RECORD 
 
 OF THE 
 
 CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION, 
 
 OF THE 
 
 INCORPORATION OF THE 
 
 TOWN OP DUNBARTOK N. H 
 
 ON WEDWESDAY, SEPTEMBER 13, 
 
 1865. 
 
 MANCHESTER, N. H. 
 
 FROM THE PKESS OF HENRY A. GAGE, 85 MERCHANTS' EXCHANGE. 
 
 1866. 
 
■Jim 
 
 •' f/^ i'-3 J-V 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 Some apology may seem due for the long delay in issuing this Cen- 
 tennial Hecord. This delay has been caused entirely by the difficulty 
 of procuring the manuscripts promptl3^ Some have not yet been re- 
 ceived ; but it is thought best to wait no longer. 
 
 It should be remembered that, owing to the lateness of the hour, 
 several of the responses and other exercises were omitted on the day 
 of celebration. Thej- are, however, all collected here, representing 
 as nearly as possible what would have been done had time permitted. 
 Two or three sentiments, the responses to which, could not be ob- 
 tained, have been omitted. 
 
 If this Record seems too minute in any respect, the readers will 
 please consider that matters which seem very trifling in the present, 
 become of great interest as time passes by. Let the items be read 
 from the standpoint of 1965, and they will have an interest not now 
 realized. 
 
 For errors and omissions in the parts for wl^ich he is responsible, 
 the Editor craves a kind indulgence. 
 
 Dunbarton, N. H., January 22, 1866. 
 
DUNBAHTON CENTENNIAL. 
 
 The first defiuite actiou in reference to a Centennial Celebration, 
 was the posting of the following notice : 
 
 To THE Inhabitants of the Town of Dunkarton : — It being 
 customary tor towns to celebrate their Centennial Anniversaries, and 
 this being the one hundredth year since the incorporation of this 
 town, by request of many citizens we hereby invite all who are in- 
 terested, to meet at the Town House on Wednesday, July oth, at 7 
 o'clock, P. M., to take the subject into consideration, and take such 
 action in relation thereto as may be necessary. 
 
 JOHX B. mELAND, ) Selectmen 
 
 ENOCH P. IMARSHALL, f of 
 
 CHARLES KIMBALL, ) Dunijarton. 
 
 Dunbarton^ June 30th, 1865. 
 
 In response to the above invitation, a few of the citizens came to- 
 gether and unanimously voted to celebrate the one hundreth anniver- 
 sary of the town's incorporation. There being so few present, it was 
 judged expedient to take no further action till an attempt should be 
 made to secure a larger attendance. Measures were accordingly tak- 
 en to notif}' all the inhabitants by a committee in each school dis- 
 trict, and invite them to meet on Saturday, July 8th. At this meeting- 
 it was voted that the proposed Celebration be on AVednesday, Sep- 
 tember 13th, and the following committees were appointed to carry 
 the vote into efiect : 
 
 Committee on Exercises: — Silvanus Ilayward, Stephen Pillsbury, 
 Nathaniel H. Wheeler, Daniel IL Parker, Charles G. B. Ryder. 
 
 Committee on Finance: — Thomas Wilson, John Lord, Eliphalet 
 R. Sargent, John Burnham, Leroy R. Mills. 
 
Committee on Invitations :— Henry M. Putney, David Story, Gil- 
 bert B. French, James M. Bailey, Leonard Rowell. 
 
 Committee on Dinner :— Charles Stinson, Henry L. Burnham, 
 Enoch P. Marshall, Thomas Johnson, Oliver Bailey, Jr. 
 
 Committee on Building :— Charles Kimball, John C. Mills, Harris 
 E. Ryder, Lyman Woodbury, David T. Whipple. 
 
 It was also voted that these twenty-five constitute one Executive 
 Committee to arrange for, and conduct the Celebration. This Com- 
 mittee organized by the choice of Silvanus Hayward, Chairman, and 
 Henry M. Putney, Scribe ; and subsequently Thomas Wilson was ap- 
 pointed Treasurer. As was evidently necessary, the Committee held 
 frequent meetings up to the day of celebration, a definite record of 
 which is uncalled for, as their action is sufficiently indicated in the 
 transactions of that day. Suffice it to say, they proceeded to solicit 
 and collect subscriptions to defi-ay the expenses, (see appendix) and 
 made all other necessary arrangements. 
 
 About 600 copies of the following circular were sent to natives and 
 former residents of the town : 
 
 DuNB arton Centennial Celebration, — Dunbarton sends greeting 
 to her absent sons and daughters, and bids them all — Come Home. 
 
 Dear Sir : The citizens of this town propose to celebrate the One 
 Hundredth Anniversary of its incorporation, on Wednesday, the 
 Thirteenth day of September next. Entertainments befitting the oc- 
 casion and of interest to the intelligent and the hungry, will be pro- 
 vided. 
 
 In behalf of our fellow-townsmen Ave cordiallj' and earnestly in- 
 vite you to meet with us on that day, to unite with ug in reviewing 
 the Century just passed, and bidding our honored mother "G-odSpeed" 
 for a hundred years to come. 
 
 Yours truly, 
 
 H. M. PUTNEY, 
 
 DAVID STORY, 
 G.B. FRENCH, ^Committee. 
 J. M. BAILEY, 
 L. ROWELL, J 
 Dunbarton, N. H., July, 1865. 
 
 The Manchester Cornet Band was employed to furnish the music. 
 A platform and seats sufficient to accommodate four hundred persons 
 were erected at the east end of the Town House. The old pews hav- 
 ing been removed from the center of the house, tables built of rough 
 boards, and covered with large sheets of white paper, were extended 
 across the space thus obtained. A long table was likewise built in 
 
the front gallery. The ladies decked the house with evergreen 
 wreaths, while high above the old pulpit were displayed the words 
 "WELCOME HOME." Portraits of distinguished citizens, mostly 
 deceased, were hung within the wreaths in front of the galleries. — 
 Provision was made ready in ample quantities, the bread and pastry 
 being furnished by the ladies. The officers of the day were appoint- 
 ed as follows : Chief Marshal, Col. Charles Stinson ; President, Dea. 
 Daniel H. Parker; Vice Presidents, Col. John Stinson, Capt. Benja- 
 min Whipple, EbenezerPage, Esq., Capt. Samuel Kimball and James 
 Stone, Esq. ; Toast Master, Henry M. Putney, Esq- The Chief Marsh- 
 al appointed the following Assistant Marshals: Nathaniel T. Safford, 
 Horace Caldwell and Marcus M. Holmes. 
 
 The day proved pleasant, and the number in attendance was not 
 far from two thousand. The hour announced for forming the pro- 
 cession was nine o^clock, but owing to the non-arrival of the Band, 
 it was delayed till nearly half past ten. The procession consisted of 
 about one thousand persons. Its most noticeable feature was a car- 
 riage under the charge of Leonard Rowell, Esq., containing nine of 
 the most aged guests, viz : Mrs. Anna Ray, aged 86, supposed to be 
 the oldest person present, Mrs. Nancy Ray, aged 79, John Chase, Esq., 
 aged 77, Mrs. John Chase, aged 80, Mrs. Polly Anderson, aged 73, 
 Mr. John Lull, aged 80, Mrs. John Lull, aged 70, Mr. Nicholas Dolby 
 and wife, each aged 73. The aggregate of their ages was 691 years. 
 The oldest native male person present was James Allison, Esq., of 
 Goffstown, aged 81. The oldest native male person still resident 
 in town, was Col. John Stinson, aged 80. 
 
 The procession having formed at the Town House, marched once 
 around it, then to the house of Capt. Benjamin Whipple, and back to 
 the stand. Music by the Band next followed, and was interspersed 
 ad libitum through the exercises. The President, Daniel H.Parker, 
 addressed the assembly as follows : 
 
 Sons and Daughters of Dunbarton: 
 
 The Committee of arrangements have assigned to me the pleasing 
 duty of extending to you a cordial and hearty welcome on this occa- 
 sion of celebrating the centenary of the settlement of this town. 
 
 It seemed proper and right, that a period of time so marked with 
 progress in all that pertains to the welfare of man— a period in which 
 nearly three generations have lived and have passed to the other 
 world — that such an epoch should be particularly noticed. And in 
 what manner so fitting as that we have a family meeting ? For this 
 we have invited the absent ones to return to the old hive, that we 
 may see^the faces of our beloved friends once more — take each other 
 
by Ihc hand and speak of the past, the i>resent and the future, and 
 that Ave may perpetuate those principles of virtue, morality and re- 
 ligion which adorn human society, and which were possessed in good 
 degree and were handed down to us by our ancestors. 
 
 We owe a debt of gratitude to the Giver of all good that the "lines 
 have lallen to us in such pleasant places, and that we have so goodly 
 a heritage/' 
 
 The honorable and useful course ynn have pursued in the various 
 professions and walks of life, has been observed by lis with lively in- 
 terest. You have proved that Dunbarton is " a good place to emi- 
 grate from," while ive bear testimony that it is a good town to live in. 
 
 And now, dear friends, as you have come back to the old home 
 again, we open our doors and our hearts to j'ou, and ask that you 
 will tarry with us so long as may be for your convenience and pleas- 
 ure. And as j'ou pass over these hills and valleys, through the groves 
 and by the meandering brooks, and as you sit under the tree planted 
 by your own hands and partake of its fruit, may the associations and 
 memories of the scenes of childhood and youth be pleasant and profit- 
 able. 
 
 The following Hjrmn, written for the occasion by Mrs. Annis G. 
 Marshall, was then sung to the tune, Mount Santis, bj' a choir of 
 Dunbarton singers, led by Col. S. B. Hammond. The singing book 
 used through the day was " The Harp of Judah." 
 
 Welcome home again, ye children, 
 
 Welcome to your native town, 
 Laden each with well-earned honors, 
 
 We are glad in your renown ; 
 Every heart in pleasure beating 
 
 With an honest, grateful glow, 
 That our fathers this location 
 
 Sought, one hundred years ago. 
 
 And thrice welcome to each soldier 
 
 Whom the dawn of peace has freed ; 
 Ye have served our countrj^ nobly 
 
 In her time of sorest need, 
 With that old heroic spirit 
 
 Which our fathers used to show, 
 In the stormy revolution, 
 
 Near one hundred jears ago. 
 
9 
 
 Theu to every son and daughter 
 
 We will shout a welcome home ; 
 May our children's children gather 
 
 Here a century to come. 
 Tears we shed for those who slumber 
 
 Wishing all our joys to know ; 
 May we meet in Heaven the fathers 
 
 Of one hundred years ago. 
 
 May our King, our heavenly Father, — 
 
 To whose name be all the praise, — 
 Give us hearts to love our Savior, 
 
 Health, and strength, and length of days; 
 Guide us ever onward, upward ; 
 
 Keep us from the ways of woe ; 
 Help us imitate the virtues 
 
 Of one hundred years ago. 
 
 Psalms XLIV. 1-3, LXXVIII, 1-7, and LXVH were read by Rev. 
 William Clark, of Amherst ; after which, prayer was oftered by Rev. 
 Leonard S. Parker, of Derry. The following Centennial Address 
 was then delivered by Prof. Charles G. Bubnham, of Haverhill, 
 
 Mass. 
 
ADDRESS. 
 
 Mr. President and Fellow Citizens : 
 
 I thank you for honoring me with an invitation to partici- 
 pate in the exercises of this day. It is pleasing to me to be 
 thus assured tliat I am held in favorable remembrance by the 
 people of my native town. I have only to regret, that I have 
 not had more time and ability to devote to a preparation for 
 an occasion of so much interest. 
 
 The labor, however, is not so much to collect the materials 
 for a Historical Address, as to select from facts already col- 
 lected, a connected series that can be properly presented with- 
 in the limited space of time allotted to a single exercise. 
 
 Dunbar ton has been fortunate in rearing upon her own 
 soil, her own historians. Amos Hadley, Jr., and Caleb 
 Stark, have earned a place among the benefactors of the town, 
 in that they have bestowed so much time and gratuitous la- 
 bor to collect and arrange the materials of its history. Mr. 
 Hadley, in 1845, delivered an exceedingly well written Ly- 
 ceum Lecture of great value as a History of the Town. Mr. 
 Stark followed Mr. Hadley, and added much valuable matter. 
 The Town, in 18G0, in its liberality, voted to publish the man- 
 uscript of Mr. Stark, and place a copy in the hands of every 
 tax payer in town. 
 
 This generous intention of the town, I am informed, was 
 not carried out, owing to the question having been raised, af- 
 ter the vote was passed, whether the law would justify the 
 enforcement of the collection of a tax for such a purpose. It 
 did not, probably, occur to the objectors that there was no 
 
11 
 
 law to prevent every property holder in town from paying his 
 due proportion of the expense of the publication of the work. 
 
 There is a marked difference between breaking a statute 
 law, and refusing to put forth an act because the law has not 
 anticipated and provided for it. In the one case, we are 
 transgressors of law ; in the other, we should be liable to the 
 charge of holding knowledge at a discount, when our pockets 
 are touched. 
 
 However, be this as it may, the manuscript was published, 
 and to his credit be it said, by the author. The work was 
 carefully prepared, and has appeared before the public in a 
 creditable form. Still there are, probably, many present to- 
 day, who have not seen the history of their native town. I 
 shall therefore avail myself of the- labors of Mr. Stark and 
 others, and re-producc a brief history. I must, of necessity, 
 he brief — omitting much that would be interesting — other- 
 wise I shall consume more time than properly falls to my 
 share. 
 
 And now you will allow me to present the subjects of inter- 
 est, which cluster around this day and distinguish it from all 
 others, as they occur in my own mind. The day, in itself, 
 does not differ materially from other days. If the morning 
 was clear and cloudless, or dark and stormy, cold or hot, wet 
 or dry, there have been thousands of a like character in past 
 time. Standing here in your presence, the first thought of 
 interest, is that here are assembled most of the inhabitants of 
 the town, — persons of all ages, — children and grand-children 
 — sires and grand-sires. They have never met on a like oc- 
 casion, and never will again. There never has lived but one 
 person in town, whose age could span a century. Mrs. Jo- 
 seph Leach lived 102 years. 
 
