(&ttt j^HE SPARKS 1 LIBRARY. 1 r [AMERICA.] 8S* Collected by D? Jared Sparks, LL. D., U. President of Harvard College. v/-^ cj ~S Purchased by the Cornell University, ^ \ 1872. Cornell University Library CS71 .H97 1865 Autobiography of Levi Hutchins: with a p olin 3 1924 029 842 261 Cornell University Library The original of this book is in the Cornell University Library. There are no known copyright restrictions in the United States on the use of the text. http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924029842261 ^ty^' t^iK^^'^T^. CAMBRIDGE: PRINTED AT THE RIVERSIDE PRESS. MDCCCLXV. AUTOBIOGRAPHY OP LEVI HUTCHINS: A PREFACE, NOTES, AND ADDENDA, BY HIS YOUNGEST SON. " As sweats are good for a man's body, if a man comes well out of them, so afflictions are good for the soul, if a man comes well out of them." — John Mason. [private edition.] CAMBRIDGE: PRINTED AT THE RIVERSIDE PRESS. M DCCC LXV. I X -'CORNELC DIVERSITY LIBRARY <£.<&.<&.&.<&&.&.<&.<&.<£.<&.&.<&.<&.<&.<&.<&,.<&. CONTENTS. Page PREFACE, . . X CHAPTER I. INTRODUCTORY, ETC., 15 CHAPTER II. MY FATHER MOVES TO CONCORD, N. H. — COMMENCES STORE-KEEPING. — OUR REVOLUTIONARY SERVICES, EM- BRACING MEMORANDA OF VARIOUS INCIDENTS, . 22 CHAPTER III. THE DEATH OF MY MOTHER. — MY ACADEMICAL CAREER. FATHER'S AND MY NAUTICAL ADVENTURE. — LIEU- TENANT CHARITY LUND AND FAMILY. — FATHER'S SEC- OND MARRIAGE. — HIS REMOVALS. — BROTHER ABEL'S AND MY APPRENTICESHIP. — SIMON WILLARD. — I ES- TABLISH THE CLOCK-MAKING BUSINESS IN CONCORD, MAIN VILLAGE. — JOHN STEVENS, . . .41 CHAPTER IV. MARRIAGES, ETC., OF MY BROTHERS ABEL AND EZRA, AND OF MY SISTERS BETHIAH, PAMELIA, AND MATILDA. — BIRTHS, MARRIAGES, ETC., OF MY FATHER'S CHILDREN BY HIS SECOND WIFE, 58 CHAPTER V. DESCRIPTION OF THE MAIN VILLAGE OF CONCORD, N. H. THE RELIGIOUS DENOMINATION OF FRIENDS. — THE HANNAFORD FAMILY ; THEIR BIRTHS, MARRIAGES, ETC., 76 IV CONTENTS. CHAPTER VI. MY MARRIAGE TO PHEBE HANNAFOKD. — ACCOUNT OP OtTR CHILDREN, THEIR BIRTHS, MARRIAGES, ETC. OUR CONNECTION WITH THE PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. — WITH THE SOCIETY OF FRIENDS, ... 90 CHAPTER VII. A PARTNERSHIP FORMED BY MY BROTHER ABEL AND ME, IN THE CLOCK-MAKING BUSINESS, IN 1786, AND CONTIN- UED UNTIL 1807. — MY REMOVAL FROM " THE STREET" TO WEST PARISH VILLAGE. — ACCOUNTS OF PERSONS, PLACES, REAL ESTATE, BUSINESS, AND THINGS PERTAIN- ING TO THIS REMOVAL, 120 CHAPTER VIII. AN ACCOUNT OF MY SON SAMUEL, ETC., . . 134 CHAPTER IX. AN ACCOUNT OF SOME BUSINESS IN WHICH I ENGAGED, EMBRACING A PAETICULAR NOTICE OF EMBARRASS- MENTS WHICH A CERTAIN MAN CAUSED ME. CHEER- ING COUNSEL. — AGRICULTURAL PURSUITS.- — AN INCI- DENT RESPECTING A CLOCK. — LAWYERS, . 148 CHAPTER X. DEATH OF MY FATHER AND OF HIS WIFE LUCY. MY WIFE'S LAST ILLNESS AND DEATH. — MEASURES THAT I ADOPTED RELATIVE TO MY PROPERTY. — AN INCIDENT APPERTAINING TO MY BROTHER EZRA. — HIS REMOVALS. — HIS DEATH AND THAT OF HIS WIFE. — MY BROTHER ABEL'S WIFE'S DEATH, SHORTLY FOLLOWED BIT HIS. A FUNERAL DISCOURSE. — CONCLUSION, . . 156 ADDENDA. ADDITIONAL REMINISCENCES PRINCIPALLY RELATING TO LEVI HUTCHINS, EMBRACING AN ACCOUNT OF HIS DEATH, Ig7 PREFACE. THIS book was originally designed for a very limited circulation, in manuscript, among my relatives ; but several of them having read the MS. copy expressed a desire to see it in print, that it might have a more general family circulation. Time passes ; one generation succeedeth another, and changes in the affairs of human life go on for- ever. " Look you, the man and the woman have travelled through the round of avocations ; the road is becoming somewhat stale and wearisome ; it is to be gone over and round again. Must they beat it harder still ? See ! there comes a little child, a tod- dling infant, and the man and woman, with this charming puppet for a companion, travel the circle of the year again, and find it all new. They gave life to the child, and the child has returned the gift and rendered them back their youth." A distinguished man, in his Autobiography, says, " I have ever had a pleasure in obtaining any little anecdotes of my ancestors." Indeed, it is interesting and useful to know the general history of our an- 1 Z PREFACE. cestors. One after another of our kindred dies, yet they live in our memory. " There is no flock, however watched and tended, But one dead lamb is there ! There is no fireside, howsoe'er defended, But has one vacant chair ! " We recall to mind and cherish in our thoughts many sentiments we have heard our friends express. " As lamps fed with sweet oil, cast a sweeter smell when they are put out, so after death the memory of persons whom we loved is precious." Accounts of Births, Marriages, and Deaths, writ- ten or printed on paper, are liable to be lost ; and the memory of man is somewhat allied to forgetful- ness ; hence a knowledge of remote ancestry is often deficient. Many documents, which would have aided me in my genealogical researches, and which one of my ancestors had carefully preserved, were, a few years ago, accidentally destroyed. It is said that " a book should be luminous, but not voluminous." The matter contained in this may be, in some respects, redundant and imperfect, yet I venture to present it to my friends with these often- quoted lines : — " Go, little book, God send thee good passage, And specially let this be thy prayer : Unto them all that thee will read or hear, Where thou art wrong, after their help to call, Thee to correct in any part or all." From the " History of Rowley," Mass., by Thos. Gage, and from various town and church records, I PREFACE. 3 have obtained the principal part of the following in- formation relating to my ancestors. My great-grandfather William Hutchins' ances- tors, and those of his wife, appear to have settled in Rowley (anciently including Bradford, Boxford, and Georgetown) as early as 1639. In 1649 that part of Rowley now called Bradford, was settled. Bradford was incorporated in 1675. Ezekiel Rogers, a man of great note in England for his zeal, piety, and abilities, brought from that country with him, in December, 1638, about twenty families : Edward Carxeton and his family were among the number. Rogers increased his company to sixty families, and with them settled in Rowley, Mass., on the last of April, or first of May, 1639. This Edward Carleton and his wife Ellen's children were: Edward, born Aug. 28, 1639; Mary, born April 2, 1642 ; Elizabeth, born Jan. 20, 1644. He was made a freeman in 1642. In the following year, he and two other persons were appointed by the freemen of Rowley to survey the town, and register the several lots, &c, of all the inhabitants. He had a house-lot, containing three acres, bounded on the south end by Holmes Street, and on the north side by the Common. He was a Represen- tative of the town, in the General Court, for two years, 1646-7. The following is an extract from the " Genealogi- cal Dictionary of New England," by James Savage, Esq.: — 4 PREFACE. " Hutchins, or Hutchings, Enoch, New Hamp- shire, married, April 5, 1667, Mary Stevenson, perhaps daughter of Thomas of Dover. George, Cambridge, freeman, March, 1638, by his wife Jane, had Joseph, born Dec. 28, 1639 ; Luke, April 6, 1644 ; Ann, Sept. 30, 1645 ; and Abiah, April 3, 1648 ; perhaps Barbarie Hutson, who, by the Cam- bridge record, died Feb. 14, 1640, was his daughter, for great latitude in spelling this name is seen there- in. John, Newbury, by his wife Frances, had Wil- liam ; Joseph, born Nov. 15, 1640 ; Benjamin, May 15, 1641, perhaps an error of a year or two ; Love, July 16, 1647 ; Elizabeth, and Samuel ; removed to Haverhill, and died, says Coffin, 1674, aged 70. Love married, Dec. 15, 1668, Samuel Sherburne of Hampton. John, Wethersfield, died 1681, leaving Sarah and Ann. Jonathan, Kittery, a youth of 14 years, taken by the Indians, May, 1698. (Mather, Magn., VII. 95.) Joseph, Boston, married, Sept. 1, 1657, Mary, daughter of William Edmunds of Lynn. Joseph, Haverhill, swore fidelity Nov. 28, 1677, was, perhaps, son of John. Nicholas, Lynn, married, April 4, 1666, Elizabeth, daughter of George Farr, had John, born June 3, 1668, and Elizabeth, June 15, 1670. Richard required ad- mission as a freeman Oct. 19, 1638, and so may be thought to have come in the fleet with Winthrop, 1 1 The ship Arbella, which contained Winthrop's company, sailed, April 7, 1630, from Yarmouth, England, and arrived at Salem, Mass., after a passage of nine weeks ; she was joined in a few days by three vessels which had sailed in her company. PKEFACE. 5 but as we know not of his taking the oath, it is prob- able that he either died soon, or went home the same year. Samuel, Haverhill, perhaps son of John, of the same town, was married at Andover, June 24, 1662, to Hannah Johnson, and was one of the first Representatives under the new charter of 1692. 1 Samuel, Battery, taken by the Indians, May, 1698. William, 2 Rowley, 1666, perhaps the eldest son of 1 Mr. Geo. W. Chase, author of the " History of Haverhill," says, that among the laws passed by the General Court of Massachusetts, in 1650, was one against " intolerable excess and bravery in dress." No person, whose estate did not ex- ceed £200, was permitted to wear any gold or silver lace, or buttons, great boots, silk hoods, ribbons, or scarfs, under a penalty of 10s. The wife of John Hutchins of Haverhill was presented to the Court, in 1653, for wearing a silk hood ; but, upon testimony of her being brought up above the ordinary way, was discharged. From a lengthy account of Births, Marriages, and Deaths, furnished me by the Town Clerk of Haverhill, I extract there- from as follows : John Hutchins married Frances ; he died Feb. 6, 1685; she died April 5, 1694; their son Samuel deceased Jan. 18, 1712. William Hutchins married, July 1, 1661, Sarah Hardy; their son William, born Dec. 21, 1662, died in infancy. Joseph Hutchins married, Dec. 29, 1669, Johannah Corliss ; their children were : John, born May 5, 1671 ; Johannah, born Sept. 27, 1673; Frances born June 7, 1676; Mary, born March, 9, 1678; Andrew, born May 22, 1681 ; Samuel, born Aug. 20, 1682 ; Joseph, born May 29, 1689. Samuel Hutchins married Hannah Mavrill; they had four children, Samuel, who was born Sept. 17, 1716, Hannah, Nathan, and Abigail. 2 He was a resident of Rowley from its settlement to the b PKEFACB. John, and brother of Samuel, married, Sept. 1, 1657, Mary, daughter of William Edmunds of Lynn, was a freeman, 1682, and perhaps is he who married, April 30, 1685, Elizabeth Growth, 1 who may have been widow of John. Six of this name had, in 1829, been graduates at New England col- leges." From a copy of Births, &c, of the Hutchins fam- ily, given in the records of Bradford, from 1671 to 1740 inclusive, I extract the following account of the first three heads of families on the list : — William Hutchins' children : Sarah, born Sept. 2, 1671 ; John, born July 23, 1673 ; Mary, born April 15, 1676. William and Mary Hutchins' son, Benjamin, born April 11, 1679. William 2 and Sarah Hutchins' children : Thomas, born Jan. 27, 1681 ; Samuel, born Jan. 24, 1683. year 1700. His son Joseph was born Dec. 20, 1666, in that town ; and this is the only name of Hutchins on its records of Births. 1 The records of Bradford contain the following : Married, April 30, 1685, William Hutchins and Elizabeth Growth. 2 A Council was convened at Bradford, Oct. 31, 1682, for the purpose of advising the people of that town on the subject of the settlement of the ministry among them. The question was referred for decision to a Committee of eighteen persons, who decided in the affirmative. A church was organized there, Dec. 27, 1682, by the signatures of eighteen persons, of whom William Hutchins was one, to a covenant. Jan. 7, 1682, o. s., "Sarah, wife of Brother William Hutchins," was received into this church. PREFACE. 7 The next account of Births on the list referred to, is the following, and I infer that the William mentioned in it was my great-grandfather, whose father may have been the John, born July 23, 1673, as before mentioned : — John and Elizabeth Hutchins' children : Sarah, born Oct. 2, 1694 ; William, bom Feb. 22, 1695, o. s. ;' Margaret, born May 19, 1698; Elizabeth, born Dec. 19, 1702 ; Samuel, born April 10, 1705 ; Mary, born July 24, 1707 ; Jerutha, born Sept. 1, 1710 ; John, born Sept. 1, 1719. The following is an account of Births in the Carleton family of Bradford : — Edward and Elizabeth Carleton's children : Ed- ward, born Feb. 20, 1690, o. s. ; Benjamin, born April 23, 1693 ; Nehemiah, born April 15, 1695. Thomas and Elizabeth Carleton's children : Thomas, born Oct. 10, 1697 ; Bethiah, 1 born March 8, 1699, o. s. ; George, born Sept. 26, 1702. The Bradford records of Marriages contain the following : Jan. 13, 1713, Joseph Sleeper and Sarah Hutchins ; June — , 1717, John Kimball and Margaret Hutchins ; Feb. 2, 1721, William Hutchins and Bethiah Carleton ; Jan. 12, 1731, o. s., Joshua Warner and Mary Hutchins ; Nov. 11, 1736, Joseph Hutchins of Bradford and Sarah Boynton of Rowley. 1 There is no other record of the birth of a Bethiah Carle- ton made in the Town Records of Bradford till the year 1733. 8 PREFACE. The Bradford records of Births contain the two following : Bethiah, daughter of William and Bethiah 1 Hutchins, born Jan. 9, 1725, o. s. ; Benjamin, son of the same parents, born Jan. 11, 1727, o. s. The following are the last records of Births, re- lating to the Hutchins family, on the Bradford list, (the death of "Davide" being mentioned there- in):- Samuel 2 and Mary Hutchins' children: Anna, 1 The East Precinct in Bradford was incorporated June 17, 1726; its church, of which John Hutchins was a member, was organized June 7, 1727; on July 28 following, fifty-seven women, including Elizabeth, and Bethiah Hutchins, having been dismissed from the First Church in Bradford, were re- ceived into this, the Second. 2 He may have been the Samuel who was born April 10, 1705, son of John and Elizabeth Hutchins, mentioned in the text ; probably his wife's maiden name was Mary Williams, of Wenham, Mass. My suppositions on these points are founded on the information contained in a letter that I received from J. Whitney Hutchins, of Westford, Mass. He says, that his father, Eliakim Hutchins, who died at the age of 69 years, in 1862, had ascertained that his descent was from an ancestor who came from England, settled in Bradford, Mass., and sub- sequently represented that town in the General Court. He had a son Samuel, who married, and by his wife had a son Samuel, who married Mary Williams, of Wenham, Mass. The names of three of their children, born in Bradford, says Mr. J. W. Hutchins, were Anna, Thomas, and Sarah. In 1740 this Samuel with his family moved to Nottingham, and about four years subsequently to that part of Chelmsford now called Carlisle. They settled on a farm there which has con- PREFACE. 9 born Feb. 2, 1729 ; Thomas, bom Jan. 31, 1730, o. a. ; Sarah, born Oct. 5, 1732 ; David, born Dec. 19, 1733 ; Andrew, born June 1, 1735 ; Elia- kim, born Oct. 9, 1736 ; " Davide diede " Oct. 19, 1736 ; Frances, born Feb. 25, 1737, o. s. ; Mary, born April 28, 1740. It appears, then, that my great-grandfather, Wil- liam Hutchins of Bradford, married, Feb. 2, 1721, Bethiah, daughter of Thomas and Elizabeth Carle- ton, of that town, and that she was a lineal de- scendant of the Edward and Ellen Carleton, before mentioned. It also appears from Town and Church Records, 1 that some time before 1743, he moved to tinued in the possession of their descendants, it being now owned by one of them, Abram Hutchins. 1 The following, relating to the Hutchins family of Har- vard, are extracts from a letter, dated at Still River, Dec. 10, 1863, that I received from Eev. John B. Willard : — " I have examined the Registry of Communicants, Baptisms, Marriages, and Deaths in the Church Records [of Harvard, Mass.] for you. They, the records, are very imperfect ; but the results of my inquiries, such as they are, I send you. " Admissions to Harvard Church. — May 29, 1743, Bethiah, wife of William from Bradford. Jan. 27, 1760, Lucy, wife of B. Hutchins. June 6, 1762, Jerusha, wife of William, Jr. "Baptisms. — . . . . Feb. 22, 1761, Simon, son of Benjamin and Lucy. Sept. 20, 1761, Esther, daughter of William and Hepzibah. Jan. 17, 1763, Levi, son of Gordon and Dorothy. March 20, 1763, Abel, son of Gordon and Dorothy. Oct. 23, 1763, Sarah, daughter of William, Jr. Dec. 25, 1763, David, son of William. Aug. 4, 1765, John, son of William, Jr. Sept. 1, 1765, Bethiah, daughter of Gordon arid Dorothy. May 11, 1766, Mehitable, daughter of William. Feb. 14, 1768, Olive, daughter of William, Jr. . . . 10 PREFACE. Harvard, Mass., where his wife became a member of Harvard Church, May 29th of that year. In 1744 a Pew in the meeting-house in Harvard, " situated by and adjoining the pulpit stairs," was sold by John Martyn, of Bolton, to him. 1 My great-grandparents, William and Bethiah Hutchins, had seven children, but it is uncertain "Marriages. — Nov. 16, 1752, Oliver Whitney and Abigail Hutchins. July 7, 1756, Moses Whitney and Elizabeth Hutch- ins. April 5, 1757, Benjamin Hutchins and Lucy Davis. "Deaths. — . . . Oct. 22, 1758, Bethiah, wife of William. Jan. 7, 1761, Ephraim, son of Gordon and Dorothy, aged three years. Sept. 4, 1768, infant of Gordon and Dorothy. March 7, 1772, William, of advanced years. . . . " May 21, 1 750, the Harvard meeting-house was seated, and Joseph Hutchins' name stands first on the front seat below ; the position indicating wealth, I suppose." The following is copied from the Town Records of Births in Harvard : — • " Joseph and Sarah Hutchins' children : Lois, born Jan. 22, 1737, o. s. ; John, born Nov. 24, 1739; Sarah, born Nov. 14, 1741 ; Hollis, born March 2, 1744 ; Daniel, born May 12, 1746 ; Sarah, born July 29, 1750; Ann, born June 13, 1752. William and Hepzibah Hutchins' children: Jona- than, born Jan. 26, 1760 ; Esther, born Sept. 10, 1761 ; David, born Nov. 11, 1763 ; Bashemath, born Sept. 7, 1769 ; Eleanor, born Nov. 26, 1771. 1 About twenty-two years subsequently, the pew was as- signed in the mode following : — "Harvard, June 14, 1766. " For value received of Gordon Hutchins and Oliver Whitney, I, William Hutchins of Harvard, by these presents assign over the within-mentioned Pew to them, for their only proper use and Benefit ; to Have and to Hold the same with all the Privileges thereto belonging, as Witness my Hand, " William Hutchins." PREFACE. 11 whether they were all born in Bradford ; an ac- count of them, including the two already men- tioned, is as follows : — 1. Bethiah, who was born Jan. 9, 1725, o. s. 2. Benjamin, born Jan. 11, 1727, o. s., married April 5, 1757, in Harvard, Lucy Davis, who be- came a member of Harvard Church, Jan. 27, 1760; their son Simon, born in that town, Feb. 11, 1761, was baptized Feb. 22 following. Benjamin moved with his family, some time subsequent to 1761, to Putney, Vt. 3. Sarah. She married in Harvard, Dec. 19, 1752, Joseph Atherton, 1 of that town, who died Dec. 5, 1789, aged 60 years ; she deceased March 27, 1813, aged 86 years. Their son, David, was born, lived, and died in that part of Harvard known as South Still River. He fell from a tree, in 1805, 1 Rev. John B. Willard, of Harvard, (his residence being in that part of it called Still River,} is their great-grandson. To him I am indebted for valuable information. Joshua Atherton, of Amherst, N. H., was born at Harvard, in 1 737, but I am unable to say what his kindred by birth was to Joseph, mentioned in the text. He graduated at Harvard University, in 1762. He was a law-student of Abel Willard and of James Putnam, and took the oath of an attorney, in 1779. His business became extensive, and he was often the leading counsel in the trial of important cases. He was a member of the Convention for the adoption of the Federal Constitution, and, subsequently, was elected to the House and Senate of New Hampshire. In 1793 he was appointed At- torney-General of that State. He died, April, 1809, in his seventy-third year. The late Hon. Charles G. Atherton, of New Hampshire, was his grandson. 12 PREFACE. receiving a spinal injury which confined him to his chair till his death. He died about the year 1830, not far from 70 years of age. 4. Abigail. She married, Nov. 28, 1752, Dea- con Oliver Whitney, of Harvard, where they dwelt ; they had no children. 5. Elizabeth. She married in Harvard, July 7, 1756, Moses Whitney ; they moved to Templeton, Mass., where they died some time previous to 1825. 6. Gordon, my grandfather, of whom a particu- lar account is given in this work, was born, accord- ing to reliable information I have received, in 1733, at Exeter, N. H., but its Town Records of Births contain nothing in confirmation of the same. He, it is said, was named for a family who lived in Exe- ter, by the name of Gordon, and who presented the infant with a cradle, — an indispensable household article in former years. In Harvard, Mass., he married Dolly or Dorothy Stone; 1 they had 1 In the records (embracing a period of time from 1732 to 1802) of Births, Marriages, and Deaths, in the Stone family, furnished me by the Town Clerk of Harvard, I do not find this marriage mentioned, nor any account of Dolly's father and mother, Ephraim and Dorothy Stone. I have referred to her parentage in a subsequent note. See Ch. I. Amont* the marriages are the following : " Abram Carleton, of Lunenbun* and Eunice Willard, of Harvard, April 30, 1770; Joel Cut- ting, of Fitchburg, and Eunice Carleton, of Harvard, Feb. 23 1797. From Dr. J. G. Palfrey's " History of New England " I learn, that in 1633, "three famous divines, Thomas Hooker Samuel Stone, and John Cotton, arrived at Boston from Eng- land." The said Samuel went to Newtown, (now Cambridge ) PREFACE. 