USA > Vermont > Windham County > Londonderry > The history with genealogical sketches of Londonderry > 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
This "Inn" was located within a short distance of the present hotel in the village of Londonderry, standing on the higher ground a little farther back from the present main street. Jonathan Aiken sold the premises to John Miltimore that same year and in December, 1799, a town meeting was warned to be held at the same place, then "the house of John Miltimore, Inn Keeper." Substantially the same plot has, down to the present time, served as the site of a public house. Many different proprietors, more than can be named, have officiated as hosts to such as sought its hospitality, and no one is able to say how many different buildings devoted to such use have occupied the ground. In 1902, while managed by Alvarado C. Gibson, the hotel was totally destroyed by fire, but a new building was promptly con- structed in its place and still stands, though not opened to the public for the full year, usually only for the summer or vacation months. At an early date, not now possible to actually determine, the "Huntley Stand" at the top of the mountain on the stage road to Chester was added, under the management of one Willard, to the list of old-time roadside taverns and for years enjoyed, under different owners, an enviable reputation and liberal patronage.
In the old stage-coach and teaming days, when this road formed an im- portant part of one of the main lines of traffic from southern New Hamp- shire and Massachusetts across to the Hudson River, often as many as forty horses were there stabled in a single night while the house was well filled with guests. With the advent of railroads and resulting changes in methods and lines of transportation and travel it long ago lost its public character and became a private farm house, finally to be abandoned, and recently the buildings have been dismantled entirely.
For a time, while this road extended through that part of Londonderry now called the "Middle-of-the-Town," Arrington Gibson was licensed as an Inn Keeper and his inn was his farm house, still standing on what is known as the "Collins farm," and occupied by P. E. Fontaine.
The village of South Londonderry had its beginning in 1806, with the building of Baldwin & Richardson's mill on the site of the lately ruined village mills. After many years of slow growth the hamlet found need of a public house, and the first tavern was opened on the easterly side of the main street, its location being nearly, if not actually, upon the lot now oc- cupied by the Riverside Inn.
44
The History of Londonderry
In the early days the tavern and the village store were both sheltered by the same roof and, as in the North village, from that time on the same plot has been occupied as site for a public house, the present building having been erected in 1882, closely following the destruction of the old West River House by fire.
In 1843 a building was erected by Josiah Stowell in the "North village," designed for use as tavern and store. Its service as a tavern was compara- tively brief but for a time its builder, "Colonel" Stowell, maintained its public character and, agreeable to the then usual custom, furnished both solid and liquid entertainment under its roof. Just when it lost its title to the term tavern cannot be definitely stated, but it was long and well known as "the Arnold Store" and was used as a store, without much modification of interior arrangement of rooms and partitions, until 1898, when the build- ing was razed to make way for the present dwelling and the store building of Fred M. Leonard.
In 1880 George H. Hilton, then a resident of Chester, erected buildings at the "Great Pond," or " 'Derry Pond," as popularly known, for the ac- commodation of summer guests, designing to make the place a summer resort.
This beautiful sheet of water was then christened "Lowell Lake," taking its name from Dr. Abraham Lowell, Mrs. Hilton's father, who, at his decease, owned the farm at the outlet of the lake. From that time on the place has been kept open in the summer season and is now owned and managed by D. H. Hilton, son of the founder.
In 1908 Walter L. Hunt enlarged his dwelling house on the westerly side of Main Street in South Londonderry village and opened the enlarged build- ing as "Hunt's Tavern." It maintained its character of a public house under different managers until its destruction by fire in September, 1920.
Since that happening some private houses in the village have been opened by their owners for accommodation of transients, and there have been, in the recent years several farmhouses opened as summer boarding places, and these have received liberal patronage from city dwellers who appreciate the country quiet and enjoy the beauty of the surrounding territory which, year by year, attracts a larger number.
