James Parker as the first postmaster, was then in the town of Bedford. Before this time the inhabi- tants of that locality re- ceived their mail from the mounted post- man and from private individ- uals returning from Concord and Amherst, - the nearest of- bennet. ... fices. In those days the post- age on letters was six and one fourth cents for the first thirty miles, twelve and one half cents for sixty miles, eighteen three fourths cents for one hundred miles, and twenty-five JE Bouchard. cents for three hundred miles and over. In 1829 Jonas B. A. J. Bennett, Janitor. J. E. Blanchard, Transfer Clerk. Bowman suc- ceeded Mr. Parker as postmaster, and in 1830 James McKeen Wilkins was appointed. He resigned in 1834, and Col. John S. Kidder was appointed May 31 of that year. He is still living in this eity, and is vigorous in mind and body at the age of eighty-six years. Leonard Rundlett followed Col. Kidder as postmaster, and the office was discontinued about 1840 on account of the rapid growth of Manchester.
There are three postoffices, Amoskeag, Massa-
S.R. Stearns 's/20)
S. R. Stearns, Engineer.
besic, and Goffe's Falls, within the city limits, but all are separate and distinct from the main office. The Amoskeag office was established in 1828, with Samuel Kimball as postmaster. He was suc- ceeded in 1830 by Dr. Oliver Dean, the agent of the Amoskeag Company, and the other incum- bents have been : Richard Kimball, W. H. Kim- ball, Hugh Moore, A. B. Smith, Walter B. Jones, Joseph Jones, Thos. S. Mont- gomery, Harris J. Poor, George H. Colby, S. L. Flanders, Miss S. A. Stearns, and S. L. Flan- ders, who was appointed for the second time in April, 1893. The increase of summer visi- tors at Lake Massabesic and the growth of the city in that J.M.Smith direction made an office neees- sary at that place, and one was established there in 1881, mainly through 1 G -émon the influence of Gen. Charles Williams. Jas. Benson was ap- F. M. Smith, Messenger. F. G. Nelson, Ass't Engineer. pointed post- master, and he has since held the office, his wife, Mrs. Sarah Benson, being his assistant. A post- office was opened at Goffe's Falls, on the west side of the river, in Bedford, soon after the building of the railway in 1842. Capt. Nathaniel Moore was made postmaster, and he continued in office until his death, Feb. 7, 1884, when his nephew, L. P. Moore, was appointed. He was the incumbent until his death in 1894. In October of that year A. N. Nettle, the present postmaster, was appointed.
47
WILLEY'S BOOK OF NUTFIELD
CARRIERS AT MANCHESTER POSTOFFICE.
H. M. Chandler.
W. B. Sanford.
G. W. Elliott.
M. J. F. Connor.
J. Larivee.
O. V. Hill. T. H. F. Donnelly.
A. Gustafson.
J. J. Sullivan.
W. H. Ansell. A. O. Dolloff. A. Wagner.
C. A. Grant. G. N. Manning. C. H. Rowe. J. J. Kelley.
M. D. Knox.
W. Sullivan.
A. J. Fussell. J. W. Downer. W. H. Heath.
W. K. Stockdale. I. L. Campbell. A. J. Martin.
W. E. Dunbar.
W. H. Carpenter. J. J. Driscoll.
ORIGIN OF THE NUTFIELD COLONY.
IT has been said of the emigrants of 1719, who Surrounded as they were by the native Irish Cath- founded the colony of Nutfield, that in the 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 Séoteh and Irish characters, as Macaulay has so well shown in his summing up of the state of affairs existing at that time. He says : "On the same soil dwelt two populations, locally intermixed, morally and politically sundered. The difference of religion was by no means the only difference, and was per- haps not the chief differenee, which existed between them. They sprang from different stoeks. They spoke different languages. They had different national characters, as strongly opposed as any two national characters in Europe. They were in widely different stages of civilization. There eould, there- fore, be little sympathy between them, and centuries of calamities and wrongs had generated a strong antipathy. The relation in which the minority stood to the majority resembled the relation in which the followers of William the Conqueror 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 given exclusively to the Celts, and to those families which, though not of Celtie origin, had in the course of ages degen- erated into Celtie 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 assured hope of securing freedom of conscience and religious liberty, they were willing to take their chanees in worldly matters, whereas the emigrants of today would, if necessary, reverse that order, and imperil their religious rather than their material interests. However that may be, certain it is that in these piping times of religious toleration no Protestant ever leaves Catholie Ireland, and no Catholie ever leaves Protestant England, in order to obtain freedom of eonseienee. It is rather the freedom which money will buy that he seeks upon these shores. So it is often difficult now to realize that less than two centuries ago the founders of Nutfield colony preferred the hardships and dan- gers of the wilderness in an inhospitable elime 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 by a great superiority of intelligence, vigor, and their dissatisfaction with the conditions at home. organization on the other. The English settlers
48
49
WILLEY'S BOOK OF NUTFIELD.
seem to have been, in knowledge, cncrgy, 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 thesc embarrassments, and that they were willing to forego many material comforts for the sake of a larger civil liberty. Thc sturdy old James MacGregor, onc 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 hc puts the worldly reason first, and the spiritual rca- son last : " 1. 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 proced- ing the emigration of the Nutfield colonists will
always be a fascinating one, for those dark and tragic ycars 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 ycar 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- encc 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- cver, 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
50
WILLEY'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 donderry, which lasted from December 7, 1688, until July 28, 1689. During those seven or cight months the sufferings of the besieged were such as can 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 prineiple. In July, so redueed was the supply of provisions that a rat sold for a shilling, and a mouse for sixpenee, while a eat brought four shil- lings and sixpenee. Tallow and salted hides were a luxury. One eorpulent man, fearing that the soldiers might kill and eat him, eonecaled 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.