 The second interesting thcmght is that here are those who 
 have long been absent ; old men meeting old men, from whom 
 they parted in their boyhood, and whom they have never 
 met since. They have been tossed on life's broad ocean thir- 
 ty, forty or fifty years, and most of those who shipped at the 
 same time, have been wrecked. But the few surviving have 
 
 ;#^!^i^^. 
 
12 
 
 returned, moored their vessels in this little harhor, whence 
 they set sail, come on shore to-day to call the roll, to take 
 each other once more by the hand, and to learn the history of 
 the livinjr and the dead. But the thought most interest- 
 ing, and which stirs the soul in its lowest depths, letting in- 
 to its inmost recesses the light of other days, is, that ive have 
 all come home ! 
 
 Yes, we are all at home to-day. The word Home was nev- 
 er so beautiful — its utterance never so musical as now. Its 
 import wc all deeply feel, but cannot speak it. I once had, 
 while in College, an Indian boy about eleven years of age, un- 
 der my charge. When he had learned to read and Avrite a lit- 
 tle, he wrote a composition, and the subject was "Home." His 
 first sentence was a definition of the word, and also a propo- 
 sition to be demonstrated. He commenced by saying "Home 
 is home." Ho could think of no word, — he could command 
 no language, — that would express the thoughts the word sug- 
 gested to his mind ; and therefore, by necessity, he repeated 
 the word "home" : "Home is home." He then proceeded to 
 demonstrate : "For there I was born" (in the woods,) "and 
 brought up, and there all my relations live," (the wild Indi- 
 an,) "and therefore, I think there is no place like home." 
 
 Here is the whole philosophy of this day's gathering. It 
 does not matter where one had his birth — whether in the 
 artic or antartic region? — in the torrid or temperate zones — 
 whether in the city or in the country — in the wilderness or in 
 the town — "Home is home." Nor did I ever hear a person 
 express any regret on account of the place of his birth. The 
 Irishman who quaintly said "He might as well have been born 
 in Dublin as Cork, if he had chosen to be," but that he did 
 not choose to be, expressed a general truth. No one would 
 exchange the place of his birth for any other spot on earth, 
 for then would he barter away some of his most peecious as- 
 sociations for no equivalent. 
 
 But it is time we had commenced the task assigned us. — 
 Lotus, in imagiiuition, go back one hundred years or more ; 
 shutout of view these beautifully cultivated fields — close our 
 
13 
 
 eyes to this limitless perspective spread around us in every 
 direction — and fancy ourselves in the midst of a dense forest. 
 There are tall, sturdy trees all around us, and the under- 
 growth so dense that we can see but few rods from us. The 
 bear, the catamount, and the wolf, roam at large, and there 
 is none but the red man of the forest to dispute their right of 
 way. 
 
 We will leave this spot for the present, and go in an easterly 
 direction about two miles in search of civilization. We come 
 to the Great Meadow, so called, and here we find, on the east- 
 erly side, two families. Joseph Putney and James Rogers have 
 been here some few years, for there are apple trees already in a 
 bearing condition, and other indications of civilized life. This is 
 previous to 1746, but the precise year these families commenc- 
 ed their settlement is not known. We ask ourselves wliat mo- 
 tives could induce these men to assume such a Herculean task, 
 as to live and support their families at such a time and in such 
 a place ? It is difficult for us to divest ourselves of our life- 
 long privileges and sources of comfort, and realize the sur- 
 roundings and prospects of these men. It is true, an exten- 
 sive tract of meadow land had been cleared by the industrious 
 beaver, and even then furnished ample forage for neat stock. 
 But where was the tillage land, upon which to raise food for 
 their families ? The land was hilly and stony in the vicinity 
 of the meadow, with no rich and fertile interval spreading 
 between the hills, and not a tree felled by the ax. The men 
 who would voluntarily grapple with such obstacles, were no 
 common men. Surely they had none of what we call luxu- 
 ries to anticipate in their generation. It would seem to us 
 that they most fully realized the scripture, " No man liveth to 
 himself, and no man dieth to himself," for they must have 
 lived and labored for the generations which were to come af- 
 ter them. It would seem that they most cheerfully submitted 
 to the law — " In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat thy 
 bread, till thou return to the ground whence thou wast ta- 
 ken." For it is true, that for every pound of bread which 
 they produced, they must have expended an equal amount of 
 
14 
 
 l»one and muscle. In 1746 these settlers were obliged to re- 
 treat to Concord, then called Rumford, to escape massacre by 
 the Indians, who came the same night they made their escape, 
 burned their dwellings, cut down all their apple trees save 
 one, and slaughtered their cattle. Putney and Rogers 
 remained in Concord three years, until the close of the In- 
 dian war in 1749, when they returned and made a* permanent 
 settlement. As yet, those persons appear to have no special 
 title to the land tliey occupied. James Rogers gave it the 
 name of Mountalona, from a place of the same name in Ire- 
 land or Scotland. Stark says in Ireland, where he once lived. 
 In 1751, says our historian, the 54th year of the reign of 
 George the Second, Benning Wentworth being provisional 
 governor of New Hampshire, a settlement was commenced, a 
 grant of a township having been made by the assigns of John 
 Tufton Mason to Archibald Stark, Caleb Paige, Hugh Ramsey 
 and others. Tliis grant embraced a territory five miles square. 
 It included a portion of the present town of Hooksett. The 
 next settlement, of which we have any reliable information, 
 was made in the western part of the town, by Thomas Mills, 
 William Stinson and John Hogg. Many of the first settlers 
 of Dunbarton,or Starkstown, as it was originally called, were 
 Scotch-Irish, that is, they were Scotchmen whose ancestors, 
 one hundred years before, fled from Scotland to Ireland to 
 avoid religious persecution, and their descendants fled from 
 Ireland to this country for the same reason. The southern 
 section of tlie town was settkd mainly by immigrants from 
 different sections of Massachusetts. Several families came 
 from Chebacco, now Essex. Of these families, six were of the 
 name of Burnham, and settled in the vicinity of each other. 
 Records show that highways were laid out previous to 1760. 
 The road in the western part of the town, which passes the 
 church, was one of the first laid out, and was the road trav- 
 elled by teams from the towns above to market. Within the 
 memory of the speaker, this road was much travelled. I 
 well remember hearing my grandfather ask a teamster going 
 north, where he was bound ? (a common phrase used in those 
 
15 
 
 days for where are you going?). He replied, " To the future 
 state," meaning the state of Vermont. In 1760, one hundred 
 acres of land were granted by the proprietors to Capt. Jolin 
 Stark, as an encouragement to build a saw-mill, upon the con- 
 dition that the mill should be completed within one year. — • 
 The mill was built. A corn-mill was afterwards erected by 
 the same individual. In 1771, a corn-mill was built by a Mr. 
 Hadley. In my boyhood, it was called Kimball's mill. 
 
 The proprietors held their meetings for the transaction of 
 business, until the first meeting house was built, which was 
 nearly eighteen years, at the house of Capt. William Stark. 
 The first public meeting in Dunbarton was held October 17th, 
 1752, upon land settled by Daniel and John McCurdy. The 
 historian does not say whether the meeting was held in a house 
 or in the open air. I extract from Stark's History the follow- 
 ing — " Archibald Stark being the first named grantee, and one 
 of the principal proprietors, the grant was, in compliment to 
 him, called Starkstown, by which name it was known fourteen 
 years. On the 10th of August, 1765, in the fifth year of the 
 reign of George the Third, it was made 'a body politic and 
 corporate, to have continuance until His Mejesty's pleasure 
 should be signified to the contrary, by the name of Dunbar- 
 ton, with powers and authorities, privileges, immunities and 
 franchises,' belonging to other towns in the province. Its 
 new name was adopted as a memorial of fond recollections 
 retained for the town and castle of Dumbarton, in Scotland, 
 from the vicinity of which Archibald Stark, and the ancestors 
 of many of the inhabitants, emigrated." 
 
 Governor Wentworth, in the name of the king, signed the 
 Charter, in which Caleb Paige was authorized to call the first 
 meeting, any time within forty days after the date of it. — 
 " Thenceforth all the meetings for the election of town offi- 
 cers, were to be held on the second Tuesday in March. In 
 1791, an Act was obtained from the General Court, by which 
 the town was authorized to hold its annual town meeting the 
 first Tuesday in March." 
 
 " The first regular town-meeting held in Dunbarton, after 
 
16 
 
 its incorporation, assembled at tlie house of William Stark, 
 Sept. 3d, 1765, when were chosen its first town officers." We 
 have no knowledge that the town was ever represented in the 
 Provincial Legislature. In 1775, Caleb Page was chosen a 
 delegate to the Provincial Congress. For several years, Jere- 
 miah Page represented Dunbarton and Bow in that Legisla- 
 ture. Li 1793, David Story was elected representative. He 
 was the first elected by the town in its separate capacity. — 
 During the period over which we have now passed, the popu- 
 lation of the town rapidly increased. In 1770, the number 
 of inhabitants Avas 497. From 1770 to 1790, the increase 
 was 420, making the whole population of the town 917. — 
 From 1790 to 1840, the gain was only thirty-three. Thus it 
 appears, that for a term of fifty years, the town did little bet- 
 ter than to hold its own ; nor does the population differ ma- 
 terially to-day from what it was seventy-five years ago. It is 
 not to be supposed that there has been no increase of popula- 
 tion during all this time. The town has furnished settlers for 
 other and newer sections of our country. The question may 
 be asked, why it was, that when the population of the town 
 had reached certain limits, it l)ecame nearly stationary ? The 
 answer is obvious. The land was nearly or quite all meted 
 out into lots, and taken up. And they reasoned that, if a 
 man can barely gain a livelihood on a large farm, that he 
 could not live at all on a small one. For it is a modern dis- 
 covery, that one acre well tilled, is more profitable than two 
 tilled as it was in those days. Not, therefore, thinking it ju- 
 dicious to divide the old homestead, they chose to emigrate. 
 Nor wonldit be strange, if occasionally, a young man of read- 
 ing and of an inquiring mind, should have received an im- 
 pression, that somewhere in this wide world, there might pos- 
 sibly be a milder climate, and a more alluvial and fertile soil, 
 than in his native town. 
 
 But it is time to take up another thread in our history, and 
 since it is in the warp, and runs through the web, I must re- 
 turn to the organization of the town. At the second meeting 
 of the proprietors, March, 1752, a vote wa:; passed, that a 
 
17 
 
 meeting house should be built within five years from May 
 next ensuing. In October, 1753, Caleb Page, Samuel Rankin 
 and John Stark, were appointed a committee to build a 
 meeting house. In 1765, William Stark, William Stinsou 
 and Jeremiah Page, were chosen a committee to finish the 
 meeting house. The house was finished previous to 1767. — 
 The people were not destitute of preaching during these years. 
 It is related, that Mr. McGregor preached in the open air up- 
 on the spot now consecrated as the resting place of the dead. 
 This first meeting house is described as a low frame struc- 
 ture, without pews ; with seats of rough planks, resting upon 
 chestnut logs, and a pulpit constructed of rough boards. 
 This house remained twenty years, when it was removed, and 
 this venerable building was made to occupy its place — built 
 in 1790. There were no means of warming a church in those 
 days. Nor am I sure that such a luxury would have been fa- 
 vorably regarded by all good people, in those times. It might 
 have been thought to be consulting one's comfort to the neg- 
 lect of duties more appropriate to the sanctuary, and that 
 cold hands and feet were so common, six days in the week, 
 that they should not receive special attention on the seventh. 
 However that might have been, I well remember how difficult 
 it was to neglect our hands and feet, and give attention ex- 
 clusively to the preaching. There were but two houses, far 
 back in my memory, sufficiently near the meeting house, to 
 which the people could repair, in the interim of divine ser- 
 vice, to warm themselves. One of these was the house of 
 Wm. Stark. It occupied the site of the new Congregational 
 church, on the west side of the way. The other stood iipon 
 the angle formed by the main road, and the road running 
 westerly, a little south of the church. It was built by Dr. 
 McDugal, and occupied, in my earliest reccollection, by Mr. 
 Wm. Bailey. For nineteen years after the first church was 
 erected, there was no settled ministry. Several clergymen 
 are spoken of as having been employed to preach at different 
 times. The war of the Revolution so impoverished the peo- 
 ple, that it was difficult to raise even a small amount of mon- 
 c 
 
z;y- 
 
 18 
 
 ey for'any object, other than the war. From 1780 to 1783, 
 they hired preaching but twenty-four days. October 30th, 
 1788, a committee was appointed to hire Mr, Harris to preach 
 one year, or a shorter period, on trial. January 26tli, 1789, it 
 was voted to give Mr. Harris a call. He was then a young man 
 of about 27 years of age. He was ordained August 22d, 1789. 
 Dr. Emmons, with whom he studied for the ministry, preached 
 the ordination sermon. Dr. Harris was born in Lebanon, 
 Conn., June 8th, 1761. He, with an elder and only brother, 
 enlisted a soldier in the Continental army, at the age of 16, 
 and served three years. When the war was over, he pur- 
 chased some land in Lebanon, N. H., and labored a few years 
 in felling the trees and clearing it up. One day, while thus 
 employed, having become impressed with the idea that there 
 was another sphere for him to occupy, he discussed the ques- 
 tion aloud with himself alone. And when he had exhausted 
 the subject, he summed up the arguments on both sides, and 
 proclaimed his decision aloud in open court, in these words : 
 " I am going to college." He struck his ax into the tree he 
 had felled, and left it a present to the finder. 
 