13 eleven children ; an account of eight of them is as follows : — 1. Ephraim, born Jan. 16, 1758, died Jan. 7, 1761 ; 2. Levi, my father, born Aug. 17, 1761, was baptized Jan. 17, 1763 ; 3. Abel, born March 16, 1763, was baptized on the 20th day following ; 4. Bethiah, born Aug. 29, 1765, was baptized Sept. 1, following ; 5. Infant, born , died Sept. 4, 1768 ; 6. Ezra, born May 26, 1770 ; 7. Pamelia, born July 31, 1772 ; 8. Matilda, born Sept. 11, 1777. The first six were born in Harvard, Mass., and the last two in Concord, N. H. It is believed by some of Gordon's descendants, that he, when a boy, accompanied his father in one of the expeditions sent against the French in Can- ada, on account of their "encroachments upon the frontiers of the colonies in America belonging to the English Crown." 1 Gordon used to relate in- cidents respecting his hardships in going up the Kennebec River to Canada. The account given of him in the "Autobiography," shows that he rendered his country some aid in the achievement of her Independence. Mass., and was chosen to be a teacher of a church established there. l The rolls that bore the names of the men who went from Rowley, for the reduction of Canada, cannot be found. A Jeremiah Hutchins belonged to a military company of Row- ley, that performed duty at Lake George and vicinity, in 1 755. I have made efforts to ascertain the names of the men who went from Harvard, in one of these expeditions, but without success. 14 PREFACE. 7. William, Jr. He married Jerusha , who became a member of Harvard Church, June 6, 1762. Their children, born and baptized in Harvard, were as follows : 1. Molly, who was born Jan. 4, 1761; 2. Sarah, born Oct. 20, 1763, was baptized Oct. 23, following ; 3. John, born Aug. 4, 1765, was bap- tized Oct. 4, following ; 4. Olive, born , was baptized Feb. 14, 1768. He enlisted in the Amer- ican army of the Revolution, and while stationed somewhere in Vermont, in helping to take care of his fellow-soldiers who were afflicted by the small-pox, died a victim to its ravages. 1 In Saf- fell's " Records," &c, is the following : " William Hutchins was commissioned Nov. 8, 1776, as Lieu- tenant in Captain Farwell's Company, of Colonel Joseph Cilley's New Hampshire Regiment." The foregoing genealogical accounts may, at least, be of some service in aiding my friends who desire to make further inquiries relative thereto. " Were the genealogy of every family preserved, there would probably be no man valued or despised on account of his birth." s. H. Cambridge, Mass., 1864. 1 The following is a copy of a receipt preserved among his brother Gordon's papers : — " Harvard, Feb. 24, 1766. " Rece'd of Gordon Hutchins Ten Pound, thirteen & four, in full of all accounts Due from William Hutchins, Jr. Per me, Elias Haskill." AUTOBIOGRAPHY. CHAPTER I. INTRODUCTORY, ETC. IT has been wisely said, that, " if we have expe- rience, any brother has a right to come to us and say, Put your experience, as a bridge, over that stream which I must cross. I want timber there to walk on." While a man is making preparation for a voyage round the world, he provides things that will enable him to pass through all latitudes, and to successfully encounter a variety of obstacles. I, Levi Hutchins, started on the journey of life ninety- two years ago, and have triumphed over many diffi- culties that encompassed me as I passed along. My place of residence is now in West Concord, N. H., a village built upon an uneven surface of ground on either side of the main road, over which many wagons, loaded with goods, formerly passed daily to and from Boston. From this another road, in the central part of the village, branches off westward. On the south side of the latter, and about twelve 16 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF LEVI HUTCHINS. rods from the former, is situated my house. The remains of my wife and of four of our children sleep in the dust. But I am not all alone. My daugh- ter Anna is always at home here ; the rest of my surviving children, residing in different places, and also many of our friends, occasionally visit us. Ephraim 1 Hutchins, my grandfather, and Gordon and Dolly, my father and mother, dwelt in Harvard, Mass., at the time, and for several years before and after, I was born, Aug. 17, 1761. My grandmother 2 died in that town a number of years before this time. Of my grandfather, 3 parents, and five of my broth- ers and sisters, Abel, Bethiah, Ezra, Pamelia, and Matilda, as well as of other persons, and also of places, &c, I propose to give some account in this narrative or memoir of my life. My grandfather was a farmer, and also carried on the potash-making business in Harvard. Though a longtime has elapsed since I saw him, yet I have not forgotten his venerable appearance, nor all the little 1 William, and not Ephraim, was his grandfather's Christian name, as is evident from what is stated respecting it in the Preface and subsequent notes. This error has been general among Gordon's descendants. 2 She died in Harvard, Oct. 22, 1758, aged about 59 years and 7 months. 3 From what I have learned respecting the time of his de- cease, I infer it to be March 7, 1772. (See ante, Harvard Church Records of Deaths.) He was living April 26, 1771, as appears from a receipt of this date contained in a note in- serted in this chapter. AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF LEVI HUTCHINS. 17 incidents that transpired in that town during the first ten years of my life which I passed there. Once I saw him perform a ludicrous act, the re- membrance of which has often caused me to smile. For the want at the moment of a more convenient instrument, he caught up a pair of huge shears, and with them cut off a portion of his exuberant beard ! One day, in my presence, two young men, employed by him, threw a live, striped snake into the boiling contents of a potash-kettle ; they seemed to enjoy the sight of what they had done, but I regarded their act as shamefully cruel. While at church, one Sunday, I left our family-pew to sit with some boys on the stairs ; but my father, on seeing me so situated, shook his head. Noticing his sign of displeasure at my removal, I resumed my seat in the pew, but he, thinking I did wrong in leaving it, corrected me at home. In his old age, my grandfather's farm and other business affairs were managed by my father. 1 As 1 He gave him a bond, showing that " Gordon Hutchins hath taken a lease of the above-named William Hutchins, of all the Land and Buildings which he is in possession of in Harvard ; ... to Deliver to the said William Thirty Bushels of good Indian Corn, at two several times, yearly; . . . Ten Bushels of Bye, . . . Three Bushels of Wheat, . . . One Bushel and a half of Beans ; . . . to let the said William have and peaceably enjoy the whole of the South pasture ; to keep one Horse, three Cows, two young cattle, six Sheep ; to have one half of all the Apples and Cider ; ... to have one half of all the fruit that grows on the trees of his land ; and the 2 18 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OP LEVI HUTCHINS. frugality of habits and simplicity of manners char- acterized the earlier settlers of New England, it faid Gordon to cut and bring to the house twelve cords of Wood, and more, if necessary, for the said William. He, the said Gordon, to find land fit to sow ten quarts of Flax-seed on, and to pay two thirds of the rates of said farm," &c. This bond is "dated the first day of April, Anno Domini 1763, and in the Third year of His Majesty's Reign," &c. It is signed by Gordon Hutchins, in presence of Oliver Stone and Israel Taylor. On the back of it are these words : " A Bond from Gordon Hutchins to his Father." The two following receipts may not, partly on account of their age, be deemed unworthy of record : — " Harvard, May 1st, 1 764. ''■ Rece'd of Gordon Hutchins, in full of one year's Dowry, that is mentioned in a Bond, dated April the first, 1763, that I have against the said Gordon. I say Rece'd by me, " William Hutchins." " Boston, June 11, 1767. " Received of Mr. Gordon Hutchins, Constable of Harvard, for 1766, £33 is., for Mr. Treasurer Gray. " Per Benjamin Gray." The Christian name of this " Mr. Treasurer Gray " was Harrison. He was Receiver-General of Massachusetts, and very exemplary in private life, but accused of being on both sides in politics, according as he met Whig or Tory. It was said of him : — " What Puritan could ever pray In godlier tones than Treasurer Gray ; Or at town-meetings speechifying, Could utter more melodious whine, And shut his eyes, and vent his moan, Like owl afflicted in the sun ? " Harrison Gray Otis, a distinguished statesman, who died at Boston, in 1849, aged 84 years, was his grandson. AuTOBIOGKAPHY OF LEVI HUTCHINS. 19 is not singular that, a century ago, the inhabitants of Harvard (believing, no doubt, that " silks and satins, scarlet and velvets put out the kitchen- In a preceding note, (see page 12,) I made mention of Dolly Stone's parentage, &o. From a document in my possession, I infer that her parents' names were Ephraim and Dorothy Stone. On the back of it is written, " Gordon Hutchins' Bond to his father Stone." It is dated at Harvard, on the 9th day of June, 1768, signed in presence of Charles and Israel Taylor, and shows, that " Gordon Hutchins hath this day Taken possession of the Lands and Buildings of the above-named Ephraim Stone that he owns in Harvard. . . . and when the said Ephraim shall think Best to return home to said farm, he shall have the Privilege of one half of the dwelling-house . . . during the natural Life of the said Ephraim and Dorothy Stone, his wife." In a bill of debt and credit, headed, " Mr. Gordon Hutchins in account with Joseph Domet," dated at Boston, July 5, 1769, is the following entry: "By half charges upon 16 cwt. 1 qr. 22 lbs. of Potash, made at the Works in Harvard, belonging to G. Hutchins and J. Domet." By this bill, it appears, that, subsequently to taking a lease of his father's farm, Gordon, with Mr. Domet, purchased the said Works of him, and carried them on in partnership. Not a vestige of them now remains. They stood on land on the south side of the road from Still River Village to its depot. The spot is near some pasture bars and is now marked by a willow-tree. Gordon's father was probably about 76 years and 2 months old when he signed the following receipt : — "Harvard, April 26, 1771. " Received of Gordon Hutchins the full of the Dowry that was due to me from him, for the last two years. WsfczCZw MpitdivJ 20 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF LEVI HUTCHINS. fire") did not dress in broadcloths and fine silks. My mother wore, in that town, a dress made of wool and flax, embellished with a checked apron, all spun and woven by herself ; and the cloth worn by my father was of her manufacture. 1 Although he had a plenty of room for hens, yet he would not keep them. My brother Abel and I having a great desire to eat some poached eggs, but not having the opportunity, my mother determined to gratify us with an agreeable surprise. Accordingly, she procured a large number of hens' eggs and poached as many of them as we could possibly eat for sup- per. To "settle" our hearty meal, that we might go comfortably to bed, Abel and I went out of doors and exercised our bodies by wrestling. Soon after this affair, my father provided means for us to ex- l About sixty-five years ago, an account was given of the style of dress, &c, of the people of Tamworth, N. H., assem- bled at an ordination. "The men," it was said, "looked happy, rugged, and fearless. Their trousers came down to about half-way between the knee and ankle ; the coats were mostly short, and of nameless shapes ; many wore slouched hats, and many more were shoeless. The women looked ruddy, and as though they loved their husbands. Their clothing was all of domestic manufacture. Every woman had a linen apron, and carried a clean linen handkerchief. Their bonnets ! — well, I cannot describe them ; I leave them to vour imagination." Old times are passed, old manners gone And " time is ever on the wine ; " Old hats and bonnets now are worn, And sell for prices they will brino-. AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF LEVI HTJTCHINS. 21 ercise ourselves in a more useful manner. Holding two new axes in his hands, he thus addressed me : — " Levi, I bought these axes for you and your brother Abel ; you being older than he may have the choice of them. Both of you are old enough to cut wood, and I want you to help me in so doing.' 1 '' The axes were nearly alike, and surely we caused them to cut much wood for the big fireplace in our house. But unfortunately I cut my left knee with mine, and the wound was a long time healing ; in- deed I have felt, at different times, the effects of it since the days of my boyhood. While at our work, Abel and I wore sheep-skin aprons, this be- ing the common appendage to boys' as well as men's working dress during my early years in Harvard. CHAPTER II. MY FATHER MOVES TO CONCOKD, N. H. — COMMENCES STORE-KEEPING. — OUR REVOLUTIONARY SERVICES, EM- BRACING MEMORANDA OF VARIOUS INCIDENTS. IN the summer of 1772, 1 then being about eleven years old, my father moved from Harvard, Mass., to Concord, N. H., where he bought land and buildings, and commenced store-keeping, 1 in which business I assisted him, and had an opportu- nity of seeing and knowing nearly all the inhabi- tants of the town, among whom was Captain Henry Lovejoy, one of its first settlers. Our store and house occupied the ground where is now located Norris' bakery. In that house, when I was about 1 It appears by his papers that he had a partner in this business, for a few months, a number of them being signed (yn? One of their bills of goods was dated at Concord, Sept. 21, 1772. A letter, respecting "Our Method of Trade," dated at Haverhill, Mass., Nov. 11, 1773, is superscribed, "Mr. Gordon Hutchins, Merchant, Concord, N. H." AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF LEVI HUTCHINS. 23 twelve years of age, I had a fever, the first and only sickness (except a slight attack of the small- pox which I had in Mendon) that I remember of having until about four years ago, when I felt the effects of a paralytic shock. In regard to the fever, I would observe that the medicines of doctors were freely given me ; water I was not allowed to drink. One night, however, when left alone, I resolved to have some of the pure fluid of our well, be the consequences what they might. Though very weak, I arose, wrapped some clothes around me, and with some difficulty arrived at the well, where I obtained water and drank till my burning thirst was quenched. Back I proceeded with redoubled strength to my bed. I soon enjoyed the blessing of sleep, and late in the morning awoke- — -almost well. A speedy return of health was the consequence of thus gratifying my desire for water. Immediately after hearing the news of the trag- ical affair which transpired on the 19th of April, 1775, " when the curtain rose on that mighty drama in the world's history, of which the quiet villages of Lexington and Concord were the appointed the- atre," my father repaired to Exeter, N. EL, to have an interview with the Committee of Safety. The result was that he received a Captain's Commis- sion. With much despatch he returned to Con- cord, and raised and organized a Company of men who enlisted for six months ; but as they were re- 24 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF LEVI HUTOHINS. quired to march without delay to Medford, Mass., he engaged to supply their families, on credit, with a certain quantity of provisions from his store. All preliminary matters being arranged in haste, he, at my request, gave me leave to accompany him and his soldiers to Medford, where we arrived in the early part of May, and remained till the evening preceding the battle of Bunker Hill. 1 His Com- pany and two others from Concord and neighboring towns were in the Regiment commanded by Colo- nel John Stark. 2 My father and his Company 3 were among the number of Americans who fought against the British in that memorable engagement, 1 On the evening of the 16th of June, 1775, " a detach- ment of one thousand Americans was ordered to make an intrenchment on Bunker's Hill, but by some mistake they proceeded to Breed's Hill, and by the dawn of day had thrown up a redoubt eight rods square and four feet high. " The battle, it is well known, was fought on Breed's and not Bunker's Hill. 2 He sent him the following request : — "Medford, May 21st, 1775. " Capt. Gordon Hutchins : You are requested to send a Subaltern and fifteen Men to relieve the Piquet Guard, at 9 o'clock to-morrow morning. You are first to parade be- fore the New Hampshire Chamber. "John Stark, Col." 3 The following were the names of some of the men be- longing to it : Daniel Livermore, Ensign ; Benjamin Abbott, Sergeant ; Simeon Danforth, Corporal ; Michael Flanders, Drummer ; William Walker, Robert Livingston, Isaac John- son, Abraham Kimball, Thomas Chandler, Joseph Grace Peter Johnston, Samuel Straw, and Ezra Badger. AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF LEVI HUTCHINS. 25 and in which he was wounded. I desired to go with him into the battle, but he advised me to do otherwise. In compliance with his earnest request, I retired to the highlands of Medford, saw therefrom the burning of Charlestown, 1 and the desperate fight, and although seventy-eight years have elapsed, yet I retain a vivid remembrance of the terrible scene ! Soon after the battle, my father and his Com- pany, including myself, marched to Winter Hill, where be was stationed until the end of the year. 2 On the following day after our arrival there, while we were all sitting on the ground intently convers- 1 " Charlestown, one of the earliest settlements of the Pu- ritans in New England, a handsome and flourishing village, containing about four hundred houses, built chiefly of wood, was [ by the British] enveloped in a blaze of destruction. . . . The conflagration added a horrid grandeur to the interesting scene that was now unfolding to the eyes of a countless mul- titude of spectators, who, thronging all the heights of Boston and its neighborhood, awaited, with throbbing hearts, the approaching battle." — Grahame. 2 The following Order, Complaint, Receipts, &c, are of some importance as being relics of an early period of the Revolutionary War : — "Medford, June 27, 1775. " Capt. Gordon Hutchins, Lieut. Thomas McLaughlin, Lieut. Ebene'r Frye, Lieut. Hardy, and Ensign McCary : You together are required to meet at the New Hampshire Chamber, forthwith, upon a Court-Martial to determine upon Complaints exhibited against Thomas Clarke, which, with the prisoner, shall be immediately brought before you. Capt. Hutchins is appointed President. "John Stark, Col." 26 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF LEVI HUTCHINS. ing upon what we had so lately seen and heard, my father ordered Ensign Livermore out on sentry duty. He was sitting with his loaded gun across his lap, and, in rising, took hold of his gun in a way to cause its discharge, and the bullet was " Camp on Winter Hill, Sept. ilk, 17 75. " To the Honorable Brigadier-General Sulli- van : Humbly shews your Complainant, Gordon Hutohins, Capt, That Col. Stark, in whose Regiment I had the honor of being First Captain, by the last settlement of the Rank of Officers in the American Army, refuses to allow me my Rank in said Regiment, and, contrary to the Regulations of Rank now observed, compels me to take the Fifth Captain's Place : Therefore your Complainant Prays your Honor would in- terpose your Authority in behalf of your Complainant, and order Col. Stark to allow me to take Place according to my Rank as First Captain, or represent the Treatment I have met with from said Col. to His Excellency General Washing- ton, or otherwise order or do Herein as to your Honor shall seem meet ; and your Petitioner, as in duty bound, will ever Pray, &c. Gordon Hutchins, Capt." " Camp on Winter Hill, 21 Sept., 1775. " Rece'd of Capt. Gordon Hutchins two Pounds in money, which is one month's wages. Per William Darling." " Winter Hill, 19 Oct., 1775. " Rece'd of Capt. Gordon Hutchins one Pound four shil- lings in lieu of a Coat for a uniform, Promised by the New Hampshire Congress. Per John Gordon." " Abstract of one month's pay, for Capt. Gordon Hutchins' Company, in Col. John Stark's Reg't, from the first of Octo- ber to the first of November, 1775 : 1 Captain, £6 ; 1 Lieut., £4; 1 Ensign, £3; 4 Sergeants, at 48s., £9 12s. ; 4 Corpo- rals, at 44s., £8 16s.; a Drummer and Fifer, at 44s., £4 8s.- 42 Privates, at 40s., £84. Total, £119 16s." AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF LEVI HUTCHINS. 