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 plaees which offered resistance, 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, exeepting 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.
SHIP QUAY STREET, LONDONDERRY, IRELAND.
Some of these brave defenders of London- derry, or their deseendants, were the settlers of Nutfield, and sueh men were well prepared to en- counter the hardships of founding a colony in the wilderness. So important did the king and parlia-
5I
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, Jamcs Mac- Gregor, William Cornwell, William Boyd, and John Holmes, with portions of their respective congregations, determined to cmigrate 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 McKcen, 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
Pemari
THE DIAMOND, LONDONDERRY, IRELAND.
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
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 tied their horscs, 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 east 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 organized, and to that church most of the other
52
WILLEY'S BOOK OF NUTFIELD.
2.
THE FIRST SERMON IN NUTFIELD.
53
WILLEY'S BOOK OF NUTFIELD.
ehurehes of this denomination in New England, directly or indirectly, owe their existence. Mr. MacGregor, who was then forty-two years of age, had received a thorough classical and theologieal education, and was a man of great courage. Though only twelve years old at the time of the siege of Londonderry, he bore an active part in its defence, and had the honor of firing the great gun in the tower of the cathedral, [the 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 publie ealamity.
The events immediately following the estab- lishment of Nutfield eolony, the many trying ex- periences of pioneer life, the long and vexatious delays in getting elear titles to the lands, and in seeuring the incorporation of the town, are narrated elsewhere in this work.
REV. MATTHEW CLARK, the second min- ister of Londonderry, eame to this town in 1729. He supplied the desk, made vacant that year by the death of Rev. James MaeGregor, four years, until the settlement of Rev. Thomas Thompson, in 1733. He lived but six years after eoming here, dying January 25, 1735, and though never installed over the church, more is known of him by the peo- ple of the present day than is known of two of his sueeessors - Mr. Thompson and Mr. Davidson - though their united pastorates amounted to fifty- five years.
The following poem, written by Marian Doug- las, was read by Hon. James 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.
Mat. Clark
:
Hopeful for the days to be. Forward all his dreams are cast. But his memories of the past. One and all. Lie in lands beyond the sea : For, but lately. from abroad. To light up the Derry weavers,
5 1
WILLER'S BOOK OF NUTFIELD.
Honest men and true believers, Came this " candle of the Lord."
Matching well his dauntless mien, On his temple is a scar. (You can see it just as far As his wig Or the man himself is seen,) Bravely won when, Heaven's own liege, 'Mid the groans of starved and dying, He had fought, on God relying. In the Londonderry siege.
Still that memory remains : And a sound of martial strife. Beat of drum, or shriek of fife. Makes the blood 'Thrill and tingle in his veins : And his heart grows young again, Thinking of the vanished glory Of those days renowned in story. Days of triumph and of pain.
When, his cold breath on each brow, Brave men, without doubt or dread, Looked in Death's stern eyes and said, Gravely firm.
" We are stronger far than thou ! Friends of Truth, and foes of Guilt, Wounded, starving, fainting, breathless, We are God's. and God is deathless, -- Take us. leave us, as thou wilt !"
But today the air of spring Breathes around a peaceful calm, And his thoughts are like a psalm, "Praise to God! " Sung by Israel's shepherd king : And around him Fancy paints Here the budding rod of Aaron, There the mystic rose of Sharon, And the lilies of the saints.
And the wind that softly steals From the orchard trees in bloom, Laden with their sweet perfume, Seems to him Blowing from celestial fields. Priest and teacher of the town. Long as stands good Londonderry, With its stories sad and merry, Shall thy name be handed down As a man of prayer and mark, Grave and reverend Matthew Clark!
A WEDDING IN THE OLDEN TIME was an extremely lively affair. The guests were all invited at least three days beforehand ; guns were fired in the respective neighborhoods of bride and groom on the morning of the wedding day, and at the appointed hour the groom and his friends set out from his house. About half way to the bride's dwelling they were met by her male friends, and each company chose one man to "run for the bottle," to the house of the bride. The one who returned first with the bottle gave a toast and drank to the bridegroom's health, after which the beverage was of course passed around. Then the whole party proceeded, firing their muskets as they went by the houses on the way. Arrived at the bride's home, the bridegroom's company were placed in a room by themselves, and it was consid- ered an act of impoliteness for any of the bride's friends to intrude. Just before the ceremony was to begin the best man entered the bride's apart- ment, led her into the room, and, placing her at the right hand of the groom, took his station im- mediately behind, as did also the "best maid." After the ceremony all the men kissed the bride, and all the women kissed the groom. Dinner fol- lowed, and then came dancing and other amuse- ments.
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.