 He graduated at Dartmouth College, with high honors. — 
 The part assigned him was a Hebrew oration. There was no 
 other member of his class, who had studied the Hebrew lan- 
 guage. The foregoing is substantially as I have heard Dr. 
 Harris relate it. Dr. Harris was a man of more than ordina- 
 ry intellectual endowments. His personal appearance and 
 bearing, would indicate him to be of Puritanic stock. He had 
 a logical mind. His perceptions were remarkably clear and 
 satisfactory to himself ; and hence the entire confidence he had 
 in his own views of truth. And those views he could defend 
 with great power. Few men would venture to cope with him 
 in argument. So clearly defined were his premises, and so 
 logical his process of reasoning, that he stood like an impreg- 
 nable tower, and no ordinary battery could move him. If his 
 opponent denied his premises, (as the questions in dispute 
 were generally theological), he would leave him to quarrel 
 with their divine Author. If he admitted them, he was very 
 
19 
 
 certain, in the end, to slay his opponent with his own argu- 
 ments, and to make him feel that he had been slain with the 
 jaw bone of an ass. He had a wonderful faculty of annihi- 
 lating the arguments of his antagonists, at a single dash — 
 stripping him of his armor, in which he trusted, and compelling 
 him to realize that he had been leaning upon a broken reed. 
 I remember, when I was quite a lad, a man moved into town, 
 who was a great skeptic. He was an intelligent man, and fond 
 of discussion. He soon sought an opportunity to measure 
 lances with Dr. Harris. He attended a conference meeting, 
 and when the Dr. had finished his remarks, and given liberty 
 to any one who desired to speak, the skeptic arose, and, ap- 
 parently with a good degree of self-confidence, said ; "Dr. 
 Harris, do you believe God ever made a man to damn him to 
 all eternity?" "No," said the Dr., "nor to save him eternal- 
 ly." This reply was unexpected, and the infidel was, at first, 
 taken somewhat aback ; but he soon recovered, and asked — 
 "What, then, did He make him for, if neither to damn him, 
 nor to save him?" Dr. Harris fixed his piercing eye upon 
 him, and replied with great emphasis : " He made him for his 
 own glory." I do not remember that any reply was made ; 
 in fact, I do not perceive that any thing more could have been 
 said. I have long regarded Dr. Harris as one of the greatest 
 natural orators of the age in which he lived. "When he laid 
 aside his notes, and raised his spectacles upon his forehead, his 
 hearers knew well what to expect. His countenance would 
 light up with great brilliancy, and his clear and ringing voice 
 would so electrify his audience, that they were captives at the 
 will of the speaker. The saints he would fill with joy, and 
 carry them whither they would ; and the sinners, he would 
 alarm and carry them whither they would not. 
 
 It would be a repetition of idea, at least, to say he was a 
 man of great decision of character. I remember, that during 
 the war of 1812, so called, political parties were very violent. 
 Dr. Harris belonged to the party called Federal. The ques- 
 tion was raised whether clergymen had the right to vote. On 
 M arch meeting day, Dr. Harris, at the proper time, entered 
 
20 
 
 the meeting— elevated himself upon the steps that lead to the 
 pulpit, and with a full, commanding voice, said : " I have 
 fought the battles of my country — my only brother fell by my 
 side, and who is he who says I sha'n't vote?" and then deliber- 
 ately extended his hand to the ballot-])ox, and deposited his 
 vote. And stepping down, he walked majestically out of the 
 house. During this exhibition, the house was as silent, and 
 nearly as breathless as yonder grave yard. 
 
 The ministry of Dr. Harris was long and successful. For 
 more than forty years, he went out and in before this people. 
 He was " constant in season and out of season preaching the 
 word, whether men would hear or whether they would for- 
 bear to hear." 
 
 "In 1790, deacons were chosen for the first time, James 
 Clement being the first, and Edward Russel, the second. In 
 1792, there was a powerful revival of religion, eighty persons 
 were added to the church as the fruits. In 1826, there was 
 another extensive work of grace, and many heads of families, 
 in middle life, were added to the church." Frequent addi- 
 tions were made to the church in the interval between these 
 periods. There was one characteristic of Dr. Harris, which 
 we should not omit to notice. It was always manifest, both 
 in his preaching and in his private intercourse with his peo- 
 ple, that he was more anxious to save their souls than to get 
 them into the church. Hence, in his examination of candi- 
 dates for admission, he did not hesitate to apply the severest 
 tests. It would seem very difficult for one, while he was the 
 under shepherd, to enter the fold, hnt by the door. And the 
 result has been, tliat cases of discipline and exclusion from 
 church membership, have been exceedingly rare. 
 
 Another thread in the warp of this historic web, is your 
 schools. They also received very early attention. At the 
 same meeting of the proprietors, when the subject of the Gos- 
 pel ministry was considered, the subject of schools came up. 
 Although, during the war and some time after the close, the 
 appropriation for the support of schools, was frequently with- 
 held. March 12, 1771, an appropriation of thirty dollars was 
 
21 
 
 made for schools. This is the first of which we have any re- 
 cord. The same sum was appropriated three years success- 
 ively. From 1775 to 1785, no appropriation was made. We 
 cannot forbear to contrast this fact with the fact in regard to 
 education in New England, during the recent war of four 
 years. Never was there so much done for education. Never 
 so many and so large donations made — so much money raised. 
 Massachusetts raised $100,000 more the last year, than in 
 any one year in all her history. But to return to our subject. 
 " The first schoolmaster who taught in this town was a Mr. 
 Hogg — commonly called Master Hogg." And the first female 
 teacher was Sarah Clement. Their means of acquiring knowl- 
 edge were exceedingly limited, compared with the facilities of 
 the present day. Their school books were the Bible and 
 Psalter. In some schools, the New England Primer was re- 
 quired to be studied. The study of arithmetic was pursued 
 without the aid of a book, unless, possibly, the teacher might 
 be the rich owner of one. The teacher gave out the problems 
 to be solved, and the scholar must manage them as best he 
 could. And yet, with these scanty moans and rare opportu- 
 nities, for their term of school was short, our fathers acquired 
 so much of the elements of knowledge, as enabled them to 
 act well their part SLS7nen, and men of business. In those days 
 the people generally knew the value of education, and felt the 
 necessity of making the best possible use of the means they 
 possessed. The little they acquired at school, they put to im- 
 mediate use. Few elements of knowledge properly applied, 
 like the five mechanical powers, will effect wonders. Dr. Har- 
 ris was ever deeply interested in the subject of education, and 
 was generally, if not always, during his ministry, appointed a 
 school committee to examine teachers and visit schools. The 
 duties of his office he faithfully discharged. Dr. Harris was 
 succeeded in the ministry by Rev. John M. Putnam, who also 
 preached the word successfully for more than thirty years. — 
 Under his preaching the church was edified and built up. — 
 Mr. Putnam was succeeded by Rev. Silvanus Hayward, your 
 present minister. 
 
22 
 
 Having now briefly considered the two main threads in the 
 history of Dunbarton, ReHgion and Education — fundamental 
 pillars they might well be called, in the structure of the town, 
 we may turn to other characteristics which are generally found 
 to be a part of the frame work of such a building. And these 
 are temperance, virtue, stability, diligence in business, econo- 
 my, benevolence, patriotism, and a condition of things grow- 
 ing out of these, which is general prosperity, competence, and 
 finally, abundance and independence. These are the outlines 
 of the history of Dunbarton. From the character of such a 
 people, it is not difficult to imagine the part they would act in 
 those foreign and domestic wars, in which our country has 
 been involved. In the French and Indian wars, Dunbarton 
 bore an active and honorable part. Several of the veteran 
 soldiers of those wars served through the war of the Revolu- 
 tion, and bravely fought in the battles of Bunker's Hill, at 
 Trenton, Princeton and Bennington, and other places. Dun- 
 barton withheld neither her sons nor her means in that war, 
 which was to estaljlish, not merely our independence as a na- 
 tion, but to establish the principle of the equal right of all 
 men to enjoy the perquisites of being sons of God. In the 
 history of this world, it was reserved to be the glory of the 
 times in which our fathers lived, to give expression to the 
 principle of the equality of the natural rights of all men. — 
 Our fathers boldly proclaimed it to the world in the following 
 ever memorable words — "We hold these truths to be self-evi- 
 dent, that all men are born free and equal, having certain in- 
 alienable rights, as life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness." 
 
 In the slaveholders' war, or the Great Rebellion, as it will 
 be called in history, which broke out in tbe spring of 1861, 
 and ended in the spring of 1865, Dunbarton acted a noble 
 part. By the kindness of David Tenny, Esq., I am furnished 
 with the following statistics : " Fifty-four soldiers were called 
 for by the Adjutant General, from an enrollment of 130 able 
 bodied men. Dunbarton sent 80 recruits to the war, 05 of 
 whom were volunteers, it being 26 above all calls." I omit 
 the names of those brave men, as they are already safely en- 
 
23 
 
 rolled to re-establish those principles for which our fathers 
 sacrificed so much. Dunbarton, as she had in the preceding 
 wars, gave freely both men and money. This war, in some of 
 its features, was the most remarkable in the annals of all time. 
 
 It was characterized, on one side, bj the most unparallcd bar- 
 barity, manifested in starving to death and otherwise destroy- 
 ing the lives of Union soldiers, while they (the enemy) held 
 them prisoners of war. And on the other side, by the most 
 unbounded liberality and generosity, shown in bounties to 
 soldiers, and in provisions made for the support of their fami- 
 lies — also for sick and wounded soldiers. It would be out of 
 place, at this time, to discuss, at any length, the causes, or the 
 issues of this war. But its thrilling events — how the wisdom 
 of man was made to appear foolishness with God, and all hu- 
 man calculations were set aside, and good brought out of evil, 
 are so fresh in our memories, that it is difficult not to give 
 them a passing notice. But this much we can and must do, 
 thank God that the war is closed — that blood has ceased to 
 flow — that the old ship ot state has out-ridden the storm, and 
 although the sea still heaves and rolls, and the vessel screaks, 
 still we trust in the Master of the storm, that He will again 
 command the swelling of the sea, and all will be calm. 
 
 The bearing of this war upon the destinies of our country 
 and the world, cannot now be estimated. We confess our- 
 selves, within the last four years, to have been frequently 
 startled by the sudden issuing forth of justice and judgment 
 from behind the thick darkness that surrounds the throne, 
 but we do not yet see the end from the beginning. When jus- 
 tice and judgment shall run down our streets as a stream, and 
 righteousness as an overflowing fountain — when justice and 
 mercy shall again have met and embraced each other, then 
 shall the salvation of our country be complete, and the ways 
 of Providence vindicated to man. 
 
 We have now hastily glanced at the leading facts in the 
 settlement and growth of Dunbarton. Of one thing, I think, 
 we are assured, — that the first settlers of the town were men 
 of great physical energy — of unyielding purpose — of unre- 
 
24 
 
 mitting persevereiice ; and, also, tliat they were men who 
 practiced the most rigid economy. Of one other thing, we 
 are equally well convinced, and that is, that those qualities 
 will ensure success, whether possessed by an individual or by 
 an organization of men into a body politic. And now we 
 come to the great question of the hour, viz.: — What is the un- 
 derlying principle, what is the family or school instruction, 
 whicli secures to society such men for generations ? which 
 has modified and shaped — given direction and tendency to the 
 facts and events of the history of your town, and made the 
 town what it is ? The answer will be obvious, I think, from 
 a consideration of certain other facts connected with its his- 
 tory. The most prominent and interesting fact is, that Dun- 
 barton has enjoyed the continuous preaching of the gospel for 
 seventy-five consecutive years. The influence of the life and 
 preaching of Dr. Harris is manifest to-day in every depart- 
 ment of your material prosperity, as well as upon the moral 
 and religious character of the people, and will be for genera- 
 tions to come. It is not true that either the good or the evil, 
 that men do, is buried with their bones. The acts and the 
 words of men areas immortal as the soul. We are assemble^l 
 to-day to re-produce the character of the first settlers of the 
 town, — to recount their virtues and to give them fresh vigor, 
 and send them on through another century. I have referred 
 to the influence of the long ministry of Dr. Harris, in con- 
 nection with that of his successors, as underlying your pros- 
 perity, — as the vitalizing force in all your pursuits. Com- 
 pare your town with any other town in your vicinity, where 
 they have had no permanent ministry — have been subject to 
 frequent changes — preaching a few Sabbaths, and destitute a 
 few Sabbaths, and how stands the record ? Are the peoiDle 
 as moral, as intelligent, temperate and industrious ? Is 
 wealth as equally distributed — have they as few poor ? You 
 have not poor enough in your town to verify, within your 
 own observation, the Savior's words, " The poor ye have al- 
 ways with you." Your poor-house was nearly emptied years 
 ago, and you are all comfortable livers ; and many can com- 
 
25 
 
 mand the luxuries of life. By your industry you have com- 
 pletely subdued your hard and stony soil, and forced it to 
 yield abundantly. When I compare the real condition of 
 the town and its appearance to-day with its condition and 
 appearance forty years ago, when it ceased to be my perma- 
 nent residence, I confess my surprise at the change. Then, 
 by the industry and strict economy of all the members of a 
 large family, both ends of the year could barely be made to 
 meet. There was then no market nearer than some sea-port 
 town, and but little produce to be sold. Now, there are in 
 your immediate vicinity manufacturing villages, which furnish 
 a ready market for every variety of the products of your lands. 
 The industry of your young men has been stimulated — you 
 have improved your farms, increased your means of obtaining 
 wealth ; nor have you hoarded up your money to the neglect 
 of the conveniences of life, and matters of taste. The contin- 
 uous preaching of the gospel, and your schools, (always the 
 hand-maid of the gospel) have given the people expanded and 
 liberal views, so that in all that adorns society, Dunbartonhas 
 made most praiseworthy progress. She has sent about forty 
 of her sons to college — four per cent, of her present popula- 
 tion. Has any other town in your vicinity done as well ? 
 
 Time would fail me to dwell more at length upon the bless- 
 ings which have come down to you from a pious and industri- 
 ous ancestry. God said of Abraham, " I know him, that he 
 will command his children and his household after him, and 
 they shall keep the way of the Lord to do justice and judg- 
 ment ; that the Lord may bring upon Abraham that which he 
 hath spoken of him." So do you command your children 
 and your households, that the blessings you enjoy may be per- 
 petuated to coming generations, and Dunbarton continue to 
 occupy as now, an honorable and prominent place among her 
 sister towns. Never forgetting to inculcate those principles 
 and practices, which have brought you into possession of a 
 heritage, unrivalled in beauty of scenery, and scarcely equalled 
 in fertility and productivenCoS of soil. Remembering, that 
 upon the universal prevalence of the truths you have been 
 c 
 
26 
 
 taught, is pending the fulfillment of the promise that the 
 time shall come, when the kingdoms of this world shall he- 
 come the kingdoms of Jesus Christ. Then shall the inhabi- 
 tants of earth celebrate the final victory of truth and human- 
 ity over error and oppression, and be responded to by a mul- 
 titude of angels with a shout, saying, " Hallelujah, for the 
 Lord God omnipotent reigneth." 
 