27 lodged in the body of a soldier by the name of Danforth, of Boscawen, N. H., who soon after- wards died. Poor Danforth, I heard his last moan ! I served under my father as a fifer from April (1775) to September following, w.hen I enlisted in Captain Lewis' Company, in Colonel Varnum's Regiment, under General Greene. Having entered into this engagement, I obtained leave to make a visit at Concord, N. H., where I sojourned a few days, passing the greater part of the time with my mother. I then went to Cambridge, there joined the Company to which I belonged, and was immedi- ately favored by being taken into the " Captain's Mess," composed of General Greene, Captain Gouge, and other officers. I soon became acquainted with a young fellow-soldier, who was a brother of Gen- eral Greene's wife. Unluckily, however, my new companion was very much disposed to borrow things without making a punctual return of them. Among other things that he borroived of me was a ruffled shirt, and in order to recover the article I was obliged to complain of him to an officer. The shirt was returned to me, but my gay friend left the army. In the spring of 1776, after the evacuation of Boston, General Washington, anxious for the safe- ty of New York, ordered the greater part of the American Army to march there ; to which place he also repaired, arriving there a few days in advance of the divisions of the army. The Company to 28 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF LEVI HUTCHTNS. which I belonged composed a part of these troops. General Washington, anticipating that the enemy under General Howe intended to reach New York across Long Island, had the precaution to post a body of troops at Brooklyn ; here I was stationed for a while. During this time, my fellow-soldiers and I desired to obtain something to eat besides the salt provisions supplied by Government. With this end in view, we went one day to a pond near by, and obtained from it a quantity of clams and oysters. It proved, however, that they were pri- vate property, and had been planted in a cove. The owner, seeing us in the act of appropriating his property to our use, made a complaint against us. On returning to our quarters with our booty, we were arrested by police officers, who compelled us to carry it back. Having obeyed the command, we were sent for a short time to the guard-house, which ended the whole matter. This was the only punishment I received while with the army ; but truth compels me to add, that my comrades and I often helped ourselves to musk and water-melons that grew in profusion on patches of ground in Brooklyn. At length our Regiment was posted at Red Hook, 1 where we remained until after the defeat 1 An American officer, Lieutenant Samuel Shaw, wrote (June 11, 1776) to his father as follows: — ..." I am now stationed at Red Hook, about four miles from New York. It is an island, situated in such a manner AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF LEVI HUTCHINS. 29 of the Americans in the battle of Long Island. 1 I saw the flashes and heard the reports of the guns all the time the battle lasted, and was as desirous to be engaged in this battle as in that of Bunker Hill ; but one cause kept me out of the latter, and another removed me from the former. Although our troops were defeated on Long Island, yet they accomplished a famous retreat therefrom across East River, in boats, to New York, where they landed early in the morning of August 30th, 1776. For- merly it was rather dangerous to cross this river in boats from New York to Brooklyn. 2 It is now a as to command the entrance of the harbor entirely, where we have a fort with four eighteen-pounders, to fire en barbette, that is, over the top of the works, which is vastly better than firing through embrasures, as we can bring all our guns to bear on the same object at once. The fort is named Defiance. Should the enemy's fleet make an attempt, they will, I think, be annoyed by it exceedingly. It is thought to be one of the most important posts we have." . . . 1 The number of our troops engaged in the action, inexpe- rienced in military service as most of them were, was only five thousand. They were opposed by troops well disciplined and numbering three times as many. 2 It appears from an authentic account of the New York Ferries, lately published in the New York " Sunday Times," that, in 1652, a ferry from that city to Breukelen was estab- lished by private individuals, and, in 1684, this ferry-right came into the possession of the city. " There were then no accommodations, such as ferry-houses, &c, and the boats were oar-barges for foot-passengers, and sprit-sail boats for horses and carriages. The passage across the East River, at that day, was frequently more formidable than is now a voyage to 30 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OP LEVI HTJTCHINS. pleasant trip in a steamboat between the two cities. I have been in New York twice within the last ten years, and at both times saw some things that re- minded me of the days I passed there when about fifteen years old. The city, Avhich in 1776 had 22,000 inhabitants, now has a population of over 800,000. I have also visited Cambridge, Mass., of- ten, of late years, and each time have seen the now renowned elm-tree, and the house 1 which was once occupied as General Washington's head-quarters. Europe. The river between the New York and Long Island shores was then much wider than it is now. The practice of docking out has been carried to such an extent, on both sides, that the width of the stream is reduced about one third." In 1699, a new brick ferry-house was erected on the Long Island side, two stories in height. In 1717, two ferries were estab- lished. In 1754, the old ferries were broken up and three new ones established, the leases being sold separately and to different parties. In 1814, a horse-boat was put upon the ferry, and afterwards, in the same year, the first steamboat. In consequence of the expense of steam navigation, horse- boats were again introduced on this ferry, but, in 1824, the way was opened for the use of steamboats again. 1 It is one of two large houses built, some time before 1747, by Colonel John Vassal, of French origin, whose ancestors were among the original patentees of Massachusetts. The estates of the Vassal family were confiscated and became successively the residence of Andrew Cragie, Esq., and of his relict, the late Madam Cragie, of Joseph E. Worcester, LL. D., the lexicographer, and, lastly, the home of the poet Longfellow, who, in his " Hyperion, a Romance," says : — " It is no longer day. Through the trees rises the red moon, and the stars are scarcely seen. In the vast shadow of ni 6s. 6d. AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF LEVI HUTCHINS. 33 My father fought in the battle of White Plains, 1 which took place between the American and Brit- ish troops, on the 28th day of October, 1776. 1 The two following paragraphs are extracts relating to this battle, from two letters of Lieutenant Shaw, both of which he wrote to his father from White Plains, one two days be- fore, the other three days after, the battle : — " We shall remain at this place till we have a brush with the enemy. They are within three miles of us. Their move- ments have been such as to occasion us a great deal of trouble, and it is happy for us that they did not effect our ruin. . . . We have constantly beaten the enemy, in several skir- mishes." . . . " On Monday the enemy appeared in sight, keeping on as though they intended to carry all before them. Our troops were prepared to receive them, when, instead of making a general attack, as was expected, Howe marched the larger part of his army to the right, where we had a brigade advan- tageously posted on the hill, which commanded our camp. He carried it, being seven or eight times superior in numbers to our party there, before we could reinforce it. Deserters say the enemy had four hundred killed and wounded; on our part about one hundred and thirty." . . . There are many documents preserved among my grand- father's (Colonel Gordon Hutchins') papers, that I intended to print in an Appendix to this work, instead of inserting them as notes, on account of their little importance. Of this kind are the four following : — " Camp at North Castle, Dec. 1st, 1776. " The troops at this post, belonging to Col. Baldwin's Reg't of New Hampshire, now under the immediate command of Lieut.-Col. Gordon Hutchins, having honorably served the full time they engaged for, are discharged from further ser- vice in the Army. With the thanks of General Spencer and by his Order. Wm. Peck, Aid-de-Camp." 34 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF LEVI HUTCHINS. At a parish meeting 1 held in Concord, N. H., on the 4th of March, 1777, " Col. Gordon Hutchins " Concord, N. H., Dec. 18th, 1776. " To all Persons whom it may concern : Permit the Bearer, Col. Gordon Hutchins, to Pass and repass in any of the United States of America, and to purchase Two Hundred Sheep, and bring them to the State of New Hampshire. " Timothy Walker, Jr., Richard Herbert, Thomas Stickney, " Committee of Correspondence and " Inspection for Concord, N. H." " State of New Hampshire, June 1th, 1777. " To Col. Gordon Hutchins : Pursuant to a Vote of Council and Assembly, you are hereby appointed to proceed immediately to Newbury, or Boxford, or any other place in the vicinity of those towns, in the State of Massachusetts Bay, in order to apprehend Col. Asa Porter, if he can be found there, he having lately made his escape from Justice in this State. And you are directed to apply to some Magistrate, in that State, to procure a Warrant and an Officer to seize and bring him to the Line dividing the States ; from whence you are hereby authorized to receive and bring him to Exe- ter, there to wait the Order of the General Assembly con- cerning him. M. Wbare, President." "Exeter, June ye 16th, 1777. " Received of Col. Gordon Hutchins, of Concord, three five pound State Notes, being part of the Bounty of Hezekiah Swain, a Soldier in Capt. Livermore's Company in the Con- tinental Army, which Note said Hutchins rece'd of Ens. Na- than Hoit to deliver to me. Per Ebenezer Smith." 1 Among other votes passed were the following : — " Voted, That the Committee of Safety be directed to in- struct Col. Gordon Hutchins to apply to the Courts of Judi- AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF LEVI HUTCHINS. 35 was chosen Representative to the Provincial Con- gress held at Exeter." It was fortunate for our country that General Stark was victorious over the British troops in the battle of Bennington. 1 Before stating the particu- lars of what my father did in relation to this battle, it may not be out of place to say, that the territory now known by the name of Concord, N. H., was cature of this State, to dismiss Peter Green, Esq., from all business henceforth and forever. " Voted, That the Committee of Safety be directed to in- struct Col. Gordon Hutchins to apply to Capt. Parker, the Sheriff for the County of Rockingham, to dismiss Mr. Jacob Green from the office of Deputy Sheriff." 1 In July, 1777, General Burgoyne invested and took Ti- conderoga, and, soon after destroying the American flotilla on Lake George, marched his army to Fort Edward, but had to encounter in reaching it the obstacles, consisting of prostrate trees, &c, that General Schuyler's army placed in his way. In the early part of the following month, a detachment of General Burgoyne's army, under Colonel Baum, was sent to Bennington to seize some military stores; but the Colonel, on arriving near that place, was surprised on being informed that American troops were intrenched there ; consequently he despatched a messenger to General Burgoyne for a reinforce- ment. Finally, the famous battle of Bennington, fought on the 16th of August, 1777, between Colonel Baum, command- ing the British forces on the one side, and the American troops consisting of a party of Vermont " Green Mountain Boys," and a detachment of New Hampshire militia, under General Stark, on the other, resulted in the death of Colonel Baum and a total defeat of his forces. The loss of the British was about seven hundred in killed and wounded ; that of the Americans about one hundred. 36 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF LEVI HUTCHINS. called Pennacook, until about the close of 173? when the name of Rumford was given to it. Thirty two years afterward Concord became its name to which was prefixed " City of," in 1853, by th adoption of a city charter. In 1727 a block-house 40 feet by 25, was erected in Pennacook for th purposes of a fort and meeting-house. About thre years subsequently, Rev. Timothy Walker was set tied as minister, and twenty-one years from th' time of his settlement, he had a new meeting house built of white-oak timber, two stories high with its seats ranged on either side of a broac aisle. Within this good edifice he was preach ing one Sunday afternoon, a short time previou to the battle of Bennington, when my father, hav> ing ridden with great speed on horseback fron Exeter, 1 entered and walked up the broad aisl< near to the pulpit. The minister, though earnestly engaged in the delivery of his sermon, noticed tha he appeared to come into the house of worship or extraordinary business, and inquired : — "Is Colonel Hutchins the bearer of any mes- sage ? " " Yes ! " he replied, and added with much am 1 " As soon as it was decided [in the Provincial Congres; held at Exeter] to raise volunteer companies, Col. Hutchin mounted his horse, and, travelling all night with all possibh haste, reached Concord on Sabbath afternoon, from Exeter Col. Hutchins was Representative from Concord." Histon of Concord, by Nathaniel Bouton, D. D. AUTOBIOGRAPHY OP LEVI HUTCHINS. 37 mation, the eyes of all present being directed to- wards him, " General Burgoyne with his army is on his march to Albany ! General Stark has offered to take the command of the New Hampshire men ; AND IF WE ALL TURN OUT WE CAN CUT OFF BuR- goyne's MARCH ! " " My hearers," said the preacher, "those of you who are willing to go had better leave at once." The men forthwith left the meeting-house and showed their readiness to serve their country by promptly enlisting in her cause. A Company was ready to march on the following morning. An- other Company from Concord, under my father's command, marched to Bennington, but did not arrive there in season to engage in the battle. 1 1 On the 1 7th of September, thirty-two days after the bat- tle of Bennington, General Burgoyne and his army encoun- tered in their advance upon Saratoga and Stillwater, the American troops, commanded by General Gates, and a skir- mish ensued. Two days afterward there was another inde- cisive action between the two armies, and on the 7th of Octo- ber following, the battle of Saratoga was fought, resulting in the surrender of General Burgoyne and his army of five thousand seven hundred effective men as prisoners of war. " The -whole British Army has laid down arms at Saratoga ; our sons, full of vigor and courage, expect your orders," &c, were the happy tidings of General Gates despatched to Con- gress, immediately after the victory. In regard to the " obstacles," previously referred to, Fred- eric Reynolds wrote the following lines : — " Burgoyne, alas ! not seeing future fates, Could cut his way thro' woods but not thro' Gates." 38 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF LEVI HUTCHINS. Soon after the battle of Lexington, as before stated, my father raised and organized a Company of men and supplied their families, on credit, with provisions from his store. He realized, however, but a small return in payment for these, mainly on account of a depreciation in the currency. When the paper dollar passed at a reasonable value, my father sold his store, dwelling-house, a lot of land and a cow to Robert Harris, of Concord, N. H. ; but when payment became due, Harris availed him- self of the advantage that the law 1 gave a debtor, and my father did not receive money enough for the whole property to pay for that part of it in- cluded in the house. 2 i In some of the States depreciated bills of credit " were made a tender for the interest, but not for the principal, of former debts ; in New Hampshire if the creditor should re- fuse them when offered in payment, the whole debt was can- celled ! Had this law regarded future contracts only, every man would have known on what terms to make his engage- ments ; but to declare it legal to pay debts already contracted, with money of an inferior value, was altogether unjust ! " 2 " When the army was at Morristown, a man of respect- able standing lived in the neighborhood, who was assiduous in his civilities to Washington, which were kindly received and reciprocated. Unluckily this man paid his debts in the de- preciated currency. Some time afterwards he called at head- quarters, and was introduced as usual to the General's apart- ment, where he was then conversing with some of his officers. He bestowed very little attention upon the visitor. The same thing occurred a second time, when Washington was more re- served than before. This was so different from his customary manner, that Lafayette, who was present on both occasions, AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF LEVI HTJTCHINS. 39 Two of rny neighbors, Lieutenant Robert B. Wilkins and John Elliot, served in the war of the Revolution ; the former was in the battle of Bunker Hill, 1 and in the course of the war served could not help remarking it, and he said, after the man was gone, ' General, this man seems to be much devoted to you, and yet you have scarcely noticed him.' Washington replied, smiling, ' I know I have not been cordial ; I tried hard to be civil, and attempted to speak to him two or three times, but that Continental money stopped my mouth.' " — Sparks' Life of Washington, p. 307. 1 During the battle, suddenly feeling a pain in his right elbow, he said to a fellow-soldier near him, by whom he sup- posed he had been struck, " Hit the enemy with your gun and not me." He soon discovered that he had been hit by a bullet in his elbow. On being told by the surgeon who at- tended him that his arm must be amputated, his reply was, " It shall not be done." " Have you made your peace with God?" inquired the chaplain. "With God," replied Wil- kins, " I have never been at war." He retained possession of his arm ; nevertheless his health was at length restored. In 1 780, when British soldiers committed great outrages in New Jersey, Lieutenant Wilkins was ordered to march at the head of a Company of American soldiers in quest of some of them. Calling one morning at the house of a widow, who was a Tory, living in New Jersey, and very well known to " give aid and comfort to the " British, he inquired of her whether there had been any enemies to our country in her house during the night ? " Wal," replied she, " there maught be and maught n't, I could n't say." After asking his ques- tion the third time, she invariably giving the same reply, he caused her house and barn to be set on fire, and this enemy's den was burnt to the ground. Lieutenant Wilkins and his Company then proceeded on their march, but were fired upon 40 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF LEVI HUTCHINS. as quartermaster in the detachment commanded by General Lafayette. He died August, 1832, aged 77 years. Elliot often had a great deal to say about the "Jarseys" in general, and of "Tren- town" and "Princetown" in particular. He died Dec. 2, 1842, aged 87 years. by a party of British soldiers from behind a fence. A fight between the two parties ensued, but the Yankees gained the victory. " The name of Yankee," said John Quincy Adams, "sometimes given to the people of New England in derision, was, in its origin, but the Indian pronunciation of the word English; and, whoever may at anytime incline to couple it ■with a sarcasm or a sneer, it is the genuine represen- tative OP many of the noblest qualities that ele- vate AND ADORN THE HUMAN CHARACTER." CHAPTER III. THE DEATH OF MY MOTHER. — MY ACADEMICAL CAREER. FATHER'S AND MY NAUTICAL ADVENTURE. — LIEU- TENANT CHARITY LUND AND FAMILY. — FATHER'S SEC- OND MARRIAGE. — HIS REMOVALS. — BROTHER ABEL'S AND MY APPRENTICESHIP. — SIMON WILLARD. — I ES- TABLISH THE CLOCK-MAKING BUSINESS IN CONCORD, MAIN VILLAGE. — JOHN STEVENS. MY mother died in Concord, N. H., Dec. 17, 1777, aged 41 years, when I was about six- teen years old, — an age when a child fully realizes such an irreparable loss. My father was absent from home when she died, but returned in time to attend the funeral. The words of Cowper, writ- ten on the receipt of his mother's picture, would express my thoughts if I were looking upon my mother's likeness : — " O that those lips had language ! Life has passed With me but roughly since I heard thee last. Those lips are thine — thy own sweet smile I see, The same that oft in childhood solaced me ! " I saw my mother die ! The poet's sentiment expresses my grief on this occasion : — " My mother ! when I learned that thou wast dead, Say, wast thou conscious of the tears I shed ? " 42 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF LEVI HUTOHINS. Seventy-seven years have passed since my mother died. Often have I thought of her during this time. " There were many ties that bound her to life, and she was one to feel those ties most ten- derly, for her heart was open as the day, and re- sponded most quickly to all the calls of friendship and affection. Her home was a happy and cheer- ful one, and she loved its inmates with a wife's and mother's fondness." I had early enjoyed the advantages of attending common schools. Soon after my mother's death, my father placed me at By field Academy for one, and afterward at Andover Academy 1 for two, quar- 1 While there he wrote a letter (directed " To Colonel Gordon Hutchins, at Concord, in New Hampshire, bv the favor of Pomroy Lovejoy,") as follows : — " Andover, June 9th, 1778. " Honored Sir : I have the opportunity to write to let you know that I am well and hope you are the same. I re- ceived your letter on the 6 th inst., and enjoyed a great deal of pleasure in reading it. " On the third day of this month, the house that Mr. Phil- lips dried his powder in was blown up ; he lost about two tons of powder, and three men were killed by the explosion, their legs and arms being blown off. " I should be glad if you will bring me down some thread to half-foot my stockings with, a piece of cloth to mend my blue coat with, and some wafers. I cannot get any wafers here ; Mrs. Phillips has none ; she and all her family are well. I like living here very much. No more at present ; but I remain, your dutiful son, O^/^Vt, ^^U^C^lyC^Vi? AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF LEVI HUTOHINS. 