Church History
THE ancestors of our early settlers, for the most part, were Scotch Presbyterians, followers of John Knox, and transmitted to their immediate posterity, together with their physical strength and hardihood, a strong degree of belief in and adherence to the rigid doctrines of that stern faith.
These doctrines and this faith came, then, with the first settlers into these forests and the first,- and for a long time the only -, organized or com- bined effort to establish public religious observances here was put forth by those who adhered to these tenets.
At that time it seemed to be deemed a part of the duty of the town in its corporate capacity to provide for orthodox preaching as much as it is today to support public schools and to maintain highways.
While these Presbyterians and their fathers had been driven from Scot- land to the north of Ireland, and thence to the new world, by their desire to escape the burdens laid on them by English laws as to the support of the there established church they still recognized, in great measure at least, a union between church and state which was evidently in their view the neces- sary and proper condition and relation so long as the state or body politic supported a church given to their own peculiar doctrines.
At an early date after their homes were set up in this new township move- ments began for the location and building of a Meeting House, though long years were destined to elapse before any building was dedicated to such service. Much of this delay was doubtless fairly attributable to the com- parative poverty of the people; the continuance of the Revolutionary War, with its consequent drain of their slender resources, and the unsettled con- dition of affairs in town particularly; yet a careful study of the old records leads to the belief that much of the delay might be truly charged to the common frailty of human nature in its inability to bend individual wills to a common agreement as to locating the proposed building.
At one of the earliest town meetings of which we have any record, March II, 1777, it was voted "to build a house for Publick Worship" and Edward Aiken (probably Deacon Edward), David Cochran and William Mack were chosen as a committee "to fix on the Place where it shall stand."
Precisely what was done by this committee is not known but, from the fact that for many years later there were frequent references to locating
46
The History of Londonderry
such a building, it is certain that nothing tangible resulted from their action. Tradition, indeed, says that at some time not far from this date and while the Revolution was in progress a site was selected and some materials actually secured for the erection of the building, but that the necessity of using all their available strength to bear their part of the burdens of that war prevented the use of those materials for the original purpose. The de- preciation of the currency left them, in common with all the rest of the country, in straitened circumstances financially so that the best they were able to do was to raise limited sums to pay for preaching in private houses.
Most of the first or earliest settlers of Kent were members of the Presby- terian Church of Londonderry, N. H., and that church long looked upon them as a colony and gave some assistance by occasionally supplying them with preaching. About the time the people acquired sufficient financial strength to enable them to erect their meeting house the division of the town, which had then become Londonderry, was under consideration and the agitation of this subject put a stop to all plans for church building.
Previous to this, March 19, 1781, the town in a regularly organized town meeting had voted unanimously that the place for building the "House for Publick Worship" be north of the Grist Mill on Captain Edward Aiken's land, he giving two acres of land for a site. At the same meeting, the record shows that this vote was "reconsidered," and the matter left as before.
On the 20th of the following September, at a meeting which was warned on the 5th of that month, it was voted to build the house, the same to be built "west of Mr. James Patterson's Dwelling house," and a half acre was to be given by Mr. Patterson for the purpose.
But, like former plans, this failed of being carried out, though the meet- ing adjourned to Nov. 5th, when it was voted that the house be "38 feet in Length and Thirty in Breadth," and the meeting again adjourned, to Nov. 12th, and then it was decided that the house be "one Storie high"; that it be set up and finished in one year from that date, and a committee of five was appointed to carry on the work, which committee was instructed to make an estimate of the cost of the building and to "make a Rate of s'd Cost upon the Inhabitance of s'd Town," and it was then voted that this cost be "Laid on ye Inhabitance of s'd Town by Poll and Estate."
Just why this committee failed to erect the building so provided for is unknown, but in the next year a town meeting was called to see what the town would do in regard to levying tax on non-residents' lands for the pur- pose of building "houses for Public Worship," school houses and bridges. The use of the plural in referring to this subject is significant and may serve to explain some of the delays and failures in providing a meeting house. It is also one of the first indications of that feeling which later resulted in the di- vision of the town.