 The following poem was then pronounced by Henry E. 
 Burnham, A. B. : 
 
 In fair Scotia's land of story, 
 
 Near the ocean's swelling tide, 
 Stands a castle, grim and hoary, 
 
 By the waters of the Clyde. 
 
 Now the sunlight lingers o'er it. 
 You can see its moss-grown walls ; 
 
 See dark chasms yawn before it, 
 See its ivj^-mantled halls. 
 
 You can hear the wild winds sighing 
 Kouud its old and crumbled sides ; 
 
 Hear the dark waves with them vieing, 
 And the deep, resounding tides. 
 
 There it stands like some stern scntiy. 
 Born to rule mid wars and strife, 
 
 Guarding well some fatal entry. 
 Watching o'er a nation's life. 
 
 Often has the hea-S'y hammer 
 
 Of its tocsin bell been stirred ; 
 Often was the battle's clamor 
 
 Through its gloomy portals heard. 
 
 Gruel time's cflacing fmgers 
 
 Have its primal beauty marred ; 
 Yet its ancient glor}^ lingers — 
 
 Theme for Scotia's wisest bard. 
 
27 
 
 'Chance, it may be yoii are asking 
 Wlitit's the name this castle bears ? 
 
 Lest your patience I seem tasking, 
 ni relieve the querist's cares : 
 
 Close by Lomond's lovely strand, 
 You have heard with honest pride, 
 
 Lies our ancient lather land — 
 Fair Dumbarton on the Clyde. 
 
 'Neath the shadow of her towers, 
 Lived a brave young pioneer ; 
 
 But he left his native bowers, 
 And he sought a refuge here. 
 
 He, in later times, reviewing 
 
 Those fair scenes from which he came, 
 With fond memories oft pursuing, 
 
 Gave our native town its name. 
 
 Changing now our scene and story 
 From brave Scotland's bonnie land — 
 
 From that castle old in glory — 
 From that plain by Lomond's strand ; 
 
 Turning from this scene romantic, 
 Which our souls with rapture fills ; 
 
 'Cross the waves of the Atlantic, 
 Toward our own loved granite hills ; 
 
 Let ITS, other scenes beholding, 
 View our own fair landscape o'er — 
 
 All its rural charms unfolding, 
 Let us gaze on them once more. 
 
 Here within New Hampshire's border, 
 'Mong her mounts which proudlj' rise. 
 
 And in wild, yet grand disorder. 
 Lift their summits to the skies ; 
 
 Where dame Nature has presented 
 All her loveliness combined ; 
 
 And on people free, contented, 
 Has bestowed sweet peace of mind. 
 
28 
 
 Here Avas onr Dunbarton founded, 
 By such sceneries surrounded, 
 As tlitit land across the main, 
 Whose resemblance gave her name. 
 
 Have you o'er these hill sides wandered. 
 With no thoughts inspired anew, 
 
 As in loneliness j^ou've pondered 
 On the scenes that met your view ? 
 
 Ere the golden suns declining, 
 Ere he bid us his good night, 
 
 While with parting glorj^ shining. 
 We will climb to yonder height. 
 
 Looking northward, towering, peerless, 
 We can see the white hills rise. 
 
 And their outline, lone and cheerless, 
 Painted on the autumn skies. 
 
 What's that shadow reaching nearer ? 
 
 Surely, 'tis not near so large, 
 Yet its features we see clearer — 
 
 'Tis the grand old Kearsarge, 
 
 Down whose sides, for distant sweeping. 
 Come the wintry northern gales, 
 
 AVhich, with maddened fury leaping, 
 Kush across the hills and vales. 
 
 Now the sun's last rays arc playing 
 
 In their mild, etherial light, 
 And with fondness still seem staj'ing 
 
 On Mouadnock's lonely height. 
 
 Where no woody hosts surround it. 
 Where its summit towers aloft ; 
 
 There the western winds howl round it, 
 And the storm-cloud lingers oft. 
 
 Nearer still, two mounds appearing. 
 In the twilight radience now, 
 
 Quick reveal through former clearing, 
 Uncanoouuc's double brow ; 
 
29 
 
 From whose heights, far upward soaring, 
 
 Cau he sccu the ocean tides ; 
 Though the music of their roaring 
 
 Never reached her verdant sides. 
 
 View these mountains, old, gigantic ! 
 
 See their summits boldly rise ! 
 And with grandeur wild, romantic, 
 
 Hold communion with the skies. 
 
 They have stood the shock of ages ; 
 
 They have baffled conquering time ; 
 And in vain the tempest rages 
 
 All around their heights sublime. 
 
 Lesser hills we see extending, 
 With their garniture of green ; 
 
 And with guardian care seem bending 
 O'er the vales which lie between. 
 
 Through each forest height is blowing 
 Autumn's cool and genial breeze ; 
 
 While below, the brooks are flowing 
 To the music of the trees. 
 
 Near, the feathered throng are singing 
 Thi'ough the branches bending now, 
 
 With the fruits of autumn clinging 
 To each fair and leafy bough. 
 
 Now this autumn day is ending ; 
 
 Hushed the melody of song ; 
 And the farmer homeward wending, 
 
 Plods his weary way along. 
 
 Twilight's pall of grey is sinking 
 O'er these hills and valleys green ; 
 
 And in sadness we are thinking 
 Of the grandeurs we've not seen. 
 
 But the harvest moon is rising, 
 
 With her soft effulgent light, 
 And though silent, seems advising 
 Us to leave this gladsome height. 
 
30 
 
 When the wancVrer, homeward ^rning, 
 
 Gazes on his native hills, 
 What strange passions in him burning, 
 
 All his manly bosom fills. 
 
 Now sweet mem'ry brings before him 
 All the dearest scenes ol" yore ; 
 
 New sensations stealing o'er him, 
 Thoughts of days he 11 know no more. 
 
 'Tis the home his fathers fonnded, 
 'Tis the land that gave him birth, 
 
 'lis the spot where childhood bounded 
 In the happiest days of earth. 
 
 Some of you who gather with us 
 
 In these festive scenes to-daj'', 
 Far from home and friends have wandered 
 
 In life's dark, uncertain way; 
 
 Other scenes have grown familiar. 
 And elsewhere your lot is cast ; 
 
 Yet around Dunbarton linger 
 Hallowed memories of the past. 
 
 And to-day she has invited 
 All her children, far and near, 
 
 Once again to meet together. 
 And receive the welcome cheer. 
 
 She has called you from the prairies — 
 From the distant western plain ; 
 
 She has called you from the seaside. 
 By the broad Atlantic's main : 
 
 From the northern hills and valleys, 
 She has summoned you away ; 
 
 And from southern green savannas, 
 She has called you here to-day. 
 
 In the city, town or hamlet, 
 
 In the cottage or the hall ; 
 In the fields or in the woodlands, 
 
 You have heard her welcome call. 
 
31 
 
 And you now have come responsive 
 
 To the bidding of her voice ; 
 Here to meet in glad communion 
 
 Witli the spirits of your choice. 
 
 Yet we notice many changes — 
 
 Changes ruthless time has wrought, 
 
 As against the world's oppression, 
 In life's battle joi\ have fought. 
 
 There are those for whom affection 
 
 Sheds its bitter, burning tear, 
 Who in other lands are resting, 
 
 And no more will meet us here. 
 
 There are those around whose pathway 
 Cares and sorrows seem to stay ; 
 
 With you, in your gloomy anguish, 
 We would smypathize to-day. 
 
 There are some who left us early 
 In their noble manhood's prime, 
 
 Whose white locks and faltering footsteps 
 Now reveal the march of time : 
 
 You, we meet with dotible greeting. 
 You are welcomed here once more, 
 
 To the land that j^ou have honored — 
 To the scenes you loved of yore. 
 
 Many of thy sons, Dunbarton, 
 In some distant land now roam ; 
 
 Seeking wealth and fitting honors, 
 Far from kindred and from home ; 
 
 Some, led on by high ambition, 
 
 Worship at Minerva's shrine ; 
 Round whose brows and manly foreheads 
 
 Laurel Avreaths of fame entwine : 
 
 You have walked where science wandered. 
 You have yielded to her claims ; 
 
 And in all the noblest callings. 
 You have written high your names. 
 
32 
 
 Soine, as teachers now are guiding 
 Youthful voyagers o'er life's main ; 
 
 Some as merchants, too, are striving 
 For the fruits of honest gain. 
 
 Others seek to shield the hody 
 From its countless, fatal ills, 
 
 Knowing well some panacea. 
 In the shape of drugs or pills. 
 
 There are lawyers, learned, skillful, 
 
 In the labyrinths of laws, 
 "Whom we see at justice's altar, 
 
 Pleading faithfully their cause. 
 
 Last and noblest now I mention 
 Those who toil at heaven's command, 
 
 For man's high, eternal welfare, 
 In that distant, better land. 
 
 Thcir's a high and holy mission ; 
 
 Their's to lead the soul away 
 From the haunts of low perdition, 
 
 To the realms of endless day. 
 
 Clergy, la"\vj-ers and physicians. 
 Who from home have come away ; 
 
 Farmers, teachers and mechanics, 
 All are welcome here to-d-aj^ 
 
 There are those who still are dwelling 
 Where contented dwelt their sires, 
 
 In whose manly breasts are burning 
 All the old ancestral fires ; 
 
 They still love thee, fair Dunbarton, 
 Love thy lakelets, brooks and rills — 
 
 Love thy meadows and thy woodlands, 
 Love thy ancient rock-bound hills. 
 
 They, with reverence looking backward 
 To the daj's of " Auld Lang Syne," 
 
 Wish to honor those Avho dwelt here 
 In that grand and olden time. 
 
83 
 
 Here must we pause, and ask for something more 
 Than that poor aid our muse has lent before. 
 Apollo, guardian of that sacred band, 
 Which yields obeisance to thy wise command, 
 Call forth from off Parnassus's fabled height 
 Some one who'll guide our weary, wand'ring flight 
 Far down the path of each increasing j'ear, 
 Until that time our fathers wandered here. 
 Thou Muse, inspire these few remaining lines 
 With thoughts befitting those of ancient times. 
 
 Swayed by the hour, our minds far backward run 
 
 To when our noble ancestors begun, 
 
 Along these vales and woodland heights to roam, 
 
 And fell the trees to build their forest home. 
 
 Tradition old relates that once there came 
 
 Two fearless huntsmen here in search of game. 
 
 What then would seize their eager, wand'ring o-aze ? 
 
 What scenes enchant them in those olden days ? 
 
 A broad expanse of green first meet their view, 
 
 Reflecting back the sky's o'er arching blue ; 
 
 They saw the stately pine far upward soar 
 
 To meet the storm-cloud often hov'ring o'er ; 
 
 The giant oaks would rear their arms aloft 
 
 To break the winds that howled around them oft. 
 
 They found within this tangled forest shade 
 
 No frienrlly hand to grasp or give them aid. 
 
 Yet wand'ring still beneath the circling trees, 
 
 A meadow waving in the autumn breeze 
 
 Now meets their eager and delighted gaze, 
 
 Far reaching 'neath the sun's inclining rays. 
 
 That meadow where the active beaver reared 
 
 His labored mound and all the forest cleared. 
 
 From neighb'ring heights they view with glad surprise. 
 
 And o'er the prospect cast their wond'ring eyes. 
 
 When now its lovely verdure they discern. 
 
 Its promised wealth invites their quick return. 
 
 They come : there's Putney, Rogers, both of them 
 
 Were nature's bravest, trues"t, noblest men. 
 
 Here let us pause, and with all honor crown 
 
 These noble founders of our native town. 
 
 Each reared his log house near the meadow lawn, 
 
 And fell'd the trees to plant his Indian corn ; 
 
 And though with savage beasts they must compete, 
 
 These patriot fathers loved their lone reti-eat. 
 
84 
 
 They loved in quest of savage game to roam. 
 
 Or till the land around their cabin home ; 
 
 And often when the evening shadows fell 
 
 Along this dark and lonesome forest dell, 
 
 They loved to gather round their cottage door, 
 
 And talk about the good old days of yore. 
 
 No neighbors then their frugal board would share ; 
 
 No friendly lights would greet their wand'rings there. 
 
 Save heaven's bright orb, that rules the day, 
 
 Or Luna's soft and pale reflected ray ; 
 
 No sound of music, borne by gentle gales 
 
 Was wafted through those lone, secluded vales. 
 
 No friendly shout would bear its gladsome sound, 
 
 No voice familiar break the stillness 'round, 
 
 Save now and then some forest bird would sing, 
 
 And through the wilds his cheering notes would ring ; 
 
 Or when the woods by chainless winds were stirred, 
 
 And notes of plaintive melody Avere heard. 
 
 Yet here they toiled, and all their lives were spent 
 
 In simple luxury and sweet content. 
 
 At times, the roving Indian's piercing yell. 
 
 Upon their ears in wildest accents fell ; 
 
 And when night's darkness hovered o'er these scenes. 
 
 And they retired to sleep and pleasant dreams, 
 
 Strange sounds would break upon the startled aii*; 
 
 The coward wolf, slow creeping from his lair. 
 
 Would howl in chorus with his savage foes. 
 
 And change to quiv'ring fear their calm repose. 
 
 One night, this densely, darkly shaded gleu 
 
 Resounded with the hurried tramp of men. 
 
 From Rumford, many a weary mile away 
 
 They came, to warn them that the comir.g day 
 
 Would bring destruction sad, unless bj' flight 
 
 They hurried back before the end of night. 
 
 These tidings told, they heard with blank dismay. 
 
 And soon went hast'ning on their gloomy way. 
 
 To their loved home, fast fading from their view, 
 
 They turned and bade a brief yet sad adieu, 
 
 Well knowing that the sun might shine no more 
 
 On home, or herds, or trees they loved before. 
 
 At Rumford, there they find a safe retreat, 
 
 And many a friend and grateful kindred meet. 
 