43 ters. Having paid the expenses attendant on my studies, he gave me a second-hand over coat, say- ing:— " LEVI, THIS IS ALL I AM ABLE TO DO EOS YOU ; AND NOW I HAVE GOT ONE PIECE OF ADVICE TO GIVE YOU: IN WHATEVER COMPANY YOU ARE, ALWAYS BE SURE THAT YOU PAY YOUR PART, AND ALWAYS KEEP GOOD COMPANY. IF YOU CANNOT AT FIRST GET INTO GOOD COMPANY, OBTAIN AS GOOD AS YOU DESERVE. WAIT UNTIL YOU DESERVE IT, AND YOU WILL BE SURE TO REACH IT." Thus my father 1 committed me to the rough 1 The following letter, received by him, relates to important worldly affairs : — " Exeter, June 10th, 1778. " Col. Gordon Hutchins : Sir, — After compliments, I would inform you that my Father, and Brother, and one Sis- ter have returned home. They had the Small-Pox lightly. My other sister will be at home on Saturday next. There were 168 members of the present Academical Class, after having the disease slightly, inoculated. Another Class, how large I do not know, enters this week. " Mr. Ward will call on you for 800 Clapboard nails, and 200 Brads, which please send to me, and I will see you satisfied. I suppose I shall be at Concord on Friday after next. The ' Portsmouth ' is taken by the ' Experiment,' 50 guns. The 'Hornet,' built by Capt. Ladd, sent in a small but valuable Prize last night to Portsmouth. Night before last a French 20 Gunship got into Portsmouth. Mumford, the Post, saith that the British Forces are about leaving Phil- adelphia, but for what place they are bound he knows not. Please to give my Compliments to Mr. and Mrs. Hall. From your most Obsequious, most Obedient, and most Humble Servant, Samuel Brooks, Jr." 44 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OP LEVI HUTCHINS. bufferings of the world ; but I have sacredly cher- ished the remembrance of his advice, nay, the very words, as above, which he uttered in imparting it to me. A short time before I left Andover Acad- emy, the Preceptor was asked by a man from Tewksbury, to name one of his best pupils, and my name was the one given him. The man then came to me and asked whether I would like to be a school-teacher ? " Yes, sir, I should," was my re- ply. Consequently I taught school in Tewksbury, and afterward in Pembroke and Ashburnham ; while so employed I enjoyed much happiness in the society of yoiing people. Meantime, I regu- larly attended church, where singing constituted a part of the devotional exercises. I joined with the singers and "discoursed" music on my bass viol; this was worldly joy, and a Presbyterian minister likens sublunary joys to " the songs which peasants sing, full of melodies and sweet airs;" but those who possess another kind of joy, " go to heaven," he says, " not to the voice of a single flute, but to that of a whole band of instruments, discoursing wondrous music." • As every man's time is employed in various avocations, I would incidentally remark, that a let- ter, dated at Camp White Plains, Aug. 28, 1778, addressed to John White, Esq., at Blanchard's, Billerica, and signed J. Blanchard, contains the following words : " Your goodness prompts me to ask the favor of you to assist Col. Gordon AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF LEVI HuTCHINS. 45 Hutchins, the bearer, in purchasing a small parcel of goods, which are to be brought on to this place, to such amount as you and he shall think proper. Col. Hutchins 1 will produce the money for the purpose, also for your trouble." In 1779, my father and I shipped on board of a privateer, the " Hector," and, during our con- 1 The following letter, which he received, is tinctured with an allusion to matrimony : — "Redding, 21 December, 1778. "Col. Gordon Hutchins: Dear Sir, — Your not com- ing to the Jerseys, as we talked of, made me Conjecture something unfavorable had Happened. I wrote you sundry short Letters, importing that I was well and stood ready to Execute any matters that you should request me to. But not hearing from you, I feared that your Letters and mine were Miscarried. I preserved a general silence in regard to my affairs, and Impatiently waited your Determination. But the increasing Confusion of the Times made me Think that you had Concluded not to Come here. I shall go to the Jerseys in a few days (if there is a possibility to Secure the Lands and Stores we talked of) and do myself the pleasure to call and see Mrs. Niell. I was told that You were settling a family Compact with a Lady of Merrimac. If this should be the case, I shall Reasonably suppose that it will be Advanta- geous to You and the Lady, and that it will, perhaps, Divert your attention from this way. I am now Paymaster, and shall continue to be for a while, but Hope there will be no Occasion for my services as Paymaster longer than next Spring or next Fall, at farthest. I most Earnestly Bequest you to write to me by every Opportunity, then perhaps some of your Letters will Beach me. I am in haste and write at Kandom, but am, with Affection, your Friend and Humble Servant, James Blanchard." 46 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF LEVI HUTCHINS. tinuance in this vessel, I 1 officiated in the capacity of Doctor's Mate. We sailed from Salem, Mass., to the Penobscot River, near the mouth of which we dropped anchor. While lying off there we were informed of matters relative to privateering not advantageous to us. Soon afterward we saw English armed vessels pretty near us, and, not be- ing in a condition to encounter a superior force, we sailed, pursued by our foe, up the river to the place where the city of Bangor is now located, though at that time there were but few buildings there ; in 1772 the settlement contained but twelve families. At Bangor we disembarked from and blew up 2 our vessel ! Then we escaped to the summit of an 1 The following is an extract from a letter that he wrote to his father respecting this cruise : — " Pembroke, 10th, 1779. " Honored Sir : I want to know whether I can go as Doctor's Mate, or Captain's Clerk ? If you think I can go in either capacity, I should be very glad if you will send me a line about it. . . . Be so kind as to inform me how many shares a Clerk draws, if it will not be too much trouble to you. I send you, by Mr. Wait, your saddle-bags. ... I re- main, your most dutiful son, t^lSZs » • " Concord, Nov. 12th, 1788. " Honored Sir : I wish you would call on Esq. Dow, and ascertain what land of Gen. Peabody's is not disposed of, and if you can obtain 200 acres of good land of him, I hope you will write us word immediately. I shall be up to your house at the time of the first sleighing. Please give my love to Marm. Your dutiful son, j^&2y^ c^^^^y^ <^>2st? 122 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OP LEVI HUTCHINS. Indies. 1 On a part of the land formerly owned by us, immediately in the rear of where our shop stood, is now located a Railroad Passenger Depot, and near it is an extensive Freight Depot. If John Stevens could revisit Concord, he would see that many railroads centre at this Depot, namely : the Concord, the Northern, the Boston, Concord and Montreal, the Concord and Claremont, and the Portsmouth and Concord Railroads. In 1793, my brother Abel and I 2 purchased a farm, situated three miles from this locality, on the western side of Rattlesnake Hill. An honest old gentleman told me that he, when a boy, killed thirteen rattlesnakes one morning, in the month of April, while they were enjoying the warmth of the sun's rays upon a large rock on this hill. Immense 1 " Their clocks [those manufactured by Levi and Abel Hutchins] were noted as good time-keepers, and are still found in many of the old families. Major Timothy Chandler also manufactured excellent clocks, which are seen now and then among the ancient things." — History of Concord, by N. Bouton, D. D. 2 The following extracts from a letter may interest some of the readers of this book : — " Concord, Jan. 9lh, 1793. " Honored Father : ... Be kind enough to call in all the grain, that ;s due to us, immediately, as grain is scarce. I shall be at your house in Kumney soon. If you can get any- thing of Capt. Wells toward clearing your land, please to inform us by letter, as we expect to sell him a clock. ... I am in a very great hurry. Your dutiful son, " Levi Hutchins." AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF LEVI HUTCHINS. 123 quantities of granite have been quarried on this eminence, which is now called " Granite Hill." Indeed, it affords an inexhaustible supply of this material, which is used for building purposes in Concord, Boston, and other cities of our country. My house is situated near the northern base of this hill, which, besides granite, has produced very many chestnut-trees, and these an abundance of fruit. Year succeeded year, and time did not pass heavily with my brother and myself. Our aim was to do our duty in all things, and we enjoyed happiness in the reflection that we strove to regard the best interests of our fellow-beings in all our 1 dealings. In the early part of 1807, we dis- 1 The following document shows their kindness to their mother-in-law : — "KNOW ALL MEN BY THESE PRESENTS: That we, Levi and Abel Hutchins, of Concord, in the County of Rockingham, and State of New Hampshire, Clock-makers, for and in consideration of the sum of One Dollar, together with our natural affection, love, and good will, do demise, grant, and to farm let unto Lucy Hutchins, wife of Colonel Gordon Hutchins, during her natural life, the following arti- cles of Household Furniture, &c, viz. : 1 pair of hand-irons, 1 shovel and one pair of tongs, 1 iron pot, 1 iron kettle, 1 iron teakettle, 1 iron spider, 1 brass warming-pan, 6 common kitchen chairs, 1 large ditto, 1 maple table, 1 pine ditto, 1 desk, 2 trunks, 1 white chest, 1 red ditto, 1 linen wheel, 1 woollen ditto, 1 weaver's loom, 1 large looking-glass, 4 earthen platters, 6 earthen plates, 1 set of cups and saucers, 6 silver teaspoons, 1 block-tin teapot, 1 tea chest, 4 pewter 124 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF LEVI HUTCHINS. solved partnership, and, in dividing our property between ourselves, I received the farm, which we valued at $1500, as a part of my share ; the house, shop, and parcel of land on which they were built, were comprised in Abel's share. All of my children were born in that house, which he continued to occupy until Tuesday, November 25, 1817, when it was consumed by fire. 1 About two years after this event, he erected on its site a first- class hotel, which he conducted for several years. platters, 1 dozen of pewter plates, 7 tin milk pans, 3 bed- steads, 4 feather beds and bedding to the same, 1 Damask silk gown, 2 chintz gowns, 1 russet gown, 1 red broadcloth cloak, 1 black silk cloak, and 1 camblet riding habit. . . . " In testimony whereof we have hereunto set our hands and seals, this 24th day of August, 1799. " Signed, sealed, and delivered in presence of us : — 1 Charles Wells, then one of Daniel Cooledge's appren- tices, made a correct drawing of the house while the devour- ing element was raging inside and out of its third story. AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF LEVI HUTCHINS. 125 In front of it, on a handsome swinging sign, were the words " Phcenix Hotel," and, besides his name, a representation of a phoenix rising amidst flames of fire. After retiring from the manage- ment of this hotel, one of his favorite amusements was the cultivation of his garden, where, one year, he raised a musk-melon four feet two inches long ! Men are regarded as remarkable when industrious and active at the age of seventy-five years, but these qualities were prominently manifested by him for many years after that period of life. 1 In 1808, I exchanged with Eben, son of Josiah Farnum, the hill farm for real estate situated in the then called West Parish, but now West Con- cord Village, at a distance of about two miles from the north end of " The Street." The principal objects that cheered or depressed the spirits of a traveller along the route between the two villages, 1 " On the 1st of January, 1819, he [Mr. Abel Hutchins] opened the Phcenix Hotel, which establishment he ever con- ducted to the entire satisfaction of its guests. In the year 1832, by reason of increasing years, he surrendered his Ho- tel to his son, Ephraim, and retired to his private dwelling on State Street, where he spent the remainder of his life in tran- quillity, cultivating his garden and taking a walk daily, with staff in hand and spectacles on, to the Hotel, for the purpose of meeting old friends, and obtaining the news of the day. Having attached himself to the Whig party, his Hotel became the common boarding-place of the Whig members of the Leg- islature ; but in it all men of all parties and sects received impartial attention and good entertainment." — History of Concord, by N. Bouton, D. D. 126 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OP LEVI HUTCHINS. were a few scattered houses, fertile fields, and gloomy woods. At two places the road through the woods was built across deep gullies. Soon after this exchange of property I moved with my family to the West Parish Village, which contained but a few dwelling-houses beside the one that I had acquired of Eben Farnum, his father having purchased it of Captain Henry Lovejoy, together with all the real estate I received in exchange for the hill farm. This house was two stories high, and contained four spacious rooms beside the attic. Contiguous to the house was a part of a Fort, built for protection against the Indians ! I soon demol- ished all that remained of the ancient fortification, and greatly enlarged the old house. I have heard Lovejoy tell a story to this effect : One evening, while riding alone up the road lead- ing from " The Street " to West Parish Village, he had reason to expect an attack by the Indians. When arrived at the second gully, a truly fearful place, he cried out, as if commanding armed men, '•'•Follow close after me, my comrades, and be ready to fire!" Then making his horse go at full speed, he reached his home in safety. But real danger yet awaited him, for he was obliged to go a con- siderable distance from his house to turn his horse into pasture. Having accomplished this, he pro- ceeded homeward, but had not gone far when he discovered that red men were near him! He then secreted himself, and in a short time a num- AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF LEVI HUTCHINS. 127 ber of Indians 1 passed by near his hiding-place ! The Captain then went home again unharmed. 1 The seven tribes of Indians, of which the one called Pen- nacooh was the most powerful, formerly inhabited the region of the Merrimac. Passaconaway, who nourished prior to 1670, was a famous Pennacook sagamore or sachem. " Now hearken to the words of your father," said he. " I am an old oak that has withstood the storms of more than a hundred winters. Leaves and branches have been stripped from me by the winds and frosts ; my eyes are dim ; my limbs totter ; I must soon fall ! . . . Think, my children of what I say. These meadows the pale faces shall turn with the plough; these forests shall fall by the axe ; the pale faces shall live upon your hunting-grounds, and make their villages upon your fishing-places." . . . " The Bridal of Pennacook" is the title of a poem, by John Greenleaf Whittier, who, in his notes to it, says : — " Winnepurkit, otherwise called George, Sachem of Sau- gus, married a daughter of Passaconaway, the great Penna- cook chieftain, in 1662. The wedding took place at Penna- cook, (now Concord, N. H.,) and the ceremonies closed with a great feast. According to the usages of the chiefs, Passa- conaway ordered a select number of his men to accompany the newly married couple to the dwelling of the husband, where, in turn, there was another great feast. Some time after, the wife of Winnepurkit expressing a desire to visit her father's house, was permitted to go accompanied by a brave escort of her husband's chief men. But when she wished to return, her father sent a messenger to Saugus, in- forming her husband, and asking him to come and take her away. He returned for answer, that he had escorted his wife to her father's house in a style that became a chief, and that now if she wished to return, her father must send her back in the same way. This Passaconaway refused to do, and it is said that here terminated the connection of his daughter with the Saugus chief." 128 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF LEVI HUTCHINS. The land obtained by me of Eben Farnum, as before mentioned, I will designate as plain, orchard, and building, the whole embracing about seventy acres. In the course of several years I bought thirty acres more, lying within a mile of the vil- lage. The " plain " land, located on the east side of the main road, running through the village, and extending from it to the river and partly permeated by a deep hollow, was in a good state of cultiva- tion, except a few acres of the hollow portion, which were covered with large pine-trees ; these I cut down, often working, with stockings only on my feet, on the sides of the hollow, from daylight till after the dew had dried away in the morning. The "orchard" land, extending from the west side of the main road to the road leading by my house, was in a high state of cultivation, and the many apple-trees growing upon it produced yearly a great deal of fruit. On the land termed " building," was the house 1 and dilapidated fort, a large barn, 1 Thirty-five years ago I made an attempt at a description of this dwelling-house, &e., as may be seen in the following extracts : — Qin olb ittansionrn, etc. Upon a gentle, sloping hill, Near by a busy sawing-mill, Stands an ancient mansion ; And close to it there stood of old, As oft my father hath me told, A fort for protection. For Indians there did prowl around, And raise their war-whoop's awful sound, AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF LEVI HUTCHINS. 129 wood-shed, and saw-mill ; the latter being situa- ted, near the dwelling-house, on a brook issuing from Long Pond, 1 which lies in a westerly direction, Regardless of their fate ; Regardless of a Captain bold, — Of Captain Lovejoy, as I 'm told, — A man not small but " Great." If in this house you go up-stairs, You '11 see a room that needs repairs, — TV " Old Chamber ",is its name ; — But from this room, when fields are green, Much that is pleasant may be seen, Though little known to fame. Though " time is ever on the wing," " There is a time for ev'ry thing ; " But all things pass away ! E'en thou, old mansion, soon or late, Wilt be remov'd by common fate, When thou hast had thy day. 1 " Long Pond is a beautiful sheet of water, in the west part of the town, one mile and three fourths in length, half a mile in the widest part, and its mean or average width 75| rods. As lately surveyed by George Abbot, Esq., it contains an area of two hundred and sixty-five acres. Its greatest depth, as measured by Keuben K. Abbot, in the summer of 1852, was eighty-four feet. Fed by streams that gush from neighboring hills, the water in the Pond is cool, pure, clear as crystal, and abounds with perch and pickerel, whose color is bright and sparkling. Only one trout was ever caught in this Pond; it weighed about five pounds. From the north end issues a never-failing stream, that affords valuable mill privi- leges. It is said that no person was ever drowned in this Pond." — History of Concord, by N. Bouton, D. D. 9 130 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF LEVI HUTCHINS. about a mile distant from the mill, and is surrounded by high and low land diversified by trees, farms, and buildings, — the whole scenery affording a very romantic and pleasant appearance. Formerly, this Pond being shallow, a Mr. Flanders undertook to " plough it out," but he was so laughed at and ridi- culed that he finally abandoned his foolish enter- prise. At the north end, Captain Lovejoy and Josiah Farnum once built a dam, but a more sub- stantial one now occupies its place. The brook, after running a considerable distance near the northern side of Granite Hill, enters my "build- ing" land and soon after is obstructed by a dam, recently rebuilt by myself, where, in 1748, Love- joy built one, and a shop containing a water-wheel and Forge for the manufacture of bar-iron. He obtained the ore from the banks of the Merrimac, just above Concord Bridge ; the manufactory was long since demolished, but the name " Force " was given to the Pond, which still retains it, and a memorial in the form of iron cinders may now be seen near the dam. I caused the new dam to be substantially built for several reasons, one of which is, that it will be the means of saving a great deal of property in the village from destruction, if Long Pond clam should break away. Lovejov due a channel, below his dam, for the purpose "of con- veying the water from the Pond to a place near his house, where the formation of the ground offered a good site for a mill. Josiah Farnum's sons, Josiah, AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF LEVI HUTOHINS. 