47
Church History
A tax of two pence per acre was laid on all the "Non resident Land" at this meeting, April 23, 1782, and at the annual town meeting in 1783 a com- mittee was chosen "to improve to the Best Advantage" this tax, but nothing further appears concerning the matter, not even the names of the committee. This same year, 1783, the record shows that instead of voting to raise money for procuring preaching by tax they voted to raise it by subscription, "them that subscribe to give their Note for what they Subscribe to the Selectmen."
Upon the division of the town, in 1795, all of the deacons of the church and the majority of its members were on the Windham side of the division line. Just when these people formed an organized church is not certain but it was at some very early date after the first families located in town. After the division of the town those members who lived on the Londonderry side still maintained their connection with the original body as they were too feeble to form a new organization by themselves.
In 1799, December 6, in a regularly organized town meeting, in London- derry, it was voted "that a certain Spot of ground situated in the Road leading from Ebeneezer Cobb's to Joseph Oughterson's and on the loine be- tween said Cobbs and Oughtersons farms be the center of said town for the purpose of building a meeting hous; then Voted to build a meeting hous and Defray the Expence by a tax on the Rateble poles and Estates to be assessed on the grand list of 1799." No building was erected in compliance with this vote but the reason for the failure to build is not now to be ascertained. Again, on the 20th of the following month, at a special town meeting warned to see about building a meeting house, it was voted to build the house and raise a tax for the cost thereof. At this time a description of the location and of the building to be so erected was decided upon. It was to be erected "on a Certain Spot of ground Situated in Joseph Oughterson's New field, so- called," and to "Nearly the sizse of the meeting hous ocipied By Mr. Lalon (Reverend Aaron Leland) in Chester."
This building in Chester so referred to was built in 1788 and 40 x 50 feet in dimensions. To meet the expense of constructing this proposed building, it was voted at this meeting to raise four hundred dollars, to be assessed on the list of polls and estates for the year 1799, which was to be collected and paid into the treasury of "said sosiety" on or before the first day of the then next November, "in the following articles, to wit: in hard money or good Beef Cattle, good flax, Butter, Black Salts of Lye, good wheat, Rye, Corn and Sheaps Wool."
This meeting then adjourned to the 26th of March following when the spirit of the meeting may be conjectured from the first act recorded, viz: "Voted to dismiss David Cochran as moderator of said meeting & then chose John Wakefield moderator in his room." Then they adjourned to the first Monday in the next November, at which time they voted to reconsider the vote of January 20, 1800, "for Building the Meeting in Mr. Oughterson's
48
The History of Londonderry
Burnt field so called and then voted to Build said hous on a Certain Spot of ground Situated on the South part of Ebenezer Cobb Land."
At the same time they reconsidered the vote laying the tax on the list of 1799 and provided that it be assessed on the list of 1800, and half to be paid into the society's treasury on the first day of January, 1801, and the other half one year later. Thereupon the meeting was adjourned to the first Wed- nesday of the next month, when it was again adjourned to the first Monday in January, 1801. Nothing further appears on the records relative to this meeting, but it may well be assumed that at last the whole matter was "re- considered," for no building was ever erected under the authority of these votes so recorded.
About 1805 a school house was built in "the Center District" to the cost of which some of the church members personally contributed that they might have the privilege of holding meetings there on Sundays; and from that time until the church building was in fact erected they continued to hold services there. This school house was also, in fact if not in name, the town house or town hall for, on the 21st of June, 1806, it was voted to hold the town meetings therein, as was done until the fall of 1817, a vote having been taken at the annual town meeting in March, 1817, to hold the town meetings in the Meeting House. The location of this school house, the first church home and first town house of Londonderry, was on the hill nearly op- posite the brick house long known as the Doctor Gibson place, now owned by Robert Batstone, but a little farther west than the present highway, where the original highway was constructed and long used.