 Returning, they, with bitter anguish found 
 
 Their much loved home a darkly smouldering mound ; 
 
Their cattle slaughtered by their savage foe, 
 
 And all their fairest, choicest trees laid low — 
 
 Save one alone which long remained to tell 
 
 How its loved comrades of the orchard fell. 
 
 Three years have passed away ; that conquering will 
 
 Which nerved our fathers then, must triumph still ; 
 
 Again the forests fall before the hand 
 
 Of sturdy yeomen born to rule this land, 
 
 And smoke wreaths rise, and darken all the day — 
 
 Befitting pall of forests passed away. 
 
 Again we see the log house rude and low. 
 
 Uplift its front to breast the winds and snow ; 
 
 Again we see each sweetly smiling field 
 
 With willing soil a bounteous harvest yield. 
 
 The brooks are tamed that used to run at will. 
 
 And on their banks they build the lonely mill. 
 
 Before their march the giant forests bow, 
 
 For nature's scepter has departed now ; 
 
 The savage beast creeps farther from his lair, 
 
 And seeks to breath a more congenial air. 
 
 The Indian weeps above his father's mound, 
 
 Then bids adieu to his loved hunting ground. 
 
 All things must now their willing homage pay, 
 
 For man is victor, nature yielding sway. 
 
 Where once the march of progress was defied, 
 
 The district school — New England's boast and pride, 
 
 Now marks the era of those brighter daj-s, 
 
 When education sheds her genial rays. 
 
 And breaks the gloom that far and near 
 
 Encircles ignorance and doubting fear. 
 
 Our pious ancestors did not forget. 
 
 Through all their toils, their God was with them yet ; 
 
 Each day their prayers wei-e heard, and in due time 
 
 They reared a church, religion's sacred shrine. 
 
 Close by, within a lovely chestnut wood. 
 
 This old log church with many a crevice stood. 
 
 In later times another temple rears 
 
 Its solemn front, to count the passing j-ears ; 
 
 To-day, that same old temple meets our view, 
 
 With its plain walls of dark and sombre hue ; 
 
 And as its shadow round us now is cast. 
 
 What thoughts come back from out that distant past ! 
 
 'Tis here you've boAv'd before j^our fathers' God, 
 
 And sought anew the heavenward path they trod ; 
 
36 
 
 And here you've listen'd to that stern divine, 
 Whose honored name will live through endless time ; 
 Our saintly Harris sleeps that silent sleep. 
 Yet long his living words will menVry keep. 
 
 Thy sons, Dunbarton, are no coward race ; 
 
 They've met the deadliest foemen face to face, ' 
 
 They've fought the Indian in his lone retreat, 
 
 And seen his vengeful, murd'rous legions beat ; 
 
 They stood before that rampart strewn with hay, 
 
 At Bunker's Hill on freedom's natal day ; 
 
 At Bennington their shout of vict'ry rose 
 
 Where conquering Stark beat back our British foes ; 
 
 And later still, across the Mexic plains, 
 
 They followed brave old Scott in his campaigns. 
 
 Insatiate war! thj' guilty, crimson hand 
 
 Had ceased to slay the noblest of the land. 
 
 No sound from fields of dreadful carnage rose, 
 
 Disturbing now our nation's calm repose : 
 
 No bugle call, or roll of martial drum 
 
 Gave warning that the battle storm had come. 
 
 We fondly dreamed of long-continued peace. 
 
 Not thinking then that blissful day would cease. 
 
 The scene is changed — a dark, portentious cloud 
 
 Casts 'round us now its gloomy circling shroud ; 
 
 The pent-up storms of ages are set free 
 
 To sweep destructive over land and sea. 
 
 That grand old fabric which our fathers reared, 
 
 To ev'ry loyal patriot heart endeared, 
 
 Is trembling now before the savage might 
 
 Of fiends incarnate, battling 'gainst the right. 
 
 The southern winds come freighted with alarms, 
 
 And call each truest patriot to arms. 
 
 We saw Dunbarton's bravest sons go forth 
 
 With all those hosts that marshaled from the North, 
 
 Whose solemn vow was registered on high 
 
 To save their periled country, or to die. 
 
 The sky no longer now is overcast, 
 
 That long, uncertain night of gloom has passed. 
 
 And we behold what ne'er had yet been dreamed : 
 
 Our own loved country, disenthralled, redeemed. 
 
 Their work is done — in conflicts fierce, and dark 
 
 The've proved them worthy of the fame of Stark. 
 
 A few return, a shattered, broken few, 
 
37 
 
 To their old flag they always have been true. 
 
 Let highest honors circle all their ways, 
 
 And music tune her voice to sing their praise. 
 
 The}' have not all returned, alas ! some fell. 
 
 Before the bullet, cannon ball or shell, 
 
 And some who fought where fiercest rolled the tide 
 
 Of battle, b}' some^fell disease have died. 
 
 We think of one who would have graced this scene. 
 
 Of manly bearing and of noble mein ; 
 
 He is not here, brave Caldwell is no more ! 
 
 The scholar, christian, friend, has gone before ; 
 
 To-day, he sleeps beneath a soldier's mound 
 
 In j'onder village-circled burial ground. 
 
 There's one, who in his brief eventful life. 
 
 Had wandered far around this world of strife ; 
 
 We knew his manly, brave, and generous heart. 
 
 And sadly did w^e see our friend depart ; 
 
 Yet Stone has gone, and on a Southern plain, 
 
 He rests to-day among his comrades slain. 
 
 These are not all, as valient and as dear 
 
 Were those we now would sadly mention here ; 
 
 There's Jameson, Barnard, Whipple, Brown and Wate, 
 
 And Baker, Heath, and Simonds, all did fate 
 
 Consign to soldiers' graves, yet leaves them now 
 
 A priceless crown to wreath each soldier's brow. 
 
 Of these brave men, let each and ev'ry name 
 
 Be written high upon the roll of tame. 
 
 They died to save our greatly periled land 
 
 From sad defeat by treason's murd'rous hand. 
 
 As we behold our ransomed country free. 
 
 Remember how they died for you and me ; 
 
 And when, through craven fear or greed of gain, 
 
 We'd bow beneath the tyrant traitor's chain, 
 
 Remember how they fought that valiant fight 
 
 To gain the triumph of eternal right. 
 
 To-day we stand with mingled hopes and fears, 
 Beside a Avaymark of departing years : 
 A hundred winters swift have passed away, 
 Since our Dunbarton saw her natal day. 
 Another century has now begun 
 Its distant, undiscovered race to run. 
 And as time's current swiftly hurries by 
 To mingle with Lethean waters nigh. 
 
38 
 
 Diinbarton ! may thy soul inspiring name 
 Grow ever brighter with increase of fame ; 
 May all thy sons jjrove noble and as true, 
 As those who founded or defended you : 
 May all thy daughters, fair and honored, crown 
 With myrtle wreaths our own dear native town; 
 And may her light, resplendent ever shine 
 Along the ages 'till the end of time. 
 
 After the Poem came the Chronicles, bj John C. Ray, Esq. 
 
 Chapter 1st. 
 
 Now it came to pass in the days of Silvanus, the High 
 Priest, that certain of his tribe, being moved within them- 
 selves to celebrate the one hundredth year of the reign of the 
 different rulers of Dunbarton, said. Consider, I beseech you, 
 how long we and our fathers have dwelt in this land. Yea, 
 even five score years. Now, said Silvanus, the High Priest, 
 let us send kindly greeting to those-who were wont to dwell 
 within our bounds, to come up to the ancient temple for a 
 season of congratulation and festivity. Now this saying 
 pleased the people, and they cried out, saying, let it be even so. 
 
 Chapter 2d. 
 
 Then chose they out of the several tribes of the children of 
 Dunbarton, these men to make ready for the great feast: Na- 
 thaniel, of the house of Joel, a leader of his church and peo- 
 ple ; Charles, of the house of Wiiliam, aforetime called 
 Captain, and who was wont to marshal certain of his tribe on 
 the plains of Goffstown, that they might become skilled in 
 the use of arms. • 
 
 Larcom, of the house of Bradford, who divers times has 
 represented his tribe in the General Assembly of lawmakers. 
 
 John, a descendant of one whom his people, to distinguish 
 from others of like name, were wont to call "hoary" or 
 "white-head." 
 
 Enoch, of the ancient house of Benjamin, who is one of the 
 fathers of his people. 
 
 Lyman, who, for a time, worthily dwelt in the land called 
 
39 
 
 Skeeterborough, but is now removed to the home of his fath- 
 ers, even unto the land of Mountalona. 
 
 David, the capenter, of the house of Samuel, and near of 
 kin to Joseph, who was chief ruler for the space of two years 
 over the land of Dunbarton, and all the region around about. 
 
 Thomas, a descendant of John, who was for many years an 
 elder of the ancient church of his sect. 
 
 Daniel, who is much venerated for his counsel and wisdom, 
 who has longbeen a pillar to liis church, and a guide to his people. 
 
 John, of the house of Silas, this day called to marshal the 
 hosts around this ancient sanctuary ; but being a very modest 
 man, he said, Pray, have me excused, 
 
 Charles, of the tribe of Ezekiel, aforetime called the ready- 
 writer and speaker. 
 
 Leonard, a descendant of Job, who once dwelt in a coun- 
 try called the land of eels, otherwise, Derryfield. 
 
 Charles, the carpenter's son, of the house of Samuel, and 
 for many years, chief scribe for his people. 
 
 Oliver, the 2d, like his forefathers, a great dealer in cattle 
 and other four-footed beasts. 
 
 Eliphalet, who, aforetime dwelt in other lands, and has 
 great possessions, both of houses and lands. 
 
 Harris, of the house of Ezekiel, who is tax-gatherer for his 
 people, and mucli esteemed throughout the country. 
 
 Leo, the tenth, who once dwelt on the hills of his forefath- 
 ers, but is now removed to the valleys of a strange people, 
 even unto the borders of Smoky Hollow. 
 
 Henry, the 2d, famed for much learning and witty sayings, 
 also as a teacher of the youth of the region round about 
 Dunbarton. 
 
 David, of the house of Abraham, a friend to the poor and 
 outcast, and who dwelleth near the borders of the land of the 
 Uncanoonucs. 
 
 Gilbert, Avho, aforetime dwelt v^^ithin the bounds of Mount- 
 alona, being moved within himself to take a wife, he left his 
 father's land, and now pleasantly dwells with a fair damsel of 
 the house of Benjamin. 
 
40 
 
 James, the son of Oliver, who sits in high places, and mak- 
 eih laws for liis people. 
 
 John, the Baptist, near kinsman to Aaron, and Avho walk- 
 eth in the way that seemeth right in the sight of the Lord, 
 and of the people. 
 
 Thomas, of the house of Timothy, aforetime a hewer of 
 stone, and maker of laws. 
 
 And these were all men of wisdom, and much renown 
 throughout the land of Dunbarton ; therefore were they en- 
 trusted with this matter. 
 
 Chapter 3d. 
 
 Then assembled these men together in a certain place, that 
 they might take counsel with each other, and immediately 
 they set about making preparations for this great least. 
 
 Then there were sent forth from the land of Dunbarton, 
 scrips of parchment unto all those who once dwelt in this 
 land, to bid them come home on this joyful occasion. More- 
 over, they removed from the ancient sanctuary many seats 
 once occupied by our venerable fathers and mothers, to make 
 greater abundance of room whereon to spread the tables for 
 the refreshing of the multitudes. And this kindly greeting 
 was exceeding welcome to all the- sons and daughters of the 
 land, "even a clear springin the desert of life," and as many 
 as could, repaired thither. 
 
 Chapter 4th. 
 
 !Now, on the morning of the thirteenth day of the ninth 
 month in the reign of Daniel, aforementioned, a vast multi- 
 tude assembled around about the ancient sanctuary, to greet 
 theiwig absent sons and daughters of the land. Now, after 
 ^ s^H^n of congratulation, Daniel, the ruler, called with a 
 loud voice, saying, listen now, I pray you, while Charles, the 
 learned, recounts the history of our tribe, replete Avith joy 
 and sorrow. Then a deep silence fell on the vast multitude, 
 even unto the end of his words. 
 
41 
 
 After much speaking by this man, and others of the seve 
 ral tribes, with all of which the people seemed well pleased, 
 Daniel again cried, saying, come now, ye long absent sons 
 and daughters, into the ancient temple, and partake of the 
 feast prepared for you, and they did eat, and were all filled, 
 and there was taken up of fragments that remained, twelve 
 baskets. Now, the rest of the doings of the tribe, will they 
 not be recorded in the book of Henry, the Scribe ? 
 
 Next followed the reading of a Centennial Hymn, written 
 for the occasion by Mrs. Lavinia H. Pillsbury, of Sutton. 
 
 We may not look into the long past years, 
 Whose histories have never reached our ears ; 
 Nor scan the centuries when our fathers trod 
 Brittania's wilds, and worshiped many a god ; 
 Nor scarcely glance at the bright dawn of day, 
 When on them shone the gospel's earliest ray; 
 When first they heard of Jesus crucified, 
 And cast their heathen idols all aside. 
 
 But for this time and place enough to know, 
 Here came our sires a hundred years ago. 
 They came with stalwart arms and spirits brave ; 
 The forests trembled at the strokes they gave. 
 Felled are the trees, the cheerful cabins rise, 
 And the blue smoke curls upward to the skies. 
 Not mansions such as now your hills adorn, 
 But cots whose chinks let in the rosy morn. 
 
 Not long content were they to till the sod. 
 Till they had built a house to worship Grod ; 
 Rude was the structure, brown the boards and bare ; 
 Yet thence ascended songs of praise and prayer. 
 And scarce a score of years had passed away, 
 Ere one was built, now venerably gray ; 
 But modern taste chose out another site, 
 And now our churches stand in snowy white. 
 
 E 
 
42 
 
 But outward things form not of grace apart; 
 Grod loves the worship of the humble heart — 
 The heart where his good word has taken root, 
 And bears in its full measure, holy fruit. 
 He sent his servants here to sow the seed ; 
 With what a fervent zeal did Harris plead 
 And Putnam pray, till God to each had given 
 Full many a star to gem his crown in heaven. 
 