131 Eben, and Ephraim, built a grist-mill there, -which, after being used a number of years, was taken down ; whereupon Eben Duston and a Mr. Howe erected one of these mills on the brook, in the vil- lage, and used the grinding-stones of the old mill. At length, these mill-stones became the property of the grandfather of Nathaniel Bakek, ex- governor of New Hampshire, and were carried by the former to a grist-mill which he owned, situated in a village of Concord called " The Borough." In 1798, subsequent to the time that the mill built by the Farnums was removed, there was built in its place a saw-mill, by John Kimball, of Hop- kinton, who sold it to Eben Duston ; this was the one standing, as before mentioned, when I moved from "The Street" to West Parish Village. I bought this mill of Duston for $500, and soon after paid William Messer, for repairing it, $300 ; it was then used a number of years, finally taken down and I replaced it by a new one. A saw-mill has been kept in operation for nearly fifty-five years on this site, and after becoming the owner of one there, I superintended it for eighteen months. At one time, while I was so employed, my son Samuel, who was about five years old, caught his ankle between the cogs of the log-carriage, without much harm. At another time he undertook to help me roll toward the mill a very large log, which, after being started, needed no pushing, on account of the sloping ground ; yet he continued 132 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF LEVI HTJTCHINS. to push, and finally went over the log, which rolled over him ; but a hollow place in the ground saved him from injury. After the last accident, when- ever his mother from the house saw him in or near the mill, she would earnestly beckon with both of her hands to have him come to her. By the contract between Eben Farnum and myself, respecting our exchange of property, I acquired the right of control over the outlet of Long Pond, and exclusively exercised it for more than twenty years. Proximate to the lower or northern side of the dam, a public road crossed, " whereof the memory of man is not to the con- trary." I travelled it whenever I pleased, on horseback and otherwise, in 1793 and for many years afterward. It was as much a highway as the one leading by my house, but now it is converted into private uses ; for instance, a Mr. obtained a quitclaim deed of land, where the road crossed as before mentioned, that gives the control of the Pond gate to the owner of the deed ; in this man- ner the right that I acquired of Farnum, and of which he came into possession by way of his father, who obtained it of Captain Lovejoy, to control the outlet of Long Pond, is — quashed! The ambition of some men is great, but not always productive of good to their fellow-beings. 1 1 "Ambition, in one respect, is like a singer's voice; pitched at too high a key, it comes to nothing. It cares little for persons, — everything for its objects ; these it will have at every cost to those." — C. N. Bovee. AUTOBIOGRAPHY OE LEYI HUTCHINS. 133 My ancient friend, Captain Henry Lovejoy, hav- ing honestly and industriously fulfilled the duties of his mission on earth, departed this life, in the 90th year of his age, Anno Domini 1805, thirty-one years after my first acquaintance with him. My more modern friend, Eben Farnum, died in 1830. When he moved from West Concord Village, in the spring of 1808, to the house on the hill farm, among the goods and chattels that he carried with him were sixty barrels of cider, which he made the preceding autumn ; but he told me that this bever- age was all gone before he finished haying the ensuing summer ! J 1 " A man may even be known by the drinks he prefers. Chaste men love light, still wines ; wits and roisterers, spark- ling wines; heavy men, high wines; and coarse men, malt and spirituous liquors." — C. N. Bovee. CHAPTER VIII. AN ACCOUNT OF MY SON SAMUEL, ETC. WHEN sixteen years old, my son Samuel commenced his apprenticeship at book and job printing, under the instruction of Jacob B. Moore, who carried on the business extensively in the Main Village of Concord, N. H. 1 Having con- tinued with Mr. Moore until he was twenty-one 1 Printing is one of the most extensive branches of busi- ness in Concord. The first newspaper printed there appeared January 6, 1790, and was called the "Concord Herald and New Hampshire Intelligencer." It was printed on a sheet fourteen by nine inches, and had for its motto : " The press is the cradle of science, the nurse of genius, and the shield of liberty." In the course of time this paper was discontinued and succeeded by the "New Hampshire Pa- triot," " New Hampshire Statesman," " Congregational Jour- nal," " Independent Democrat," " Democratic Standard," and several others. Mr. J. B. Moore, referred to in the text, had an extraordinary business talent. He was a master-printer, proof-reader, bookseller and publisher, editor of a newspa- per, proprietor of a bookbindery, which was under his man- agement, recorder of deeds, secretary of the New Hampshire Historical Society, &c. His father belonged to the medical profession; his two brothers, Henry and John, were printers and distinguished musicians. AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF LEVI HUTCHLNS. 135 years of age, Samuel soon afterward went to Bos- ton, where he worked at printing a while. In short, he devoted ten years to travelling and print- ing before making a permanent abode. When he was in the western country, in 1828, his mother said to me one morning, " I shall never see our son Samuel again on earth, for in my sleep last night I heard his sighs and groans, and felt that this child, whom I have loved so well, will not come home while I am alive." She indeed died before his re- turn. At the time she heard the groans in her sleep, he was dangerously sick in Bedford, Pa., but the circumstance of his sickness was unknown to her. At the age of twenty-five years, he married a young lady in Philadelphia, whose father was a southern merchant. Soon after marriage he went with his wife to Cincinnati, where, before the ex- piration of a year from the time of their arrival in that city, she died. During the time I have lived in West Concord, there have been erected on Long Pond brook be- low my saw-mill a number of buildings, and the following account relating to their uses, and other matters pertaining to the village, was written, in 1836, by Samuel, while oh a visit to his old home here. " Concord West Parish Village contains eighteen dwelling-houses, and, beside other useful establishments, a store, tavern, shoemaker's, and 136 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF LEVI HUTCHINS. carpenter's shop. It is situated on the western side of, and half a mile from, the Merrimac Eiver, which sometimes overflows its fertile hanks. A neat meeting-house with a bell (occupying ground once owned by my father, which he, my two brothers, and myself have tilled) gives to the vil- lage an air of some importance, and indicates a spirit of religious feeling among its inhabitants. The scenery of the village and surrounding coun- try is interesting. Alas ! where are the compan- ions of my early days, — the boys and girls with whom I associated when a boy? Many of the people, old and young, whom I knew in former years, are dead ! My mother and sister Mary are not here, and no more will they behold the village. I saw my mother for the last time, soon after serving my apprenticeship, as she stood at a front window of our house, looking at me while I was getting into a sleigh with my father, who car- ried me to ' The Street,' whence I went the next day to Boston. As I rode from the house down the gentle slope, my eyes were turned toward my mother, who, still at the window, signified by mov- ing her hand, a farewell to me ! I remember many of her kind words of instruction. On taking up a volume of William Penn's Works, she said to me, ' Strive, \ay son, to be as good as the Friend who wrote this book.' . . . " A brick dwelling-house occupies the site of the old school-house, where I ' Once learned to read AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF LEVI HUTCHINS. 137 my A B C,' and where Peter C. Farnum did not use his ferule upon my hands, hut applied this cor- recting instrument to the palms of some of his scholars. 1 He was, most assuredly, ' a gentleman and a scholar.' He taught one winter near the south end of Long Pond. In going to and return- l In " The Poetical Works of John Greenleaf Whittier," is a poem entitled, " To my old Schoolmaster : an Epistle not after the manner of Horace," from which I extract the fol- lowing : — " Old friend, kind friend ! lightly down Drop time's snow-flakes on thy crown ! Never be thy shadow less, Never fail thy cheerfulness. I, the urchin unto whom, In that smoked and dingy room, Where the district gave thee rule O'er its ragged winter school, Thou didst teach the mysteries Of those weary A B C's, — I, — the man of middle years, In whose sable locks appears Many a warning fleck of gray, — Looking back to that far day, And thy primal lessons, feel Grateful smiles my lips unseal, As, remembering thee, I blend Olden teacher, present friend, Wise with antiquarian search, In the scrolls of state and church ; Named on history's title-page, Parish-clerk and justice sage ; For the ferule's wholesome awe Wielding now the sword of law." 138 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF LEVI HUTCHINS. ing from the school-house, when the surface of the Pond was frozen, he would skate across it. He is dead, but his widow, a good and pleasant woman, still lives. The ' Widow Farnum's ' house is shaded by a large elm-tree. A little distance therefrom is an unpainted domicile, more than a century old, in which lives John Elliot. In front of it were formerly two great willow-trees. The trunks are still there. The little children of the village, as they see the aged Elliot walking along the road, are wont to say, ' There goes the old Revolutioner.' And that comical genius ' Judge ' Reed, with a double chin, a soldier of the war of 1812-15, is — I know not where. " But where is my little water-wheel and the apparatus attached to it in imitation of a saw-mill, that I, many years ago, caused to be worked by the water of the brook flowing from the great Pond ? They have passed away ! Well, my father's old saw-mill is still at work, and he saws laths and shingles in the lower part of the building. The water escapes, mingled with saw-dust, from his mill, and rapidly ripples along thirty-five rods, when it is obstructed by a dam and made to work ma- chinery for sawing laths, shingles, wood for matches, and to grind tanners' bark, gypsum or Plaster of Paris, etc. ' Matches,' saith a poet, ' are made in Heaven ; ' but those called Lucifer are made in this village, and girls are employed in wrapping them in paper. A few steps below these works, the AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF LEVI HTJTCHINS. 139 ' purling ' brook is subjected to a dam for the ben- efit of a blacksmith's shop with a trip-hammer, and a lead-pipe manufactory. After leaving the great wheel of this shop, the water, formed into a pond on the west side of the main road, is conveyed by a sluice under it to a brick edifice on the opposite side. This building, used for a grist-mill, occupies the place where stood a wooden grist-mill which was erected fifty years ago, by Messrs. Howe and Duston. 1 1 During the last twenty-five years, West Concord Village has undergone many changes. The inhabitants who had grown old before that time have " gone to that bourne whence no traveller returns," and their places are now filled by some of their descendants, who occupy the old homesteads, sur- rounded by their children and grandchildren. The old wooden school-house has been demolished, and replaced by one of brick, which contains two large rooms on the first story, and a spacious hall on the second. The old tavern building is occupied as a boarding-house. One store, one carpenter's, one wheelwright's, one shoemaker's, two black- smith's shops, a post-office, a station of the Concord and Claremont Railroad, &c, are in the village, which contains sixty families, with a population of nearly three hundred. The former little pond, which was situated a short distance below the old saw-mill, and whose waters gave motion to a bark-mill, etc., has been greatly enlarged by the Holdens, who have erected just below it a brick building 130 feet long and three stories high, called " The New Factory," in which are manufactured extra white flannels. The old brick edifice below, formerly used for a grist-mill, was built by Dr. Peter Renton and John Jarvis, at a cost of about twelve thousand dollars, and converted by the Holdens into a factory for the 140 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF LEVI HUTCHINS. " From the eastern side of the road to the ground below, the depth is twenty feet. When the old mill occupied the site of the new one, the side of the road on which the mill stood was not guarded by a railing. One day, when a lady was riding past in a chaise, the horse became frightened and began to back toward that side of the road. The lady, manufacture of woollen blankets of an excellent quality. This mill was partially destroyed by fire, several months ago, but has been completely repaired with additions ; both factories are warmed by steam, and the number of operatives in them is about eighty. The next mill below is called " The Mackerel Kit Factory," where twelve men are employed; they use five hundred cords of saplings in the manufacture of eighty thousand mackerel kits. The refuse wood readily sells at the factory for two dollars per cord ; the trimmings and shavings also are sold there, and farmers buy the saw-dust for manure. Concord comprises about 41,000 acres, of which 1000 are covered with the water of brooks, ponds, and rivers ; the names of the ponds are Long, Turkey, Turtle, Horse-shoe, Snow, and Hot-hole. The people of Concord have not neg- lected to avail themselves of the advantages derived from WATER-POWER. " The lapse of time and rivers is the same ; Both speed their journey with a restless stream. The silent pace with which they steal away, No wealth can bribe, nor prayers persuade to stay. Alike irrevocable both when past, And a wide ocean swallows both at last. Though each resemble each in ev'ry part, A diff'rence strikes at length the musing heart: Streams never flow in vain ; where streams abound, How laughs the land with various plenty crowned ! " AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF LEVI HUTCHINS. 141 aware of her danger, succeeded in jumping from the chaise, but the horse and vehicle were precipitated to the ground below ! " The water, after leaving this mill, is soon dammed again, and made to work machinery for carding wool, dressing cloth, &c. Once more free it flows, — and " ' How -without malice murmuring, glides its current ! O sweet simplicity of days gone by ! ' — a meandering, rippling course through a low wood- land and fertile interval fields till it mingles with the waters of the Merrimac. Now farewell, useful EKOOK, " ' Laugh of the mountain ! — lyre of bird and tree ! Pomp of the meadow ! mirror of the morn ! The soul of April, unto whom are born The rose and jessamine, leaps wild in thee ! ' " In 1837 Samuel went to Cambridge, Mass., where he has since lived and pursued the printing business, and where, at different times, I have been to visit him. Here he married into a family con- cerning whom I have learned some particulars of interest, such as the following : — Governor Hutchinson (who did not, according to John Adams, aid the people of Massachusetts in their struggles to get the Tea back to London) had a niece who was born Jan. 18, 1755, and died Oct. 20, 1851, aged 96 years, 9 months, and 2 days. She liked a good cup of tea, had a remarkable memory, and was fond of relating stories about what she saw and heard when young. She had 142 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF LEVI HOTCHINS. two sisters and seven brothers. Her brothers were accustomed to knit their own stockings, and frequently sat together, so engaged, around their father's fire. Her maiden name was Hutchinson, and she married a Mr. Learned, one of their sons being named David, who married Eliza P. Marsh, a descendant of General Israel Putnam. During one of my visits at Cambridge, David's wife told me that once, while riding in a stage to Danvers, she pointed to a school-house and remarked to one of her daughters, who accompanied her, that she used to go to school there when a young girl. Whereupon an old gentleman, in the stage, said, — " Did you ? Well, so did I go to school there when a boy. The young lady, then, who sits by you, must be your daughter, for she looks like a girl by the name of Eliza Putnam Marsh, who went to school at the time I did. Was not that your name ? " Mrs. Learned replied in the affirmative. The aged gentleman then continued, saying, " Before you pointed out the school-house, I thought that you and the young lady, sitting by you, belonged to the Putnam race." This incident caused some merriment in the stage. Mrs. Learned relates another anecdote: Her grandfather, Henry Putnam, while fighting at Lexington, on the 19th of April, 1775, was wounded by a bullet in his left arm, and his eldest son was killed in the same battle. Her grandfather AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF LEVI HUTCHINS. 143 was carried to his house in Danvers, where the bullet was extracted. While lying in his bed, on the 16th of June following, he said to his wife, who was thoughtfully walking about the room, " Why are you so serious ? " She in reply said, " Soon there will be another fight with the British soldiers." "Then," rejoined he, with much animation, "bring my gun to me that I may ascertain whether I can fire it." The gun, already loaded, was brought to him, and he soon discharged it through an open window. Early in the morning of the memorable seventeenth, Henry Putnam, although his arm was in a dangerous condition, persuaded his wife to take him in a chaise to the foot of Breed's Hill. He fought in the battle of " Bunker Hill," and was wounded in one of his legs. He lived to be quite old. His house is now standing in Danvers. The before-mentioned David Learned 1 and his wife, Eliza P., had eight children, 2 two sons and six 1 He died in Cambridge, May 8, 1838, aged 48 years. 2 Named Lydia P., Henry, Laura, Olive, Elizabeth, Fanny, William, and Eliza Ann. Henry married Catharine Lopez, and several years afterward moved with his family to Kansas Territory, where he experienced his full share of troubles about slavery. In the spring of 1859 he went to Pike's Peak, with many friends, in search of gold. In 1861, with the same object in view, he travelled, accompanied by his son, who is now an officer in the Federal Army, through parts of New Mexico and Utah Territory, and beyond the San Juan Mountains. During this adventure they saw a boiling-hot spring, thirty feet in diameter and fathomless ; they cooked meat in it. The hot water runs a short distance and empties 144 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF LEVI HUTCHINS. daughters. One of these, Lydia Putnam, who was born Dec. 7, 1817, my son Samuel married, in Cambridge, Feb. 25, 1841 ; their children were : — 1. Charles Gordon, born Jan. 9, 1842, died June 30, 1848, aged 6 years, 5 months, and 21 days ; 2. Emma Louisa, born April 26, 1843 ; 3. Annie Eliza, born May 19, 1845 ; 4. George Cooledge, 1 into the San Juan River. Henry's sister Elizabeth went to Lawrence City, Kansas Territory, in 1859, and, in the following year, was married to Mahlon K. Moore. Soon after marriage they moved to Colorado Territory, where she died March 13, 1862, aged 34 years. "I have sad news for you all ! " wrote her brother Henry to his relatives in Massachusetts. " Our sister Lizzie is deceased ! I am overwhelmed with grief at this unexpected event ! Yet I derive consolation from the reflection that her spirit is in a happier world than this. . . . She was universally beloved by her many friends dwelling in this distant land. Her re- mains were carried to Denver, where they were buried. The funeral ceremonies were solemn and impressive, a large num- ber of her friends being present on the occasion. . . . Mahlon is exceedingly afflicted by the loss of his dear wife." . . . 