All this time the Church was still of the Presbyterian persuasion, but about 1809, finding it a matter of difficulty to procure such denominational preaching, it was decided to adopt the Congregational form of church gov- ernment, and in that year, August 25, 1809, a Congregational Church was organized by Reverend Rufus Cushman, of Fair Haven, assisted by Rever- end William Hall, of Grafton. This church, as first established, consisted of fourteen members: David Cochran, John Cox, John Cochran, Arrington Gibson, David Cochran, Jr., Mary Cochran, Mary Cox, Lois Hunting, Mary Gibson, Betsey Cochran, Susanna Richardson, Mary Thompson, Re- becca Davis and Sally Wright. Several of the Presbyterians, who objected to the Congregational form, did not at this time unite with them, though they did so at a later date. The field was for a time considered missionary ground and the church was from time to time supplied by home mission- aries.
Among those who ministered to the church and people in the succeeding years we have the names of Reverend David H. Williston, Reverend Rufus Cushman, Reverend Moses Parmalee, Reverend Isaac P. Lowe, Reverend Urban Hitchcock and Reverend John Lawton; and there were others whose
49
Church History
names we cannot now state. Some of these were supported in part by mis- sionary societies and others wholly by the town's people.
The question of location and erection of a church building or "meeting house" was at no time lost sight of or allowed any considerable period of rest. From a reservation made in an old deed which conveyed the farm next east of the "Captain James Place," east of Thompsonburg, it would seem that at that time there was a prospect that the meeting house would be lo- cated on that farm, though the reservation of a tract to be dedicated to that purpose may have been designed by the grantor as a make-weight in favor of the location where he and his faction most desired it to be. This reserva- tion is contained in a deed from James Magarr and wife to Benjamin Wil- lard Howe under date June 10, 1811, and is in these words: "Reserving one acre of land for setting a Meeting House." This tract so reserved was never more definitely described than in the words of the reservation quoted and in subsequent conveyances of the farm, for quite a period, the same or a similar clause is contained.
In later deeds of the same premises the reservation disappears. No such building was ever constructed in that locality, the house, when it was at last built, being situated about two miles farther to the west.
In 1813 the long desired building was at last completed and stood at the "Middle-of-the-Town," on the northerly side of the highway leading easter- ly from the "hill road" between the present two villages in town. It stood back from the road so that a considerable green lay in front of it, and this green, with the adjoining fields and highways, in the following years wit- nessed many a gathering of the voters intent upon political affairs and many a martial array on the old training days, as well as the gathering of the de- vout for religious services. Town meetings were held in this building from September, 1817 until 1860, when a town hall was erected in the village of South Londonderry.
From 1813 forward for many years the church held preaching services in this building, not without some interruptions but ever more or less during each year. The greatest prosperity of this church was under the pastorate of Reverend Philetus Clark who began his labors with them in 1824, was in- stalled as pastor in 1827 and continued his ministrations until 1830, when he removed, though not formally dismissed until 1833. At this time the church had about one hundred communicants. For several years after Pastor Clark's departure the church was without a regular pastor until Nov. 21, 1838 when Reverend Linus Owen was installed and held the pastorate until his dismissal, Feb. 28, 1844.
From this time the church, as an organized religious body, seemed to steadily decline in numbers and its comparative influence among the people. Reverend John Walker preached here in 1855-6; Reverend Linus Owen again from 1859 to 1865, and Reverend John H. Thyng, 1866-8. This was
50
The History of Londonderry
the last regular Congregational preaching at the South village. The old church building at the "Middle-of-the-town" had before this date been abandoned as a place of worship, and was taken down in 1865.
The losses sustained, by death and removal of members, were not made good in number by new accessions; other denominations had entered the field and established places of worship in the villages where the younger portion of the community, not to say many of the older ones, seemed to prefer to attend services, and thus the old church became gradually weaker and weaker until at last its organization was lost.