 In neighboring fields young Wescott broke the soil, 
 While others reaped the harvest of his toil ; 
 But those who sow, and those who reap, shall meet 
 With joy, when earthly labors are complete. 
 And while the marble tells where Harris lies, 
 And summer suns shine warmly down the skies, 
 Hold fast the truths he lived as well as taught, 
 Deep in your spirits may they be inwrought. 
 
 Turn not to false philosophy aside, 
 
 Nor hope for heaven but through Christ crucified. 
 
 Who talk of progress, ne'er one step will go, 
 
 Who first regeneration do not know. 
 
 We, who the love of country well have proved, 
 
 By giving our brave sons so dearly loved, 
 
 Who treasured up each kind and loving word, 
 
 Eer they departed, as the last we heard. 
 
 Shall we not prove our love to God as warm. 
 Gird on the armor, bravely breast the storm, 
 Press to our hearts that precious Book divine, 
 Nor for blue lights this glorious sun resign ? 
 Not for the generations past alone, 
 Did God inspire it, but for this our own, 
 And those to come. Its precepts shall descend 
 From age to age, till time itself shall end. 
 
 Our sons shall learn it and their children tell 
 Their future ofispring to observe it well. 
 And if the next Centennial Jubilee, 
 Some of our offspring may be spared to see, 
 May Peace, Religion, Vii'tue, then o'erspread 
 This land for which our sires and sons have bled. 
 
43 
 
 The following Hymn, written for the occasion by Mrs. L. 
 H. Pillsbury, was sung to " The Angel's Call : " 
 
 O Thou, whose care was o'er us, 
 
 When bowed beneath thy rod, 
 Whose Angel passed before us, 
 
 " Our God, our fathers' God," 
 Accept our thanks and blessing, 
 
 Father, forever kind, 
 And let no doubt distressing, 
 
 Disturb the humble mind. 
 
 When on the ocean tossing. 
 
 Thou, Lord, wast ever nigh, 
 Our feeble purpose crossing, 
 
 Yet guiding by thine eye. 
 Thou bad'st us raise the banner 
 
 For all the poor opjiressed ; 
 This was thy chosen manner 
 
 To give thy people rest. 
 
 We thank Thee who has given 
 
 To us this land so fair. 
 Now from our hearts be driven 
 
 Each sordid, selfish care. 
 Thy mercies we will cherish, 
 
 As on through life we go, 
 Nor let their memory perish 
 
 A hundred years ago. 
 
 By this time the congregation 
 
 " Began to feel, as well they might, 
 
 The keen demands of appetite," 
 and accordingly adjourned to the interior of the Town House. 
 The divine blessing was invoked by Rev. Thomas Jameson, 
 of Exeter, after which three houses full in succession were 
 supplied with dinner, and yet a large amount of provision 
 
44 
 
 romaiiied unconsumed. When the first company came out, 
 the exercises were resumed at the stand, commencing with the 
 reading of a Centennial Hymn, written by Mrs. Achsah M. 
 L'aowN, of Loudon. 
 
 A hundred years have passed away 
 
 Since Starkstown claims its date ; 
 And many a tale of interest rare, 
 
 I gladly would relate, 
 But leave for abler pen than mine 
 To be transposed and wrought in rhyme. 
 
 A hundred years ! with solemn tread 
 
 Each year has hurried by ; 
 Interrogate those living then. 
 
 No voice would give reply ; 
 But in the solemn pause of thought, 
 We list' in vain, no tone is caught. 
 Silent and cold those men of worth, 
 They mingle not in scenes of earth. 
 In fancj^ we can see them now 
 
 In places where they trod ; 
 They felled the trees, they built their huts, 
 
 And turned the yielding sod ; 
 They planted trees and made a home. 
 
 And thought to found a town ; 
 But home and hopes l)y adverse fate, 
 
 Alike came crumbling down. 
 By savage men with dark intent 
 
 Their settlement was sought ; 
 In sudden haste and great alarm. 
 
 They fled to Taimford Fort. 
 Their houses were in ashes laid, 
 
 And ruin reigned around ; 
 And o'er these hills and through these vales. 
 
 The war-whoop did resound. 
 Of all their trees, they spared but one, 
 
 Their hatchets laid them low. 
 And that long stood to mark the scenes 
 
 Of a hundred years ago. 
 Full many a scion it has spared. 
 
 That this late age might know 
 The flavor of the fruit that grew 
 
 A hundred years ago. 
 
45 
 
 Those men returned, and others came 
 
 And toiled, as time went round, 
 Till from a wilderness uprose 
 
 This pleasant rural town. 
 Starkstown no longer, but the name, 
 
 Known at the present time, 
 Though sounding well in sober prose, 
 
 Is hard to blend in rhj'me. 
 
 And now, to-day, from South and North, 
 
 From East and distant West, 
 
 Her sons returning, joy to meet, 
 
 At this centennial feast. 
 
 The lawyer, doctor, teacher and divine, 
 
 Farmer, mechanic, tradesman, all combine 
 
 To add enjoyment to this festal hour, 
 
 While memory comes with her awakening power. 
 
 Forms of the living past seem here once more, 
 
 As if returning from the far off shore ; 
 
 But in a moment the delusion's fled. 
 
 For they, alas ! are sleeping with the dead. 
 
 Among our learned men, we proudly claim 
 Chancellor Hoyt, chei-ished be his name. 
 Ot scholarly attainments and large heart, 
 In life's great drama acting well his part, 
 He bore his honors with becoming grace, 
 And asked to be remembered by his race. 
 Harris and Putnam, who long years did stand 
 On Ziou's watch-tower, one in heart and hand ; 
 Burnhams, Mills, Parker, Marshall, Wheeler, Page, 
 Jamesons and Putnam acting on life's stage, 
 Hayward and Pillsbury now upon the field, 
 (A golden harvest may their labor yield !) 
 Men of sound principle and moral worth. 
 Who've battled nobly in the cause of truth, 
 And left an impress on this generation,— 
 All honor to their names, their worth, their station. 
 
 Next to divines the doctor stands confest. 
 The ablest benetactor of his race and best. 
 The names of some we here may well recall, 
 But time forbids that we should mention all. 
 We'd speak of Clement riding on his nag, 
 
46 
 
 And just behind him placed his saddle-bag, 
 
 From which he dealt out powders, drops and physic. 
 
 To cure a fever, gout, a rheum or phthisic. 
 
 Stearns was found faithful in " the healing art," 
 
 A man of noble worth and generous heart, 
 
 Gilson and Merrill made but little stay. 
 
 And Colby's found in practice far away. 
 
 Of Mighill we know something from report, 
 
 In practice skillful — skillful in retort. 
 
 And some in dental practice give new grace ^ 
 
 And beauty's finish, to the human face ; 
 
 Prescott and Ryder come in this connection ; 
 
 Their art is verging onward to perfection. 
 
 But in our quiet town, few men there are 
 
 Who in forensic strife can take their share ; 
 
 Story and Biirnham in the days of yore, 
 
 Hadley and Twiss perhaps make up the scoi'e. 
 
 Hadley now fills an editorial chair. 
 
 And sends forth thoughts as free as heaven's own air. 
 
 We have no poet Holmes of which to boast. 
 
 To write a pun or give a sparkling toast ; 
 
 But we've a Bailey in the halls of Yale, 
 
 With force enough of loit to ' • hit the nail." 
 
 We've no arraj' of statesmen to count o'er, 
 
 But we can claim from district No. 4, 
 
 A man to represent us in the Senate ; 
 
 His name to all is known — I need not pen it. 
 
 While learning's laurels some have proudly won, 
 Then passed away, life's duties nobly done, 
 Others remain to honor their profession. 
 Perhaps stand here and list to this confession. 
 The " gift of speech" we trust thej^'ll freely use 
 To please, instruct, enliven and amuse ; 
 From learning's fount present delicious draughts, 
 Or strains of wit to make good people laugh. 
 
 Among the past and present of our race. 
 Some of heroic name have found a place. 
 Those who on Bennington and Bunker Hill, 
 Once bravely fought the British foe to quell, — 
 Those of the present day who've stood in battle. 
 While round their heads the rebel shot did rattle, 
 
47 
 
 Deserve to be remembered in our story ; 
 
 We'd place upon their heads a wi-eath of glory. 
 
 Caldwell and Stone, who in the sanguine strife 
 
 Of fratricidal war, relinquished life — 
 
 Gave up each manly hope and aspiration, 
 
 To crush rebellion and restore the nation, 
 
 Demand a passing tribute of this hour ; 
 
 So brief our space we cannot give them more. 
 
 The daughters of the town we need not name ; 
 
 They fill an humble place unknown to fame. 
 
 And now, as ever, since the world begun, 
 
 The mother stands reported in the son ; 
 
 And thus it follows as by laws of fate 
 
 The mothers of such sons are good and great. 
 
 But time is precious, and in simple song, 
 
 We glance but brieflj", and then hurry on — 
 
 Give but the outlines and each one at will. 
 
 May take the pencil and the picture fill. 
 
 Hopes of the future, memories of the past. 
 
 Upon the pi'esent hour, their influence cast ; 
 
 May we be wiser, better, stronger made. 
 
 And this day's influence from the heart ne'er fade. 
 
 We stand to-day as never thus before 
 
 A living, acting throng upon time's shore ; 
 
 But long before another century's fled. 
 
 All, all now here will slumber with the dead ; 
 
 Then in assemblage more august and grand, 
 
 Summoned by GabrieVs trumpet, at last shall stand. 
 
 The Toast Master was introduced, and announced the fol- 
 lowing Toasts : 
 
 No. 1. Our Centennial Birthday, 
 
 Response by William A. Putney, A. B. 
 
 To-day we are celebrating the one hundredth anniversary of 
 our good old town's foundation. A hundred years seem long 
 indeed, when taken in connection with mere human events ; 
 but a town, though like a man growing in its early years from 
 weakness into strength, docs not like him necessarily decline 
 and finally become extinct, but when we know that a town 
 
48 
 
 has safely passed through the vicissitudes of a hundred years, 
 and through all taht time has continued to increase in wealth 
 and population — then we know that, God willing, she will 
 continue to live and prosper for many hundred years to come. 
 At first, with difficulty she maintained lier new existence ; but 
 growing stronger year by year, and having firmly established 
 herself, she began to send her offspring to the aid of others. 
 Every year some have left her. Many of these are no longer 
 living. Some have died in foreign lands ; some have fallen on 
 the field of battle. Many others yet living, have found homes 
 in other places, and are bound there by other ties ; but that 
 they still retain the memory of their former homes, that she 
 has yet a firm hold on their affections, and continues to exett 
 an influence upon them, we need no stronger proof than this 
 collection here to-day. 
 
 While many thus have left her, many more remained, and 
 strove to guard the honor of thoir native town — maintain her 
 virtue, and make her worthy of the place she holds in so many 
 hearts. Thus they watched her year by year, and saw her 
 growing older and stronger, and when she became a century 
 of age, they resolved to celebrate her birtliday with all honor. 
 This is not like an ordinary celebration, when strangers meet 
 to rejoice together over some great and fortunate event ; but 
 more like the reunion of some happy family, whose members, 
 scattered to the different parts of the earth, have at length re- 
 turned to their former home. So to-day, the sons and daugh- 
 ters of Dunbarton returning, some of them after an absence of 
 many years, are here to-day assembled to talk of the present 
 circumstances of each ; the successes they have achieved, and 
 the honors they have won. Old friends and old acquaintances, 
 old neighbors and old schoolmates, and as each one takes an 
 old friend or acquaintance by the hand, the old familiar face 
 calls up a thousand recollections of the many days gone by, 
 and helps to make his whole life pass before his mind in a sin- 
 gle day. Old men talk of old events. Young men listen, 
 and as they see what others have done, they are encouraged, 
 and resolve to do as well themselves. Our town, though small, 
 is not unimportant. We take it as we find it, and we feel 
 proud of it. We have seen our victorious soldiers returning 
 from the war, and we are proud of them and glory in them. 
 
 We have listened to-day to the efforts of some of Dunbar- 
 ton's children, and we are proud of them, and respect them. 
 We have seen the varied and extensive preparations made for 
 this occasion by the men of Dunbarton, and we are proud of 
 
49 
 
 them and honor them. We have just partaken of a feast pre- 
 pared by the ladies of Dunbarton, and we feel proud of them 
 and love them. 
 
 This is the occasion, too, of many other meetings apartfrom 
 this grand central one. Many are today, for the first time in 
 many years, rejoicing in a family reunion. Many such are 
 making happy liearts and homes throughout our town to day, 
 and help to add to the advantages and pleasures of this occa- 
 sion. But in connection with the happiness pervading every 
 heart, comes a slight feeling of sadness as we think that we 
 part. " It mayloe for years, and it may be lorever ;" but we 
 hope for the best, and though it is not probable, hardly pos- 
 sible, that any one now present will attend the celebration of 
 our next centennial birthday, still our best wishes will go for- 
 ward for the welfare of our native town through all coming 
 time, and the best we can hope is, that as much improvement 
 may be made in the coming century as we now see has been 
 made in the past. 
 
 No. 2. Our Early Inhabitants — May their virtues ever live 
 in the character of their descendants and survivors. 
 
 Response by Rev. A. W. Buknham, D. D., of Rindge. 
 
 Mr. President : I am expected to speak of the early in-" 
 habitants of this town ; and the intimation is given that they 
 were a virtuous people, whose example should be followed by 
 their posterity. 
 
 I have not been a resident of this place for nearly three 
 score years. In 1808, I exchanged a shoemaker's bench for a 
 seat in my brother Abraham's study, (Rev. Abraham Burn- 
 ham, D. D.,) and a shoe for a Latin grammar ; so that, as you 
 see, my pcrponal acquaintance with the people was in my boy- 
 hood ; and I feel but poorly qualified for the part assigned to 
 me on this occasion. 
 
 I have in recollection, however, the faces and general ap- 
 pearance of several leading families and individuals, who were 
 among the early, if not the first, settlers. Of some of these 
 I may speak before I close. 
 