1 He died in Cambridge, June 17, 1860, of phthisis, aged 12 years and 8 months. Until the last two months before his death, he had intermediate times of amusing himself in various ways. Reading was his great delight. He seemed from day to day to get wisdom and understanding. Some- times he would say, " Oh ! I wish I could feel well one whole day 1 " He did not like .any allusion to death, but de- sired to get well that he might accomplish good works. Until almost the last moment of his life, he retained his mind in its full vigor. Just before he ceased to breathe, he repeatedly said, " Can't you see it ? I can see it as plain as day." The pleasant, joyful manner in which he uttered these words, gave AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF LEVI HUTCHINS. 145 born Oct. 17, 1847 ; 5. Louis Gordon, born July 25, 1850 ;. 6. the sixth child, born July 20, 1849, died in infancy. The remains of Charles Gordon, the first of the above-named children, were deposited in the rural and delightful Mount Auburn Cemetery. 1 Shortly after he died I received from his father a letter, from which the following is an extract : — ..." I cannot write poetky, but will try to give you an idea of my wife's and of my own assurance to those by his side that a vision of delight cheered the last moments of his life on earth. The closing happy scene of his terrestrial career, reminds one of the words of an evening hymn : — " Teach me to live, that I may dread The grave as little as my bed ; " &c. " 'T is held that sorrow makes us wise." And it is said that " the death of children seems, prima facie, unnatural. In so far as the unnaturalness of death consists in taking the living away in the progress of development and usefulness, it pervades all ages." " I will not say God's ordinance Of Death is blown in every wind ; For that is not a common chance That takes away a noble mind. " Sleep sweetly, tender heart, in peace ; Sleep, holy spirit, blessed soul, While the stars burn, the moons increase, And the great ages onward roll." ] His body was a few years afterward removed to the new Cambridge Cemetery. The earthly remains of Charles and George now lie side by side 10 146 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF LEVI HUTCHINS. feelings at the time and after our Charles Gordon died : — "THE DEATH OF CHARLES GORDON HUTCHINS. " ' let the soul her slumbers break, Let thought be quickened and awake; Awake to see How soon this life is past and gone, And death comes softly stealing on, How silently! ' " Oh, Charles ! we hear no more thy voice, — No more with thee do we rejoice ! Thy life was short, thy years were few, — Six summers only didst thou view ! And yet how much in those few years — Those years so full of hopes and fears — We heard thee say, — • we saw thee do, To keep thy image in our vigw ! " We saw thee in thy happy play Amuse thyself from day to day ; Thy joyous notes of song and glee Imparted bliss to us and thee. Thy plays did give thee great delight, And oh ! it was a happy sight „ To see thee, in thy youthful prime, Enjoy the moments of thy time. " Thy playthings we behold with tears, For something whispers in our ears, And seems all mournfully to say, That ' Death has taken Charles away ! ' Oh, yes ! he 's dead ! — we saw him die ! We saw his fix'd — his sightless eve ! And yet, with true affection warm, We gaz'd upon his lifeless form ! AUTOBIOGRAPHY OP LEVI HUTCHINS. 147 " It was in June, when birds do sing, And make the air with music ring, That Charlie saw no more the light, And pass'd from ev'ry mortal's sight ! Ere winter's frost had disappear'd, His countenance was often cheer'd With pleasing thoughts of summer's charms, — But ah ! he died in Death's cold arms ! " While I was once at a Friends' Meeting, a Friend arose and gave utterance to these words : " This LIFE IS UNCERTAIN, BUT DEATH IS CERTAIN." To which may be appropriately added the following : The Lord " knoweth our frame ; He remembereth that we are dust. As for man, his days are as grass ; as a flower of the field he flourisheth. For the wind passeth over it and it is gone ; and the place thereof shall know it no more." CHAPTER IX. AN ACCOUNT OF SOME BUSINESS IN WHICH I ENGAGED, EMBRACING A PARTICULAR NOTICE OF EMBARRASS- MENTS WHICH A CERTAIN MAN CAUSED ME. — CHEER- ING COUNSEL. — AGRICULTURAL PURSUITS. — AN INCI- DENT RESPECTING A CLOCK. — LAWYERS. IT has been said that " wars 1 drive up riches in heaps, as winds drive up snows, making and concealing many abysses." During our last war with England, an enormous capital was invested in manufacturing establishments in the United States. While the war continued, our country was abund- antly supplied with articles from these establish- ments ; but after the peace, British goods were im- ported into the United States in such quantities, that our manufacturers suffered severe embarrassments ; l The following lines relate to the deplorable civil -war in our country : — " With one red flare, the lightning stretch'd its wino-, And a rolling echo rous'd a million men ! Then the ploughman left his field ; The smith at his clanging forge, Forged him a sword to wield ; From meadow and mountain-gorge, And the western plains they came, Fronting the storm and flame." AUTOBIOGRAPHY OE LEVI HUTCHINS. 149 indeed, many of them were broken down. I — one of the many persons who undertook to manufacture cotton cloth, at the time referred to — erected a large building immediately below my saw-mill, set up five hand-looms in one of its second-story rooms, and fitted up an adjoining room for clock- making. In the attic I had an apparatus for wind- ing thread on bobbins, and the lower apartment of the building was used for storage. My looms were in operation three years. I purchased a consider- able quantity of iron castings for machinery, as I intended to enlarge my factory operations, but power-looms came into general use, and I did not carry my intention into effect. In short, I sus- tained a considerable loss from an outlay for ma- chinery, some of which I used for firewood, and the iron works I sold by auction at a nominal price. Thus ended my weaving business, but I con- tinued to make clocks for twenty years afterward. In 1818 John Slater, whose brother Samuel, in connection with a Mr. Brown, built the first cotton factory in the United States, in Rhode Island, came to my house with a view to purchase my mill privi- lege. After examining it he said to me, " I am disposed to make you a proposition, namely : if a number of citizens of Concord will become part- ners with me, and will invest one half of the capi- tal necessary to build an extensive cotton factory on this mill privilege, I will invest the other half, and forthwith commence building the factory, pro- 150 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF LEVI HUTCHINS. vided you will sell us the mill privilege at a fair price." I replied satisfactorily to his proposition, and we exerted ourselves to induce Concord capi- talists to engage in the enterprise, but they de- clined, and I retained possession of the mill privi- lege. 1 That I might reduce the amount of my pecuniary l The following items are selected from an article in the Writings of Levi Woodbury, LL. D., on the Cultivation, Manufacture, and Foreign Trade of Cotton : — "In the 16th century, cotton manufactures came to Europe from India, through the trade of Venice ; . . . they were in- troduced into China from India about 200 years earlier. . . . They existed in Arabia in the 7th century ; found in America when discovered, at the close of the 15th century. "1730. First cotton yarn spun in England by machinery, by Mr. Wyatt. " 1742. First mill for spinning cotton built at Birmingham; moved by mules or horses ; but not successful. "1790. First cotton factory built in the United States, in Rhode Island. Water power first applied to the mule spin- ner, by Kelly. "1793. The cotton-gin invented by Eli Whitney, in the United States. " 1803. First cotton factory built in New Hampshire. " 1805. Power-looms successfully and widely introduced into England, after many failures. ..." The power-loom introduced into the United States first, at Waltham, Mass., in 1815. " 1822. First cotton-factory erected at Lowell. "In England three times as many spindles and factories are moved by steam as by water. " The United States, by numerous and cheap waterfalls, have a good substitute for steam." AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF LEVI HUTCHINS. 151 indebtedness to a number of persons, I sold three parcels of my land, for which I received an equiv- alent in money. I sold to Number One — I avoid giving the names of persons — another lot of good tillage land for a sum of money, not more than one fifth part of which did I receive, notwithstand- ing I took a mortgage on the land at the time of sale. Being indebted to that honorable and excellent man, Number Two, who held a mortgage on my prpperty, I was requested by him to make a payment. As I could not, he borrowed money of Number Three, and passed the mortgage he held on my property into Three's hands, as security for the money loaned. Number Three then said to me, " I will give you a year in which to redeem this mortgage ; if it is not redeemed in that time / shall foreclose it ! " I hired a sum of money of Number Four, and assigned him as a security in part for payment, the mortgage I held on the land that I sold to Number One. But the act of my application to him for money with which to clear myself of Number Three, was " like jumping out of the fry- ing-pan into the fire ! " Or in other words, in attempting to steer my business-ship clear of Scylla, I ran it against Charybdis. Number Four's loan of the sum of money to me is connected with the last named mortgage; but I will briefly say, that after he had possession of the mortgage a few days, Number Two and I rode to his house to obtain it 152 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF LEVI HUTCHINS. for a particular purpose. Number Four's father had accumulated much property, on the princi- ple, perhaps, of " get money, honestly if you can, but get money!" He was sitting by the side of his son, and, after listening to what I said, they with- drew to an adjoining room. On their return, Four's father said, " We have concluded not to let anything be done with the mortgage ! " This announcement fell like a thunderbolt upon me ! I solicited them in vain to change their de- cision ; and the reasoning of my learned friend, Number Two, was entirely disregarded by them. Number Four, regardless of justice toward me, I can forgive but not forget these acts. A Christian says, that " a forgiveness ought to be like a cancelled note, torn in two and burned up, so that it never can be shown against the man." Before I hired the money, I requested Num- ber Four to send me several fleeces of wool, which I received, but they came mixed with extraneous matter, not ordered. I sustained a considerable loss in this trade with him ; he tried also to injure me in the clock-making business. Remembrances of this kind are unpleasant. " If a man meets with injus- tice," says a preacher of the Gospel, "it is not re- quired that he shall not be roused to meet it ; but AUTOBIOGRAPHY OP LEVI HUTCHINS. 153 if he is angry after he has had time to think upon it, that is sinful ; the flame is not wrong hut the coals are." I have always made it my aim not to return evil for evil. I was unjustly treated by Number Four, but had no will to do him a wrong. I paid his demand against me, believing then as now that he acted wrongfully toward me. " If a man has done wrong, his own thoughts should turn him to reparation ; but if they do not, the first intimation from the injured person should suffice." My intimation to Number Four did not cause him to make me any reparation or amends of any kind. He and his father have gone down to their graves, and the Almighty Ruler of the universe will justly reward them for their deeds on earth. They accu- mulated wealth, but " He that loveth silver shall not be satisfied with silver." They were religious men ; but some men like religion " as a sort of lightning-rod to their houses, to ward off, by and by, the bolts of divine wrath." I had met with pecuniary losses to a considerable amount, but the wise and cheering counsel of my wife, and the kindness and industry of our chil- dren, encouraged me to persevere in business. Idle- ness is not a part of my nature. 1 I have always been industriously engaged in employments, which I not only deemed respectable biit beneficial. Al- 1 "Few minds wear out; more rust out. Sad thoughts attend upon folded arms. It is action that doth keep the mind sweet and sound." 154 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OP LEVI HTJTCHINS. though Number Four had been the cause of de- priving me of much valuable property in land, yet my farm still embraced twenty-five acres, which, with the saw-mill on my water privilege, and my clock-making business, gave me ample means for support. My agricultural pursuits were generally attended with good success. " Not that which men do worthily, but that which they do success- fully, is what history makes haste to record." Per- sons, on visiting my garden while teeming with a variety of vegetable plants, have applauded its ap- pearance. One year I received a premium from the Agricultural Society of New Hampshire for having one of the best gardens. But two unfortunate circumstances in relation to onions and hops are worthy of record. One sea- son I sowed an acre of good land with onion-seed, but the land, the seed, and my labor produced only a cart-load of worthless scallions ! When hops were in great demand, and selling for fifty cents a pound, I planted an acre and a half of land with the roots. I gathered an excellent crop of hops the second year of their growth. When dried and packed they weighed seven hun- dred pounds, but — the price of the article had fallen ! Refusing the offer of twelve cents per pound for my hops, I shipped them to New York. They were spoiled by heat, and I did not receive a copper for the whole lot ! A clock that I sold to a man in Vermont, after AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF LEVI HUTCHINS. 155 running well for more than a year, became disor- dered, and was returned to me to be put in repair, which was done, and I charged the man two dol- lars for my labor. This trifling sum he refused to pay ; I retained the clock, and he brought an action against me for trover ; the decision being awarded in his favor, I was required to pay $100. I offered to make payment in clocks, but with this proposi- tion the man would not comply. The result was, that by going to jail in Hopkinton for thirty days, I easily cleared myself of paying the $100. Hav- ing the limits of the jail-yard, which embraced the whole village, I boarded with a respectable and in- telligent family, and employed nine or ten hours each day in working upon two clocks that I had engaged to have ready for delivery at a specified time. The Vermont man gained nothing from his parsimony in withholding the two dollars which he justly owed me. It frequently happens that those who have the most money, derive the greatest ben- efit from a resort to pleadings or tergiversations in court. " When lawyers flourish, there is a certain sign that the laws do not ; for this flourishing can only arise from the perplexity or violation of them. If an English lawyer is in danger of starving in a market-town or village, he invites another and both thrive." CHAPTER X. death of my father and of his wife lucy. — my wife's last illness and death. — measures that i adopted relative to my property. — an incident pertaining to my brother ezra. — his removals. — his death and that of his wife. — my brother abel's wife's death, shortly followed by his. — A funeral discourse. — CONCLUSION. OF my father I have yet to say a few words more. Many of his grandchildren well re- member him as he used to go about visiting his relatives, bent by the cares and toils of life, but cheerful and happy. He received several slight wounds while fighting against his country's foes. In old age he 1 occasionally exhibited his scars to some of his grandchildren, telling them that he had been in the wars. If sometimes they saw upon him a patched garment, they greeted him none the less kindly, although they may not have known, that he had sacrificed much of his property to aid 1 I remember when I was about six years old, that he was at my father's house and passed one night there. He showed me two scars, saying, " When you are a man you will not for- get that I let you see these." A few weeks afterward, my sister Ednah and I dined with him and his wife at his house. They were very kind and pleasant toward us. He showed me in his cellar, his great potato-bin, full of that esculent vegetable. AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF LEVI HUTCHINS. 157 his country in her struggle for liberty. He 1 died in his house in Concord, Dec. 8, 1815, aged 82 1 Colonel Gordon Hutchins was a man of action. The distinguishing trait of his character was activity. Idle- ness stood aloof from him. His birth, different places of residence, avocations, &c., may be summed up thus: He was born in 1733; lived in Harvard, Mass., some time before 1 744, and for several years after ; went on a military expedi- tion, when quite young, up the Kennebec River to Canada; married Dolly Stone, prior to 1758, in Harvard, where he was Constable, in 1766, and pursued the occupation of farm- ing, &c. ; moved, in 1773, to Concord, N. H., where he com- menced the business of merchant ; raised, in the spring of 1775, a military Company, was elected Captain of the same, marched to Medford, fought in the battle of Bunker Hill, and in that of White Plains; was raised to the rank of Lieutenant- Colonel ; chosen Representative to the Provincial Congress held at Exeter ; took an active and beneficial part in meas- ures relative to the battle of Bennington ; lived again in Concord, in 1778, following the mercantile business, and lost a considerable amount of property by the depreciation of the currency ; in the following year went on a nautical adven- ture, and married Lucy Lund ; moved, in 1 780, to Pem- broke, where he carried on farming until April, 1 783 ; then moved to Coventry, where he built a grist-mill, dwelt there about a year, and then moved to Haverhill, where he lived several years, pursuing the business of farming ; moved, in 1793, or before, to Rumney, where again he followed the same business for a number of years, and finally went back to Con- cord, and there, in a good old age, he ended his earthly career in 1815. His life extended through a stirring and eventful time in the world's history, — a period in which Napoleon Bonaparte commenced his military career at Toulon, and ended it on the battle-field of Waterloo ; and during which, the Irish Rebellion and the Union between Ireland and England 158 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF LEVI HUTCHINS. years. The funeral ceremonies took place at my brother Abel's house, where many relatives and friends of the deceased assembled, who afterward followed the body to the grave. On entering the old burial-ground, in Concord, where now repose in silence the remains of many of the early settlers here, one may see, after passing along the main pathway a short distance, a marble monument which marks the grave of Colonel GORDON HUTCHINS. By the side of it may also be seen a time-worn slate slab, which designates the place where repose the remains of his first wife, Dolly Hutchins. Lucy, his second wife, departed this life Jan. 4, 1883, aged 76 years, 3 months, and 10 days, in Merrimac, where her remains were buried. We, who now live, are hastening onward to the took place ; the Stamp Act was passed ; the American Revo- lutionary War, and the War of 1812-15 between Great Britain and the United States, transpired. He lived, indeed, at a "time that tried men's souls," and he was able and proud to show honorable scars, which should testify through his life that, knowing his country's rights, he had dared to defend them. He had a high sense of truth, justice, and honor. "I condole with you," see page 52, "as I always took you to be a gentleman of Honor and Probity." And his ad- vice to his son Levi was, " always keep good company." Through life his conduct manifested that he put his trust in God, and his gray hair did not go down in sorrow to the grave. " The grave 's the pulpit of departed man, From it he speaks — his text and doctrine is — Thou, too, must die ! " AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF LEVI HUTCHINS. 159 grave. They, I believe, performed life's duties well. It is said that " the proper office of religion is to allay our terror of death, by exciting hopes of happiness beyond it." In 1826 my wife began to be afflicted with a cancer, and toward the close of the following year suffered severely from its effects. In the ensuing summer she was relieved for a while by a surgical operation, and enjoyed a visit from our daughter Ruth ; but in the autumn of 1828 the disease re- commenced with renewed virulence, and she died in the following spring, April 2, aged 62 years, 11 months, and 17 days. A few weeks before this event, a Unitarian clergyman came to my house and had an interview with her. Subsequently he told me that he never had received more beneficial instruction from any person. 