Before this last event, however, the church by the advice, as it is said, of Reverend Justin Parsons, united with the Methodists of South Londonderry and built a union meeting house at that village in which each of the two societies supplied the pulpit for one half the time.
This was done in 1852, the house being dedicated in December of that year, and from that time on very few were the admissions to the older church.
In April, 1874, the Methodist Society acquired full title to the union meeting house mentioned, by purchase of the Congregational interest there- in, and the old church became practically a thing of the past.
The Baptist Church in Londonderry had its origin in the neighboring town of Peru where a church was organized October 27, 1809 with a member- ship of eight persons. February 20, 1811, this Peru church, which had in- creased by conversions and admissions from sister churches to several times its original number, with thirteen persons who were dismissed from the Baptist Church in Windham, became, by advice of a council, "The First Baptist Church in Londonderry." On the 9th of the following month was held the first business meeting of this body of which we have record.
At this meeting Elder Gershom Lane was chosen Moderator; Levi Bald- win, Clerk; Jesse Baldwin and Abial Richardson, Deacons.
On the 29th of the same month (March, 1811) it was voted to give Elder Lane fifty-two dollars for preaching three-fourths of the time "from the first of January last to the first of January next."
Small as this salary was it was "to be paid in produce or wearing apparel," and Elder Lane agreed to accept it.
The next August the church voted to join the Woodstock Association at their meeting that then coming fall, and this connection still exists.
The next year a like sum of fifty-two dollars was voted to Elder Lane for preaching and, in December, 1812, twenty-seven dollars was subscribed, by twenty persons, to pay Elder Thomas Baker for his services one fourth of the time and this was "to be paid in produce one year from date."
Small as these sums were, doubtless it was all that the society could raise and seems to have been sufficient to enable them to secure more or less regu-
5I
Church History
lar continuance of ministrations of various pastors in their own doctrine for several years while they had no stated place of worship owned by the society. In 1815 Elder Lane and five others were dismissed from this church to the Weston Baptist Church, then constituted.
Previous to this date they had felt called upon to discipline certain mem- bers; in the first or second year they excluded two members for open com- munion views and practices, and, in 1813, four brethren who had joined a secret organization, "The Washington Benevolent Society," were excluded because they persisted in continuing in that society "to the grief of some of their brethren." This action was taken by a bare majority of one vote in the council and a little over four years later the church seems to have repented of this action for they then voted that they had done wrong in excluding those members. Still later the former feeling appears to have again been in the ascendency for this last mentioned vote is crossed upon the record by the word "reconsidered," but as to the time this reconsideration took place there is no statement.
In 1817 the Center school house was selected as the stated place of hold- ing their services. This was the same place formerly occupied by the old Presbyterian church, and its successor Congregational society, which now had a meeting house near by for its own use.
Complete harmony and agreements in fixing on this place did not exist in the church and it is certain that it did not remain a settled question for a great period. The various opinions as to the place for holding their regular services evidently became so earnestly advocated or so vigorously pressed that it threatened serious difficulty for, in January, 1825, a council, called for that purpose, decided that it was best to have but one place of worship, and again the Center school house was designated as such place. Following this came certain propositions or suggestions for dividing the church into two parts, the east and west branches, but such division was not made. The feeling among the members was so strong and carried so far that for a con- siderable time there was no observance of the communion service or sacra- ment because of these differences of opinion as to the place of worship. Happily, in the fall of 1827, more of the true Christian spirit seemed to have pervaded the membership and the brethren came together at the Thompsonburg school house and this meeting proved the beginning of a most prosperous era in the life of the church.
Most, if not all, of the time from this date to the dedication of the brick church building in the village of South Londonderry the meetings for public worship were divided between the school houses in the two villages and the Thompsonburg district.
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.