 In general character I suppose our fathers were substan- 
 tially like all the early settlers of New Ejigland. Part of them 
 were of English, and part of Scotch descent, with a few drops, 
 
 F 
 
50 
 
 perhaps, now and then, of the Irish element. Now, combine 
 these, and you will have a good, " live Yankee," such as we 
 see here to-day, — rather such as ive, their children, claim to 
 be. 
 
 We have good reason to believe, that the fathers and moth- 
 ers of this people were of sound, well informed minds, robust, 
 sturdy, of indomitable purpose — of high and honest aims — 
 noble impulses — fearless of danger, and were just tlie men to 
 subdue tins rough land and rugged soil, and to prepare the 
 way for the flourishing farms wiiich are now seen around us, 
 and to lay foundations for the rich blessings which distinguish 
 New England from all other places, and make it, what it has 
 been justly called, the " moral garden of the world." 
 
 We, of this generation, are " a feeble folk," and we have 
 but a faint conception of the hardships and hazards to which 
 our fathers and mothers were subjected in the first half of the 
 century, to which this occasion has reference. But they, like 
 the Pilgrims in the May Flower, had an object to secure for 
 themselves and their children, "freedom to worship God — " 
 to establish " a Church without a Bishop, and a State without 
 a King." And, conscious of honest and rigliteous aims, and 
 relying upon God, they encountered the rocks and trees which 
 then covered these hills and valleys, and the savage*^, and wild 
 beasts, whicli roamed in these forests, then waving over these 
 now cultivated grounds. But, by the help of God, in whom 
 they trusted, they surmounted the formidable obstacles around 
 them, and left to us the goodly heritage wliich, in spite of the 
 efforts of ungodly men to wrest from us, we enjoy to-day. 
 
 As to their moral character — the practice of the cardinal 
 virtues of honesty, faithfulness in fulfilling engagements, in- 
 tegrity. Sabbath keeping, reverence for the name and all the 
 ordinances of God, — J believe they were, at least, on a level 
 witli their neighbors in this region, and throughout New En- 
 land. 
 
 Of their industry, frugality, and other kindred, social and 
 personal virtues, our fathers and mothers were noble speci- 
 mens ; and they have left to their children substantial proofs of 
 their excellence in these respects, in the rich inheritance you 
 possess and celebrate to-day. • 
 
 When I was a boy, and inquired, as I sometimes did, how 
 it came to pass that Capt. Stinson was so rich, for he was the 
 richest man in town, and I think, was said to be the richest 
 farmer in "old Hillsborough," they said, that when clearikg 
 his lands, " he would work all day in the field, and weave all 
 
51 
 
 night," and that his equally industrious helpmeet " would 
 spin a fortnight by one pitch pine knot;" and to illustrate the 
 same general character of these men, it was said of Abraham 
 Burnham, a cooper by occupation, that he '• would sit up till 
 midnight, and get up at twelve o'clock." They were not mi- 
 serly, yet were saving of time, as well as of money. They 
 found no time or disposition to be idle — to loaf. They did 
 not know the modern meaning of the word. With them, /oa/ 
 was a substantive, and had a wholesome substantial meaning 
 in their every day experience. 
 
 It is but just to say, that this working all night, was 
 not for " filthy lucre's sake," so much as to fulfil engagements. 
 Seldom, indeed, did one neighbor remind anotlier of that sin- 
 gular, but significant expression of Soloman — '•'One unfaith- 
 ful man in time of trouble, is like a broken tooth, and a foot 
 out of joint." How it is in this particular with the present 
 generation, I have nothing to say ; for I am to speak of the 
 old folks, not the children. 
 
 Feeling the groat importance of education by their own 
 want of the advantages of schools, the fathers made every 
 practicable effort to give their children all the privileges in 
 this direction in their power. The earliest school teacher I 
 heard of was "Master Hogg,"celebrated for his severities in his 
 treatment of erring pupils. On the authority of the late ex- 
 cellent Major John Mills, who, I think, had good reason to re- 
 member this teacher's method in respect to one class of delin- 
 quents, I will state that a lesson from the catechism was then 
 exacted of every scholar of competent capacity, to be recited, 
 on Saturday. If the scholars failed on that day, he had the 
 privilege of trying again on Monday morning. Failing this time, 
 the unfortunate delinquent was subjected to a punishment as 
 degrading as it was cruel. Should I describe the instrument 
 employed, and the position of the unhappy victim in these sav- 
 age inflictions, you would not wonder that the boys disliked 
 both the catechism and the whipping. In process of time, the 
 catechism was whipped out of school, and in these days, the 
 children, I apprehend, seldom get either the catechism or the 
 whipping. 
 
 To show the value our fathers set upon education, and the 
 earnest desire of their children to secure the benefits of 
 schools, we need only to refer to the facts then existing — such 
 as the thinness of the population, the scantiness of the means, 
 the absence of school houses and school books, well qualified 
 teachers, &c. For instance, my brother, Samuel, when a mere 
 
5'i 
 
 child, so small that my mother was actually afraid the bears 
 would catch him, came two miles afoot and aloue through the 
 woods to this very ground where we are gathered, to attend 
 school. Still, she sent him, and the child went. This same 
 boy, when a young man went to college the first, I think, that 
 did so, from this town. And he fitted for college on i\\Qj)low- 
 beam. That is to say, talking his Latin grammar to the field, 
 when the team stopped for rest, he sat upon the plowbeam, or 
 the unploughed ground, and studied his grammar ; and when 
 prepared witli a lesson, he walked over the same ground as in 
 his childhood, and recited to his pastor, Rev. Mr. Harris. So 
 did Thomas Jameson, Abraham and John Burnham, and other 
 young men of tbose, and subsequent days. 
 
 The number of college graduates from this town is, at least, 
 forty, and the average population, I believe, less than a thou- 
 sand. 
 
 And in this connection, I wish to refer to one of these early 
 graduates, because I do not see his name in some lists of the 
 educated young men of the place, and who, I apprehend, is 
 not recollected except by here and there an individual of the 
 people now living. And I speak of him, also, as an illustra- 
 tion of the perseverance of these early sons of the town in the 
 work of secnring an education. 
 
 I refer to I^-aac (jarvin, the son of Sam Garvin, as he was 
 called, who I suppose to have been a poor, insignificant indi- 
 vidual, from the fact, that when describing any worthless, 
 good for nothing fellow, the people in our neighborhood would 
 say, "he is as shiftless as Sam Garvin." As it regards manual 
 labor and worldly wisdom, Isaac was the son of his father ; 
 but somehow he obtained a Latin grammar, and ventured to 
 appear before his pastor, and ask him to hear a lesson. Mr. 
 Harris, who encouraged young men in all their efforts in this 
 direction, positively refused to hear him recite, bidding him 
 "go home and go to work." But Isaac persisted and came 
 again, and at length obtained a hearing. 
 
 Tom Merrill, as he was called, a young man from Deering, 
 afterward Rev. Dr. Merrill, one of the leading ministers in 
 Vermont, and others, fitted and went on, leaving Garvin 
 plodding at his task ; and he kept on plodding, and got into 
 College ; and at the end of four years, got out lionorably, and 
 disappearing from these parts, he went to Newark, N. J. , 
 studied Theology with Rev. Dr. Griffin, then at the head of 
 American Preachers, came back, and in the presence and the 
 pulpit of the venerated pastor, who once refused to hear his 
 
53 
 
 first Latin lesson, preached to his great satisfaction, and to tlie 
 astonishment of the citizens. Thus much for one Dunbar- 
 ton boy, and Ae, the son of Sam Garvin — a strong illus^a- 
 tion of tlie sayings, "By diligence and perseverance the mouse 
 ate in two the cable," and '4ittle strolies fell great oaks ;" — 
 also another saying, I think of Richard Baxter — '-Prayer and 
 painstaking will do anything." 
 
 As to the civil concerns and order of the fathers, nothing 
 definite will be expected from me. I think the people in the 
 early years were of a staid, conservative character, not given to 
 change. When they found a man qualified, and at the same 
 time willing to accept an office, they kept him in as long as they 
 could. Tlius, Judge Page, Esquire Story, Maj. Mills, John 
 Stinson, Daniel Jameson, John Gould and others, held the 
 same offices from ten to thirty years in succession. 
 
 Those were days of honesty and simplicity. For many 
 years you had no Lawyer, and only two Justices of the Peace 
 in the town. Judge Page, at Page corner, and Esquire Story 
 at the South end. You needed no more. 
 
 I ought to speak of the religious character of the fathers. 
 
 It has been said and written that the early settlers leaned 
 to Arminianism, a sentiment then somewhat prevalent in this 
 region ; but I can scarcely admit this to have been the pre- 
 vailing faith of our fathers. In support of this, take the 
 Scotch portion of the population who came from Londonderry. 
 They believed in the catechism, and the Bible, too, (and so do 
 I, though a Yankee ; for I think the two books are very much 
 alike in their teachings.) As to the pure Saxon portion — the 
 Storys and Burnhams, they came from Ipswich, Mass., — were 
 trained under the ministry of Rev. John Cleaveland, one of 
 the "New Lights" and able preachers of his day — a disciple 
 of Whitefield, and a thorough believer of the Evangelical doc- 
 trines. At any rate, our fathers could not have been irrelig- 
 ious — nor very strong Arminians — nor bad men in any sense. 
 Arminians held to tcorks, the Calvinists to faith and works 
 too, and, put them together, and you have a very good people. 
 
 Another point : If not substantially evangelical, would they 
 have received for their first Pastor, such a man as Walter 
 Harris — celebrated for forty years in all New England, as one 
 of the champions of her pulpit — unsurpassed among the 
 preachers of his day in a clear statement, powerful defense, 
 and pmigcnt application of the peculiar doctrines of the Cal- 
 vinistic system, so called. 
 
 He was sometimes called the "Broad ax and the sledge- 
 
54 
 
 hammer of the New Hampshire ministry," and he did in fact 
 cut a way errors in doctrine and practice on the one hand ; 
 and on the otlier, beat in the truth till it would "stay put," 
 or, he exemplified his own words in giving advice to me, then 
 a young preacher — " to hit the nail on the head, then drive 
 it through and clinch it." 
 
 But I need not give an account of his beliefs, or his prac- 
 tice, his power as a preacher, his great and excellent influ- 
 ence, or the blessed results of his ministry. I will take occa- 
 sion, however, here to state to this great assembly what Dr. 
 Harris did nut believe on one shigle point, on which much 
 falsehood has been uttered. 
 
 When I was a young school teacher and was boarding with 
 Zachariah Cliandler, Esq., of Bedford, father of Hon. Thomas 
 and Samuel Chandler, Esq., I heard this aged gentleman 
 say, that Mr. Harris, of Dunbarton, believed and preached 
 that all "infants, when they died, went to hell." Did you 
 hear him say that, said I. "No, Sir," he replied, but Mr. 
 — ;— heard him." And that is tiie shape, by t!ie way, in which 
 this statement comes. I have never iViet with the person, 
 who said he, himself, heard Dr. Harris, or Dr. Payson, or any 
 other Rov. Dr. utter, such a sentiment, but Mr. or Mrs. so 
 and so, hoard him. Now it so happened in the orderings of 
 Frovidwice, that I passed the next Sabbath in this place, and 
 heard Dr. Harris preach a sermon having reference to the 
 death of a highly respectable citizen, (Capt. William Parker) 
 your father, Mr. President, if I mistake not — from Job, 14, 
 10. "But man dieth and wasteth away ; yea, man giveth up 
 the ghost and where is lie." In the sermon Dr. H. said that 
 it had often been alleged that Calvinists, that he himself, be- 
 lieved and taught the doctrine above referred to, and did use 
 the horrid phrase, which had been so long in circulation among 
 certain classes, that I need not offend this audience by repeat- 
 ing it. For himself, and all others justly denominated Cal- 
 vinists, he denied the charge. And then, throwing his spec- 
 tacles above his eyes, raising his right arm, and assuming an 
 expression of countenance, such as no other man I ever saw 
 in the pulpit could put on, he solemnly challenged every person 
 who had heard him preach during his whole ministry, to show 
 that he ever uttered such a sentiment. "Why should I?" 
 said he. "Such a thought never entered my heart. I have 
 been acquainted Avith a large portion of the Calvinistic min- 
 isters of }:iQyf England, and am conversant with their writ- 
 ings ; and 1 feel justified in saying that such a doctrine was 
 
55 
 
 never entertained by them or by the denomination, as such, 
 and 1 reject the charge as wholly false ;" and Dr. Harris added 
 an earnest exhortation thai all present should never repeat, but 
 whenever heard, should contradict the slanderous allegation 
 he had denounced. Returning to my boarding place the 
 next day, and obtaining the assent of my venerable host, that 
 Dr. Harris and myself were honest, I related the facts as just 
 stated and exhorted him to do as Dr. H. had enjoined upon 
 his people. 
 
 Allow me thus to charge this assembly. I have stated 
 facts and you will grant that Dr. H. was honest and the pres- 
 ent speaker honest also. Never then repeat the allegations 
 referred to. It is a slander. No true Calvinist believes any 
 such doctrine. No ! millions upon millions of infant souls are 
 to-day, through the grace of God in Christ, in heaven, sing- 
 ing "Hozanna to the Son of David." "Worthy is the Lamb 
 that was slain and has redeemed us to God by his blood." 
 Please accept the declaration I have here made in your pres- 
 ence as truth and fact ; accept it for Dr. Harris, and for all 
 real evangelical christians the world over. 
 
 I should trespass on time and patience, were I to indulge 
 myself in further expressions of my admiration of Dr. Harris 
 — the excellence of his character — his singular powers as a 
 preacher, and the happy results of his long and faithful min- 
 istry among this people. 
 
 I knew your second pastor. Rev. J. M. Putnam, an excel- 
 lent man, a devout christian, and good minister of Jesus 
 Christ. Also your third and present pastor, the son, as I am, 
 of a godly Deacon , and if he uses the office of a minister as 
 well as his father has used the office of a Deacon, as I trust 
 he will, he too, will "purchase to himself a good degree, and 
 great boldness in the faith which is in Christ Jesus." 
 