1 " Her language," he 1 This clergyman gave my father in writing the following, which was published in the Concord newspapers:- — " Being dead your departed wife yet speaketh. She speak- eth to all who knew her in life, and witnessed her triumph at death. She was a kind and faithful parent, a virtuous and affectionate wife, an humble and devout Christian. Her ex- amples were worthy of imitation by all, and the righteous would desire that their last end might be like hers. The closing scenes of her life bear witness that Christ was with her ; that he had taken victory from the grave, the sting from death, and that he was her hope of glory. Suffering great pain under one of the severest maladies incident to humanity, she sustained herself through her Christian hopes, in perfect resignation, without impatience and without repining. No trace of fear, of doubt, or anxiety marked her countenance 160 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF LEVI HUTCHINS. remarked, " was sublime, and her pure Christian sentiments gave assurance that she had walked in the path that leads to eternal life." My wife deceased forty years, one month, and nine days from the time we were married. During this time we lived together in harmonious union, she being my best earthly friend, and a true guide for our children to follow. " Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord." To her, death was a bright opening to a purer state of existence. It was no " dark entrance to a valley of shadow and gloom, through which the soul must walk fearfully and alone, but as the very gate of heaven, through which it passes to the glorious company of the re- deemed." In the Friends' burial-ground, in Con- cord, now repose her J remains, near those of our deceased children, John and Mary. Considering what I had learned by experience, at the approach of death ; and, at that solemn moment, she surrendered her spirit to God, who gave it, with the calmness with which an infant sleeps. She employed those seasons, in which she was relieved from suffering, in giving spiritual in- struction to others, — exhorting them to that love to God and love to man, which should prepare them for happiness here and hereafter ; she has now gone to reap the reward of her labors." 1 "Died in this town, April 2, 1829, Phebe Hutchins, wife of Levi Hutchins, aged 63. She was for many years a worthy member of the Society of Friends, and manifested much of that spirit of universal love, which she believed ou<»ht to be felt and cherished for all." — History of Concord, by N. Bou- ton, D. D. ATJTOBIOGKAPHY OF LEVI HUTCHINS. 161 I resolved to be on my guard against the duplicity of men, and, being entirely clear of debt, divided my property among my children. They, except Anna who remained with me at home, were all settled in distant places. As I was entitled to a pension for my Revolutionary services, I caused my name to be entered, two years after my wife's death, on the pension-list. I should have made the application before her death, but waived it out of respect to her opinions. In 1814 a military Company was organized in Concord, of such persons as were not enrolled in the militia. The Company was " to be in readi- ness, at a moment's warning, to act under the di- rection of the Commander-in-Chief, for the defence of the State." My brother Ezra became a mem- ber of this Company, and was chosen Ensign. In April, 1821, he moved to Andover, N. H., where he kept a tavern and cultivated a farm till Novem- ber, 1824, when he removed to Bangor, Me., where he kept a hotel. He died in the city of Bangor, May 17, 1849, aged 78 years, 11 months, and 21 days ; his wife died in that city, July 12, 1853, aged 84 years. They possessed happy dispositions, enjoyed much felicity in life, and verified the saying, that " Happiness and unhappiness are more quali- ties of mind than incidents of place or position." The remembrance of them is pleasing to me ; many have been the times we have had social chitchats together at each other's houses. 11 162 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF LEVI HUTCHINS. My brother Abel's wife died March 28, 1853, aged 85 years, 5 months, and 26 days. On the 4th of April following he deceased, at the age of 90 years and 19 days. On the occasion of his burial, 1 the Phoenix Hotel was draped on the front with emblems of mourning, and a large assembly of people were present, together with the Masonic fraternity, who appeared in their regalia. He and I when young had become Freemasons ; 2 soon after l " Such is the course of nature, that whoever lives long must outlive those whom he loves and honors." My father being present at the time of this burial, and ninety-two years old, may have thought, that " it is evident that the de- cays of age must terminate in death ; " but the time of his brother's decease appeared to him too soon. " There is no man," says Tully, " who does not believe that he may yet live another year ; and there is none who does not, upon the same principle, hope another year for his parent or his friend." " Mr. Abel Hutchins," I use the words of Rev. Dr. Bouton, " was a large, portly man, about six feet in height, of fair com- plexion, a little florid, blue eyes, and, on account of being near-sighted, always wore spectacles." 3 In 1816 an oration, on freemasonry, was delivered before a large audience, including my father, his brother Abel, and myself, assembled in the old North Church. While the orator was eloquently portraying the advantages derived from being a brother mason, I noticed that tears in quick succession rolled down my uncle Abel's cheeks. Although my father manifested no very apparent " sign " of a " melting heart and brimful eye," yet he appeared much interested in all the speaker said. Many " brothers of the mystic tie " have read with emotion Robert Burns' " Farewell to the Brethren of St. James' Lodge, Torbolton," commencing with the following stanza: — AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF LEVI HTJTCHINS. 163 joining the Society of Friends I withdrew from the order, but he continued a member of it through life. His funeral sermon was preached by his pastor, in Concord, in the meeting-house of the Unitarian Congregational Society, from this text : " Thou SHALT COME TO THY GRAVE IN A FULL AGE, LIKE AS A SHOCK OF CORN COMETH IN HIS SEASON." " The centre of kindred," said the pastor, " is re- moved to the other world, that it may draw the affections up thither and make them purer and stronger, — to the other world, where Old Age and youth are alike unknown terms. . . . The old man and the aged woman, 1 having filled out the measure " Adieu ! a heart-warm, fond adieu ! Dear brothers of the mystic tie ! Ye favored, ye enlightened few, Companions of my social joy. Though I to foreign lands must hie, Pursuing Fortune's slidd'ry ba', Wi' melting heart, and brimful eye, I '11 mind you still, though far awa'." 1 When I last saw them at their house on State Street, I said, " How happy I am to see you look so remarkably well in your old age. The remembrance of two little incidents is vivid to me: one, aunt, is, that in the winter of 1817, I called at your house with my father's horse and sleigh, and took you with me to make a short visit at my aunt Matilda Wiggin's house in ' The Street.' The other incident, uncle, relates to you. Some time after the house, that you and my father once owned and occupied together, was de- stroyed by fire, I saw you in company with Messrs. Bradley, Walker, and Ayer. You were discussing subjects of impor- tance relating to town affairs. At length you exhibited to 164 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF LEVI HUTCHINS. of their days, and borne life's burdens, and dis- charged life's duties well, have passed away to their rest and reward." Yes, they have passed away ; but it is consoling to believe that they exist in a better world. I have enjoyed much happiness in their society on earth ; now I am happy in the thought, that, in due time, I shall be with them a in heaven. them a drawing on paper, saying, ' How do you like this plan of the Hotel I am going to build on the site of the old house ? ' After examining it they expressed great approbation, and Mr. Ayer said, ' The building will be an ornament to Concord.'" 1 Their son Hamilton, see pp. 64, 65, and William Ladd, see note 1, p. 60, were early associates of mine. William's mother once said to him and me, " Now, little boys, I hope you will have a good time while playing together to-day." The following, pertaining to the Ladd family, are additions to note 2, page 61 : Edward Luff and his wife's children were : 1. Edward Jackson, born April 4, 1843, died July 26, 1844; 2. Nathaniel Ladd, born Oct. 29, 1848; 3. Thomas, born Nov. 7, 1853. David Patterson and his wife's son, George Hasty, born Dec. 9, 1855, died July, 1856. A. A. Hall and his wife's children were : 1. Amy Johnson, born May 8, 1847 ; 2. Anna Morrow, born Nov. 3, 1848 ; 3. Eleanor Ladd, born Sept. 9, 1850; 4. Andrew Austin, born Dec. 9, 1852; 5. Aza- riah Theodore, born Aug. 1, 1855, died Sept. 19, 1857; 6. Mary Kate, born Dec. 20, 1859 ; 7. Nathaniel Dudley, born Dec. 24, 1862; 8. Josephine Elizabeth, born June 3, 1864. William Dudley and his wife's children were : 1. Geor<*iana Mary, born May 19, 1849; 2. Fred. Newton, born Jan. 21, 1859. William Corwin and his wife's children were: 1. Alfred Treadwell, born Sept. 4, 1856, died Jan. 4, 1857 ; 2. George Ladd, born Sept. 25, 1859 ; 3. William L., born Feb. 1, 1860; 4. Nathaniel Dudley, born Dec. 1, 1863. In the AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF LEVI HUTCHINS. 165 In a preceding page [115] I made mention of Elizabeth Yeats, who was one of my family for several years. It is with a high appreciation of her merits that I allude to her again. She has arrived at a good old age. At an early period of her life she joined the Society of Friends, and still holds fast to their doctrines. " Her ways are ways of pleasantness, and all her 3 paths are peace." I have enjoyed much happiness in visiting and receiving visits from my children. My grandchil- dren 3 and great-grandchildren have imparted to me last two lines of the above-mentioned note, Charles should be placed before " George," and Hutchins, after " Julia." 1 She is now passing the evening of her days, in great tran- quillity, with my sister Ruth's children, who are as much at- tached to her as if she were of kindred blood. 2 The following poem, written by Rev. F. E. Abbot, of Beverly, Mass., relates to my son George C. See p. 144, three bottom lines: — "LAST WORDS OP A DYING CHILD. " The little life is ebbing fast ; How swift the moments flee ! Each look and gesture of the past How plainly I can see ! " He starts, and, gazing in the air, Exclaims in tones of glee, Pointing to some sweet vision there, — ' Mother! don't you see?' " He lies upon the little bed, And smiles with love on me ; There shines a light about his head That even I can see. 166 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF LEVI HUTCHINS. additional happiness. The troubles I have encoun- tered were the result of circumstances connected with business, but all kinds of " troubles are often the tools by which God fashions us for better things." It is a joy to feel that there is a realm where shall be fully realized our aspirations after happiness. All human beings are God's children, and while upon earth they are in school. " No one cries when children, long absent from their parents, go home. Vacation morning is a jubilee." But death is the vacation morning of the pure in heart. I have been blessed with a long life, have enjoyed many good things of this world, and now feel pre- pared to enter the world to come. " But ere my quivering lips can say The words that rush to me, My morning star is lost in day, And I — / cannot see ! " I strive in vain to pierce the gloom, And catch heaven's brilliancy ; My child has vanish'd in the tomb ; Alas ! I cannot see. " Yet in thy mother's heart, my boy, Which yearns and bleeds for thee, Are echoing still those words of joy, — ' O Mother ! don't you see ? ' " I '11 trust in One who ever hears, — 'T is darksome night with me, My eyes are blind with scalding tears ; But, darling, I shall see ! " ADDENDA. ADDITIONAL REMINISCENCES PRINCIPALLY PERTAINING TO LEVI HUTCHLNS, EMBRACING AN ACCOUNT OF HIS DEATH. LOOKING- back through the mists of time, I recall to memory many incidents relating to my father, and although some are trifling, yet a record of them here may not be out of place. A poet says, — " O Memory, wafted by thy gentle gale, Oft up the stream of Time I turn my sail." Wafted by the gale of memory back to the days of my boyhood, I am reminded that my father then gave me, while we were walking together hand in hand up the road toward our house, thirty-five cents in small change, saying, " Samuel, thou art a little boy, but I am fifty years old, and have helped thee in thy young days. Now, as we grow older, wilt thou not help me ? " "I truly will," was my reply. At another time he said to me, " I will take my powder-horn, &c, and go a-gunning; thou 168 ADDENDA. mayst go with me." As we were returning home, I said, " It is going to rain." " Then," rejoined he, "we '11 do as they do in Spain, — let it rain." Two years after these little incidents occurred, he had an extraordinary crop of clover hay ; while carting it into his barn he laughingly said to one of his hired men, " My father used to say, ' I would as lief have a barn full of northwest wind as of clover hay.' " One of my father's maxims was, " Early to bed and early to rise." Long before sunrise, in sum- mer, he was accustomed to be at work in one of his fields ; few men could keep up with him in using the hoe, and his work was not only quickly but well done. In winter he arose at four o'clock, and, after making a fire, would sit by the side of it a while ; then feed his cattle, make a fire in his shop, and work there before breakfast. The last time in the evening that he attended to his animals in the barn, was at eight o'clock ; for several years during boyhood, I made it a point to go with him on this errand, holding the lantern as an excuse for accom- panying him, as in reality I did not like to have him go alone, fearing some accident might befall him. At this period of life, I often went with him when he rode in his wagon from place to place to sell cotton cloth and bkass clocks ; wooden time- keepers he would never make nor repair. During one of these journeys we stopped a while at Hano- ver, N. H., were he sold to a storekeeper a num- ADDENDA. 169 ber of rolls of cloth, and then put in order a clock in a large dwelling-house opposite the store. The lady of the house asked him to sell her five yards of cotton cloth. " O no," replied he, smiling, " I am not a dealer in the article on so small a scale." " Then," rejoined she, " will you sell me a whole roll ? " " Yes, yes," was the quick reply. Of Daniel and Ezekiel Webster I have heard him relate the following anecdote : " One morn- ing, while I was eating breakfast at the tavern kept by Daniel Webster's father, Daniel and his brother Ezekiel, little boys with dirty faces and snarly hair, came to the table and asked me for bread and butter. I complied with their request, not thinking that they would become, in the course of time, two very distinguished men. Daniel dropped his piece of buttered bread on the sandy floor, and the buttered side was down. On picking it up he showed it to me, saying, ' What a pity ! Please to give me another piece of bread buttered on both sides, then if I let it fall one of the but- tered sides will be up.' " Of Daniel Webster, who was " cradled 'mid the granite hills " of New Hampshire, a poet says : — " And now from height to height he strides amain, While luminous with truth his pathway glows ; Where others toil and strive to climb in vain He stands in calm, magnificent repose. " He spake, and listening senates learn'd the law, Tracing each streamlet to its fountain source ; 170 ADDENDA. The nations heard his words with wondering awe Reverberate till their rocky shores were hoarse. " But he has vanish'd from the walks of men, And we shall hear his thrilling voice no more ; Nor shall we e'er ' behold his like again,' Nor list from other lips such lofty lore." My father had a large assortment of carpenters' tools, and used them in making various things. With but little assistance he built for himself a large barn. He made the looms for his factory and others which he sold. On his return from a visit to the Shaker village in Canterbury, N. H., he said, " I have seen a wonderful invention, — a machine for planting onion, beet, and carrot seeds," and forthwith made one for himself. I once heard him relate to a friend, that he had in many instances exonerated his debtors, who were in indigent or unfortunate circumstances, from paying him. A farmer bought of him on credit a loom, used it a year, and then solicited him to take it back, which he did and required no pay for its use. Full often men, regardless of just principles in trade, selfish and grasping, " spend their lives in heaping up colossal piles of treasure, which stand, at the end, like the pyramids in the desert sands, holding only the dust of kings." But my father, governed by the principle, that " in all things what- soever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them," manifested no disposition to ruin others in order to enrich himself. ADDENDA. 171 As " a life of ease is not for any man, nor for any god," my father was not exempted from troubles. If, then, " the changes, which break up at short intervals the prosperity of men, are adver- tisements of a nature whose law is growth ; " if " with the wind of tribulation God separates in the floor of the soul the Chaff from the Corn ; " and if " the bad fortune of the good turns their faces up to heaven, and the good fortune of the bad bows their heads down to the earth," why should not men view their calamities as blessings in disguise ? 1 1 The following paragraphs, which I transcribe from a little book, entitled If Hebrew Tales," my father read with great interest : — " Compelled by violent persecution to quit his native land, Kabbi Akiba wandered over barren wastes and dreary deserts. His whole equipage consisted of a lamp, which he used to light at night, in order to study the Law, a cock, which served him instead of a watch, to announce to him the rising dawn, and an ass on which he rode. " The sun was gradually sinking beneath the horizon, night was fast approaching, and the poor wanderer knew not where to shelter his head, or where to rest his weary limbs. Fa- tigued, and almost exhausted, he came at last near a village. He was glad to find it inhabited, thinking where human be- ings dwelt, there dwelt also humanity and compassion ; but he was mistaken. Not one of the inhospitable inhabitants would accommodate him. He was therefore obliged to seek shelter in a neighboring wood. ' It is hard, very hard,' said he, ' not to find a hospitable roof to protect me against the inclemency of the weather. But God is just, and whatever he does is for the best.' " He seated himself beneath a tree, lighted his lamp, and 172 ADDENDA. The trouble that " Number Four " caused my father, had, at different times, the effect to depress began to read the Law. He had scarcely read a chapter, when a violent storm extinguished the light. ' What ! ' ex- claimed he, ' must I not be permitted even to pursue my favorite study? But God is just, and whatever he does is for the best.' " He stretched himself on the earth, willing, if possible, to have a few hours' sleep. He had hardly closed his eyes, when a fierce wolf came and killed the cock. ' What new misfor- tune is this ? ' ejaculated the astonished Akiba. ' My vigilant companion is gone ! Who, then, will henceforth awaken me to the study of the Law ? But God is just ; he knows what is best for us poor mortals.' " Scarcely had he finished the sentence, when a terrible lion came and devoured the ass. ' What is to be done now ? ' ex- claimed the lonely wanderer. ' My lamp and both of my companions are gone, — all is gone! But praised be the Lord, whatever he does is for the best' " He passed a sleepless night, and early in the morning went to the village, to see whether he could procure a horse, or any other beast of burden, to enable him to pursue his journey. But what was his surprise, not to find a single in- dividual alive ! It appears that a band of robbers had en- tered the village during the night, killed its inhabitants, and plundered their houses. " As soon as Akiba had sufficiently recovered from the amazement into which the wonderful occurrence had thrown him, he lifted up his voice, and exclaimed, ' Thou great God, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, now I know by expe- rience that poor mortal men are short-sighted and blind ; often considering as evils what are intended for their preservation ! But thou alone art just, and kind, and merciful ! Had not the hard-hearted people driven me, by their inhospitality, from the village, I should assuredly have shared their fate. Had ADDENDA. 173 his spirits. During one of these times my mother said to him, " Do not be discouraged ; the Lord will provide all things best for us. ' The Lord,' says Solomon, is far from the wicked, but he heareth the prayer of the righteous.' If in the Lord thou putst thy trust He will bless thee and bring shame upon those who do thee wrong." To which my father pleasantly, but with an expression of deep despondency, replied, "All I desire is death ! Give me a little spot of ground — that is all ! " Three or four months after this incident, while my father was away from home on business, "Num- ber Four" came to our house; my mother, in the course of conversation with him, made the inquiry, "Canst thou not give my husband more time in which to pay thy demand ? " He replied, " No ! " My father, on returning home, heard the result of " Four's" visit with sorrow. I said to him, " Why are you so sorrowful?" He replied, "Thou art too young to understand the trouble that ' Number Four' gives me." On one occasion he said to a friend, " I am not rich, but perhaps I might have been if I had done, in trade, by mankind as certain persons have done by me." He had a very good share of business prosperity, not the wind extinguished my lamp, the robbers would have been drawn to the spot and have murdered me. I perceive, also, that it was thy mercy which deprived me of my two companions, that they might not by their noise give notice to the banditti where I was. Praised, then, be thy name forever and ever ! " 174 ADDENDA. enough for encouragement, and a sufficiency of adversity to check pride. " When flowers are full of heaven-descended dews, they always hang their heads ; but some men hold theirs the higher the more they receive, getting proud as they get full." He possessed a well-balanced mind, and if he had met with no reverses in business, but had accumu- lated large possessions of wealth, he would not have held his head so high as to make it a target for envy to shoot at. He well knew that if those who are puffed up by the possession of riches, fail and go down, a multitude of people rejoice in their fall. In 1844 my wife with our son, Charles Gordon, accompanied him in a journey from Cambridge, Mass., to Concord, N. H. They passed through Harvard, but made no stop there except that my father checked his horse to gaze on scenes of his childhood ; for it is indeed true, as some sages have taught, that " man's good angel hovers over the place of his birth, and dwells with peculiar fond- ness on the days of his innocent childhood." Point- ing to an old house, he said to Charles, " Look at that house ; I was born in it, and I used to play on the ground in front when I was a little boy. On that ground my brother Abel and I wrestled together after eating a hearty supper of poached eggs, seventy years ago." This old dwelling-house is still standing, in 1864, and has been for a long time occupied by Nathan Willard, Sen. While ADDENDA. 175 riding through Harvard, with my wife and son, my father related to them other incidents of his early years, pertaining to hills, fields, etc., and doubtless some of his feelings are expressed in the following stanza : — " Ah, happy hills ! ah, pleasing shade ! Ah, fields beloved in vain ! Where once my careless childhood strayed, A stranger yet to pain ! I feel the gales that from ye blow A momentary bliss below, As waving fresh their gladsome wing, My weary soul they seem to soothe, And, redolent of joy and youth, To breathe a second spring." It is possible that, in reviewing on this occasion scenes of his youth, he inly said, " Many a boy I knew is dead, and many a girl grown old." More- over, some of his thoughts and queries may, per- chance, be expressed in the passage following : — " The good old dames, in their white hoods and black-velvet gowns — their daughters, ' the cynosure of neighboring eyes,' — where are they all now, who, when they entered the church, used to divide men's thoughts between them and Heaven ? " In 1850 he carefully examined all his account- books to correct errors he might find in them, and to learn the true condition of his business affairs. While so engaged he discovered, to his great sur- prise, that he was indebted to the amount of $38 to his old instructor in clock-making, Simon Willard, 176 ADDENDA. both parties having entertained the belief that their accounts were balanced. But when my father ascertained the case to be otherwise, two years after the d«ath of Mr. Willard, he went to Roxbury and there found a daughter of Mr. Willard in needy circumstances. He gave her the $38, which she thankfully received, and shortly afterward invested in the purchase of a cow, that became a source of comfort and support to her as well as a memento, though a perishable one, of an honorable act. A few years before Mr. Willard's death, he came to Cambridge and put in order the tower-clock of the Unitarian church. As he passed through Harvard Square, a young lady, recognizing him, said to her companion, " That venerable man with silvery locks must be a good clock-maker, for he has grown gray in the occupation. He is what I should call a good time-keeper himself, for he has lived to enjoy a great deal of time." My father's act when ninety years old, of caus- ing a new dam to be built at Forge Pond, was very pleasing to him. " I often go up to my new dam," he wrote me, " but more frequently view it from the back-door of my house." From this door-way I have often seen him at work in his saw-mill, or in his shop ; and I saw the brook and the hill — well known by the sobriquet of Rattlesnake. " The hills are dearest which our childish feet Have climbed the earliest ; and the streams most sweet Are ever those at which our young lips drank, Stooped to their waters o'er the grassy bank ! " ADDENDA. 177 My father gave to each of his six daughters and three sons a time-keeper. To me he gave one of these which he made soon after establishing the business of clock-making in Concord. It has no bell. " We take no note of time but from its loss ; to give it then a tongue is wise in man." As he was a musician in his youthful years, doubtless he did not forget, as he advanced in age, the tunes then familiar to him. While he was making clocks, I have often heard him — almost whistle. He became the owner of a musical clock which was much out of order. He put it into com- plete repair, and gave it to my brother John ; it played seven different tunes. After establishing himself as a clock-maker in " The Street," he frequently had occasion to travel to different parts of New England, on business, and as he grew older his fondness for travel increased ; it did not forsake him in old age ; consequently he went on a journey, three or four times a year, to transact some business or to visit his friends. When he was ninety years old, I heard him say, "As I travel from place to place I meet with old acquaint- ances who manifest toward me much kindness ; and from many strangers I have received friendly re- gard. With many men I have had a pleasant in- tercourse through a period of forty years, without discovering in them a disposition to deceive or do otherwise than treat me well. In their society I have enjoyed real happiness, and their remembrance 12 178 ADDENDA. is cheering to my old age." His visits at my house in Cambridge have imparted to my family and my- self much happiness. On these occasions, having tarried with us a day or two, he would sometimes say, " I must go home, for if I do not Anna will think I am lost." To amuse him I frequently told him anecdotes, riddles, &c, among which was the following connumdrum, written by George Can- ning, Prime Minister to George II. : — " There is a word of plural number, A foe to peace and human slumber ; Now any word you chance to take, By adding s you plural make ; But if an s you add to this, How strange the metamorphosis ! Plural is plural then no more, And sweet what bitter was before." In vain he tried to think of the right word. "You know," said I, "that cares are bitter; add an s to the word and you metamorphose it into caress, which is very sweet." During the last twenty years of his life my father read many books, among which were the works of Benjamin Franklin, John Adams, and Daniel "Webster, the Madison Papers, the Orations and Speeches of Edward Everett, and Sparks' Life of Washington. On the margins of the pages of the last-named book, are many of his pencil-marks indicative of his admira- tion of Washington's character. • Having been an eye-witness of some of the scenes of the Revolutionary contest, he particularly ADDENDA. 179 noticed the following passages while reading some of Hon. Edward Everett's speeches : — " I gaze with respectful admiration on these venerable men, the survivors, the few and sole sur- vivors, of the eventful days in which they bore so honorable a part. One of them, Mr. Jonathan Harrington, who has this moment been assisted from the platform, ' filled the fife ' on that morn- ing of peril and glory at Lexington. . . . While I was helping that infirm old man, a few minutes since, to draw on his outer garment, as I saw him trembling with years, — the arm which held the fife on the nineteenth of April, 1775, now so feeble and nerveless, — I was ready to exclaim, since we have been alluding to him by the Christian name, ' I am distressed for thee, my brother Jonathan ; very pleasant hast thou been unto me.' " " The next letter is a treasure, for its author's sake. It was written by Putnam, on the immortal seventeenth ; but written at Cambridge and before he went down to the battle. Here is the veteran's signature, of which I will only say it is somewhat doubtful whether it was made with a goosequill, the point of a cutlass, or the handle of a pickaxe. It announces the arrival of eighteen barrels of powder from Connecticut." " When a war of self-defence, a war for those rights which make it life to live, is forced upon a people, it must be manfully met ! That our Revo- lutionary contest was such a war, is now admitted by the consent of mankind." 180 ADDENDA. In a letter that John Adams wrote in 1820 are these words : " I have great reason to rejoice in the happiness of my country, which has fully equalled, though not exceeded, the sanguine anticipations of my youth. God prosper long our glorious country, and make it a pattern to the world." The fact that my grandfather fought in the battle of Bunker Hill, and that my father "filled the fife" a while in the struggle for American Independence, has been cherished in my remembrance with feel- ings of much pleasure, not unmixed with pride. Mr. George W. Chase, author of the " History of Haverhill," says that the tune of the Americans at Bunker Hill was "Yankee Doodle." 1 It was 1 The following version gives it as sung at least seventy years ago : — " Father and I went down to Camp, Along with Captain Goodwin, Where we see the men and boys As thick as hasty-puddin. There was Captain Washington, Upon a slapping stallion, A giving orders to his men — I guess there was a million. " And then the feathers on his hat, They looked so tarnal Jina, I wanted pockily to get To give to my Jemima. " And there they had a swampin gun, As large as log of maple, On a deuced little cart — A load for father's cattle. ADDENDA. 181 the first time of its use by them, but ever after it was their favorite, and has become our most popular national air. The story runs, that the song was composed by a British officer of the Revolution, " And every time they fired it off, It took a horn of powder ; It made a noise like father's gun, Only a nation louder. " I went as near to it myself As Jacob's underpinnin, And father went as near agin — I thought the deuce was in him. " And there I see a little Jceg, Its heads were made of leather — They knocked upon 't with little sticks To call the folks together. " And there they 'd fife away like fun, And play on cornstalk fiddles, And some had ribbons red as blood, All wound about their middles. " The troopers too would gallop up And fire right in our faces ; They scared me almost half to death To see them run such races. " Old uncle Sam come there to change Some pancakes and some onions, For 'lasses-cakes, to carry home To give his wife and young ones. " But I can't tell you half I see, They kept up such a smother ; So I took my hat off — made a bow, And scampered home to — mother I " 12* 182 ADDENDA. with a view to ridicule the Americans, who, by way of derision, were styled Yankees. There is a time for all things, and consequently a time for rejoicing. When my father heard the news of peace, in 1815, between Great Britain and the United States, he was sitting in one of the front rooms of his house, holding a pair of tongs, which he instantly clapped together, expressing much joy. In June, 1854, 1 commenced sending him a letter every week. The last time that he was at my house, he asked me, just before leaving, whether I had a letter ready for him to take home and read ? On receiving a negative reply, he said, " Then I am sorry." He wrote his last letter to me in 1854, when he was ninety-two years and six months old. " I have thought," said he, " of leaving something [a sketch of his life], so that when I am gone and never more to return, you and others may look upon it and be reminded that such a being as Levi Hutchins once existed on the earth, and lived 76 years out of more than 92 without a single day of sick- ness." This letter, — see page 42, — contained these words : " I wish you to remember that in His granddaughter, Mrs. Metford, passed several months at his house, in 1854-5, and while there wrote me a number of letters, the following be'ing an extract from one of them : — ADDENDA. 183 " In the evening grandpa read thy letter through and was highly entertained with its contents : in- deed, he was exceedingly diverted with thy amusing account of Thanksgiving performances, in which thou, thy family, and other relatives took parts. He has not often made an effort at reading by lamp- light, since I came here. Unless the sun is shining, he cannot see well to read anything. Fe"nelon and h Kempis, the print of which is large and clear, he often reads. His health is good and mind sound." From another of her letters, dated at West Con- cord, June 6, 1855, I copy as follows : — " Occasionally grandpa coughs, and, although he lies a greater part of the time upon his bed, yet he appears to have no disease. The circumstance of his lying a-bed in the daytime is so uncommon, that he smilingly remarked, ' Now I believe that Death is about to remove me to the delightful realms above.' His mental powers never were clearer ; he is cheerful and happy, has given par- ticular directions respecting his funeral, desires me and others to tell everybody how comfortably sick he is, and that he is favored now by his heavenly Father and always has been. And who can doubt this ? No one ever saw a more striking example of a quietj transplanting from the earthly to the heavenly home. There is no pleasanter or more exalting scene than to behold an aged man, in the full possession of intellect, gradually and happily passing heavenward. He is constantly attended 184 ADDENDA. by a number of his children and grandchildren, who strive to render him acts of kindness, for which he often expresses much gratitude." On the 8th of June, 1855, with a little assist- ance, he arose from the bed, — a clock of his own manufacture meanwhile ticking away the seconds of time in a corner of the room, — put on his clothes, sat down by a window, drank a little coffee, and wound up his watch. As I witnessed this scene, and looked from the windows at the mill near by, or down the street and toward the river, or at the old orchard land : — as I beheld these things, in a mo- ment, — " In that moment o'er my soul Years of memory seem'd to roll." After a while he lay down and conversed very cheerfully about his garden and various other mat- ters. He continued to enjoy the full possession of his faculties, the company of attending relatives, and freedom from bodily or mental pains, until " the wheels of his time ceased to revolve, because their pivots had become so worn in their sockets, and their periphery so smooth, that no farther repairing could make them act reciprocally upon each other or for a longer time keep up the motions of life." Thus he quietly and happily departed from this world, on the 13th day of June, 1855, aged 93 years, 9 months, and 26 days. It has been truth- fully remarked, that years and generations cease not to roll. The youngest, if they live, must be ADDENDA. 185 old, and the oldest must die. " There is a ripeness of time for death," said Thomas Jefferson, " re- garding others as well as ourselves, when it is rea- sonable we should drop off, and make room for another growth. When we have lived our genera- tion out, we should not wish to encroach on another. I enjoy good health. I am happy in what is around me ; yet I assure you, I am ripe for leaving all, this year, this day, this hour." An author says, " Youth is the season of recep- tivity ; old age is for revision. Extreme age in- volves loss of power to act, but not so much loss of wisdom to judge. Old men, therefore, though less fitted for executive stations, are still the best of counsellors. Men, like growing fruit, should mel- low as time advances ; but more frequently estranged from what is proper to them, like fruits prematurely gathered, they only decay into a semblance of ripe- ness. The finest of all accomplishments is that of growing old gracefully. Next to this is the merit of accepting the fact of old age with serenity and unfaltering courage. Among the most agreeable of companionships is that of an old man who has the art of making his company acceptable to the young. No man is entitled to be spoken of as an old man till he has turned seventy. Only at this period — a period still consistent with unimpaired intellectual vigor — does the reverence proper to age begin. And this view accords with that of the wise Frenchman, M. Flourens. ' The first ten 186 ADDENDA. years of life,' he says, ' are infancy, properly so called ; the second ten is the period of boyhood ; from twenty to thirty is the first youth ; from thirty to forty, the second. The first manhood is from forty to fifty-five; the second from fifty-five to seventy. This period of manhood is the age of strength, the manly period of human life. From seventy to eighty-five is the first period of old age, and at eighty-five the second old age begins.' " My father's remains were interred in the Friends' burial-ground, in Concord. Some months subse- quent to his decease, one of his grandchildren said of him : " Grandpa's memory will ever be fondly cherished in the hearts of those who loved his pleasant ways, affectionate greetings, and agreeable company." His person was well proportioned ; stature nearly six feet ; features regular and symmetrical ; 1 eyes blue, and the expression of his countenance indicated thoughtfulness, and a good disposition. His manners were pleasant, courteous, and cheerful, and no one could justly entertain ill feelings toward him. He was candid and sincere ; friends true and many he had, and he highly appreciated the kindnesses of all persons toward him. He was not actuated by sinister motives, and did not resort to unworthy means for the attainment of an end. Truth and justice found an abiding-place in his mind, and the 1 « Thy father," said an aged lady to me, " was the hand- somest man, in his youth, that I ever saw." ADDENDA. 187 want of these virtues in those whom he had trusted, utterly destroyed his confidence in them. He be- lieved that " man wants a religion to sustain his heart and afford it a rest which he cannot find with- in himself." His religious views were decidedly in accordance with those entertained by Friends ; for certain reasons, however, he withdrew from that Society several years before his decease. But to his last hours he was a true Friend in heart and principle. He was fond of reading the works of distinguished Friends, — of William Penn, Robert Barclay, and others. A framed likeness of Wil- liam Penn he kept suspended under a looking-glass in the room where he passed much of his 1 time. " The Quaker character," says Charles Lamb, " was hardened in the fires of persecution in the seventeenth century ; not quite to the stake and fagot, but little short of that. They grew up and thrived against noisome prisons, cruel beatings, whippings, stockings. They have since endured a century or two of scoffs, contempts ; they have been a by-word and a nay-word ; they have stood unmoved; and the consequence of long conscien- tious resistance on one part is invariably, in the end, remission on the other." In business my father's desire was, that whatever work passed from his hands should be well done ; had he thought less of integrity and honor, and 1 I once heard him say, " George Fox pointed out a rough path for mankind to walk in, but William Penn beautified it." 188 ADDENDA. more of riches, he might have left more treasures in gold, but less affection for him in the hearts of his surviving friends. Deus eum benedicat ! One pleasant afternoon in June, forty-eight years ago, my father came to a window of his ancient mansion-house, where my mother was seated, and smilingly said to her, — " This is' a delightful day." "Yes," she replied, "June is indeed the king of months." They happily continued their conversation for half an hour, I, meanwhile, listening to what they said. They told one another little incidents re- lating to their parents. Their happy smiles during this interview were as pleasant as the sunny day to which allusion was made. Note. — The setting of the types, and the press-work or printing of this book, were performed by its author, principally evenings, after doing his regular day's work of ten hours.