 That our fathers believed and loved the gospel, and the 
 ministrations of the Sanctuary, is evident from the early ef- 
 forts they made to secure the privileges of public worship, 
 and the sacrifices to which they submitted to hear "a gospel 
 sermon." For instance — my parents would, and did ride on 
 one horse with two children seven miles Sabbath morning 
 "across lots,"so to speak, to South Weare, to hear Rev. Amos 
 Wood, a well educated and devout minister of the Baptist 
 denomination. So highly did they esteem him, that they 
 gave me his name. I never saw thc^ood man, but when in 
 (Jollege, I found and now have a printed Election Sermon 
 preached by him at Amherst, 1794, when John Taylor Gil- 
 
56 
 
 man took his seat, the first time, as Governor of this State. 
 
 Allow me to refer, briefly, to some of the families and indi- 
 viduals who come within my own recollection. 
 
 The Stinsons. — Capt. William Stinson was of Scotch de- 
 scent, a pattern of industry, economy, uprightness, and other 
 kindred virtues ; esteemed a christian — a cheerful supporter 
 of the gospel, and constant attendant on public worship at 
 home, though he joined the church in New Boston, because, 
 I believe, Dr. Harris was unwilling to baptize the good man's 
 grandchildren on the faith o^iXxQw f^r and father. 
 
 Capt. Stinson had some peculiarities as well as other peo- 
 ple. The bottle in which he carried rum into the field for his 
 men, was said to have so small a passage in the neck, that a 
 man would not like to hold it to his mouth so long as to get 
 enough to hurt him. Besides, tlien^ the liquor was the gcna- 
 ine article. What it is noiv., I do not know ! 
 
 At the call from the house for meals, every man must in- 
 stantlij leave his work, and move for the table, and there he 
 would find everything ready, and thus no time was lost either 
 in the field, or house. 
 
 Capt. Stinson had one price for the produce he sold, and 
 this, on the average, was less than that in the market. Three 
 shillings, I think, for corn, and four for rye. He was kind to 
 the industrious poor, but to a lazy man he would not even 
 sell. It was said that a man of this latter class, of whom he 
 had heard, but not seen, came to buy some corn. His name 
 was Cox. On the way to the granary, the old gentleman in- 
 quired — "And what's your name?" "Cox," was the answer. 
 "Aye, Cox ? An ye' may cock alang hame again, for you'll 
 ha' nae corn the day." 
 
 One more anecdote in which Capt. S. had concern, will 
 show the differences in the matter of alms-giving, between 
 those days and our own. 
 
 Dr. Harris preached a sermon in reference to the establish- 
 ment of the N. H. Missionary Society — then, a new, and to 
 many, a strange movement. The good pastor a^ked for a 
 contribution. After the hats had been passed, Capt. Stinson 
 rose and asked and obtained leave to speak. He felt some 
 objections, but having "freed his mind," he said to my father, 
 "Here Deacon," and dropped into the hat a silver dollar. It 
 fell heavily among the small bits which olliers had put 
 in, and jjroduced a greater sensation in the assembly, and more 
 remark in the community, than would fifty dollars given now 
 by a man of equal property. 
 
57 
 
 I well remember his son, Capt. William Stinson, Jr., gen- 
 erally called "young Capt. Billy" — also "Major" John, a well 
 educated, man, and mucii employed in the concerns of the 
 town — who was selectman twenty-three years, according to 
 Mr. Stark, to whose history of Dunbarton, by the way, I am 
 indebted for some figures and facts. 
 
 The Starks and Stinsons were intimately connected in their 
 family relations. 1 recollect jMaj. Caleb Stark, a son of Gen. 
 John, and on his staff in the Revolutionary war. For many 
 years he was the only store-keeper in town. A man of gen- 
 tlemanly bearing, and of distinction here and elsewhere. 
 
 I should have mentioned two brothers of Capt. Stinson, the 
 elder, "Uncle Jamie," and "Uncle Archie," as tliey were fa- 
 miliarly called. Jeremiaii, son of "Uncle Archie," was the 
 only lawyer that ever resided and practiced in town. Like 
 the p oople in Rindge, where I have lived more than forty years, 
 you have not quarreled enough to maintain a lawyer. 
 
 I recollect Judge Page — a very quiet, sensible man. I 
 used to see his venerable form by the side of the Moderator 
 in the town meetings, having on his head a high, conical, 
 green worsted cap. 
 
 I have very distinct recollections of David Story, Esq., a 
 near neiglibor and relative of my father, and a head man in his 
 neighborhood, and in the town for many years. Dr. Harris 
 pronounced him among the best citizens, and the best magis- 
 trate within his knowledge. Of a sound and well balanced 
 mind, looking well to the interests of the town, and acting al- 
 ways according to his convictions of duty, he was a leader in 
 all public affairs for the substance of his business life. He 
 was seventeen times Moderator in town meeting — Town Clerk 
 eleven years — Selectman, six — and Representative six times. 
 Many thought he liked authority. One transaction which 
 I witnessed when a boy had a bearing, perhaps, in this di- 
 rection. At a common training on this Common, Samuel 
 Lord, an intemperate man, made some disturbance. Esq. 
 Story ordered the Sheriff, Josiah Bagley, to tie Lord's hands 
 together, and fasten the cord to a limb of a low tree. It 
 could not hurt, but only confined him to one spot. He stood 
 fair and firm on his feet. Some one or more persons, for 
 sport, or some other purpose, set David Clifford, a man not 
 overstocked Avith sense, to cut the cord and release Lord. He 
 did so, and then the Sheriff ran after him, using his whip on 
 poor Clifford's back. Next followed Jonathan Clifford, Da- 
 vid's brother, a man weighing aa much as the Sheriff and the 
 
58 
 
 culprit both, to rescue his brother from the hands of the offi- 
 cer. How the matter was settled, 1 do not recollect, but I 
 think, however, that the good Justice ordered Lord back to 
 the tree, tied him for a short time so that the law should tri- 
 umph and then let him loose. Whether he transcended his 
 powers in this case, I know not. I tlien supposed he was 
 right, and intended, as was the way in those days, to main- 
 tain the peace, not by letting the wicked run at large, but by 
 executing the laws. 
 
 Esq. Story was a man of rather impressive presence. We 
 boys thought so. As the custom then was, we made our bows 
 to every passer by, whether inthe road, or around the school- 
 house. In this matter, we were very exact when Esq. Story 
 passed on his stately horse with whip in hand in perpendicu- 
 lar position. We felt honored by his invariable response 
 "brave boys — brave scholars." This reference recalls a state- 
 ment I read a few years since of the late Hon. Edward Ever- 
 ett. It Avas to this etlect ; I and Hon. R. C. Winlhrop were 
 riding together, and as we approached a school house and the 
 boys at recess, I said to Mr. Winthrop, "we shall see whether 
 these scholars will treat us, as you and I did when we Avere 
 boys at school. We passed them and instead of a respectful 
 bow^ we were treated with a shoiver of snoivballs.'^ 
 
 The Mills family was large and respectable. Maj., after- 
 wards Deacon, the successor of my father in that office, 
 was among the most prominent and honored citizens of his 
 day. He was Representative eight years — Selectman twen- 
 ty-two — and Town Treasurer, thirty-five years. Mr. Stark 
 says, "The Mills family were staunch old fashioned Federal- 
 ists." Very good, in my judgment, none the worse for that. 
 So was my venerated father, and David Story, and in essen- 
 tial principles, so were, and are, my fathers children and 
 grandchildren. 
 
 Of later times were John Gould, Daniel Jameson, William 
 Parker, Deacons Alexander Wilson, McCurdy and others of 
 my schoolmates too numerous to receive particular notice. 
 " All honorable men." 
 
 On an occasion like this it will not be indelicate in me to 
 say a few words relative to the Burnhams. They came from 
 Ipswich, Mass., Chebacco parish, the hive of all of the name. 
 Nathan, Asa, and Thomas — brothers, and Abraham, John, 
 (familiarly called "Friend Johnny,") and Samuel, cousin to 
 John. The wives of David and Daniel Story were also Burn- 
 hams, sisters to Abraham. They were all respectable and 
 
59 
 
 useful citizens, and have left good families, and I am happy 
 to see so many of the name here present, and to know that 
 so many have proved themselves worthy of the confidence of 
 their fellow citizens. I would like to be more definite in re- 
 gard to the Burnhams, for I happen to be better acquainted 
 with them than with those of any other name. 
 
 I Avas born and brought up in the midst of that cluster of 
 Burnhams, natives of the same place and settlers in one neigh- 
 borhood in the beautiful southern section of this town. There 
 our fathers lived and labored, and brought up their families, 
 and there they, and some of the second, third and fourth gen- 
 eration have died. And the last but two of Samuel Burn- 
 ham's children, my last surviving brother, Bradford, has just 
 passed away. 
 
 I ask leave here to state a few facts in the family of my 
 father, Samuel Burnham, bearing on the covenant faithfulness 
 of God, and the duties and privileges of a truly pious family. 
 
 Descended from a pious ancestry, themselves godly, my 
 parents brought up thirteen children (two others died in infan- 
 cy) "in the nurture and admonition of the Lord." Of these, 
 twelve were decidedly pious ; of the grand-children, (and the 
 number was below the average) thirty were pious ; and three 
 of the great-grand-children are hopefully pious. Ol the seven 
 sons, four had a collegiate education, (Dartmouth College) 
 two of whom were afterward ministers, (Abraham and Amos 
 W.) one was a lawyer, (John) and one a teacher (Samuel.) 
 Of the grand and great-grand-children, fourteen have grad- 
 uated from college, or are now members of college, thus 
 making a total of Collegiates of this family, eighteen. Of 
 the grand-children, three are preachers, and of the great- 
 grand-children, one ; making a total of seven ministers in 
 the family, of whom four or five are now preaching. Those 
 not professors of religion, have held, and are now holding 
 respectable and useful positions in the community, and ready 
 to fulfill all the duties of an American citizen. 
 
 A wish has been expressed that the descendants of the early 
 settlers should imitate their virtues. As one of the descend- 
 ants of our worthy ancestors, I heartily join in this sentiment. 
 ] rejoice that while almost all of my youthful associates have 
 long since passed away, I have been spared and am allowed to 
 see this day, and to be present on this occasion. It is a celebra- 
 tion of deep interest to each and all of us who stand here in the 
 stead of the fathers, and are to give shape to the character and 
 destiny of coming generations. 
 
60 
 
 The fathers laid the foundations in securing for themselves 
 and their ciiildren the blessings of an open Bible, and free 
 schools, Tliey established the cliurch and school-house, and 
 having trained us under the wholesome influence flowing from 
 christian homes and institutions, they left us in the quiet pos- 
 session of this goodly heritage. While you welcome all the 
 improvements of the present age, you will do well to heed the 
 injunctions, "stand ye in the ways, and see, and ask for the old 
 paths, whore is the good way, and walk therein, and ye shall 
 find rest for your souls." 
 
 "Now the God of peace, that brought from the dead our 
 Lord Jesus, that great shepherd of the sheep, through the blood 
 of the everlasting covenant, make you perfect in every good 
 work to do his will, working in you that wliich is well pleasing 
 in his sight, through Jesus Christ ; to wliom be glory forever 
 and ever. Amen." 
 
 No. 3 -The Religious Institutions of Duubarton ; — their in- 
 fluence in molding the character of her people. 
 
 Response by Rev. George A. Putnam, of Yarmouth, Me. 
 
 Friends and Fellow Citizens : — I am sorry that I, and not 
 another, must answer to the present call. The subject on 
 which I am to speak, was assigned to ray father, who was 
 himself, for more than thirty years, a very prominent and im- 
 portant part in the religious history of this town, and he, per- 
 haps, of all men living, should speak to this point. 
 
 It is a greater sorrow to my father than to you, that he 
 cannot be with you to-day ; but his strength, gradually failing 
 from year to year, is just now scarcely equal to its average, 
 and the journey here, and the excitement of this glad day, 
 would be more than he could safely endure. At first he de- 
 cided to send you a letter, but afterwards it occurred to him 
 that perhaps I should be better than a letter, so he sent me ; 
 and glad am I to be with you. 
 
 As I look over this town, and observe its hills and valleys 
 teeming with so many signs of industry and thrift; as I see 
 the prosperity that attends the hu.'^bandman ; as I look upon 
 your noble farm-houses and your substantial barns that once a 
 year are so bountifully filled from these well cultivated acres, 
 and remember that it is written in the Bible, "Godliness is 
 
61 
 
 profitable unto all things, having promise of the life that now 
 is, and of that which is to come," I cannot but feel that your 
 prosperity in secular affairs is, in some sense, perhaps not very 
 remote either, a beneficial result of religious institutions. 
 
 But Dunbarton has some characLerislic points to which I 
 would call your attention. 
 
 As widely as it is known, it is noted for its sobrielj/ and sta- 
 hility. Like these hills on which you tread, do you, the inhabi- 
 tants of this town, abide tlie same. Of all people, you are the 
 last to run after a rushlight, or to be wheeled aboui by every 
 wind that blows. You walk straight on, guided only by the 
 calm and certain light of day, and it must be a stiff breeze 
 that will turn you from your course. I find the origin of this 
 in religious training. Others have taken you back a full cen- 
 tury ; I will not ask so much. Go with me seventy-five years 
 into the past, and look upon that man whom this people had 
 the good fortune to choose as their first pastor^ Rev. Tf alter 
 Harris. 0, how much depends, in every new country, upon 
 the first pastors ! Their power to mold, to give color and di- 
 rection to chara'cter, is wonderful — almostjOmnipotent. Why, 
 sometimes we find a town where the first minister trained the 
 people to uneasiness and jealousies; to contention and quar- 
 relsomeness, and it has never worked out of them ; it is their 
 characteristic to-day. This quarrelsome disposition runs in 
 their blood, and lurks in their bones ; and, like certain troub- 
 lesome diseases in children, breaks out periodically ; and, if 
 you know their history, you can predict, with wonderful ac- 
 curacy, just how often they will be assembling an ecclesiasti- 
 cal council to settle their difficulties. 
 
 But this is not Dunbarton's characteristic. Mr. Harris gave 
 no such training. He was a man who had wisdom in his head, 
 and principle in his heart. He was marked by a high order 
 of intellect, great rectitude and firmness, — great strength and 
 decision of purpose ; and, with his ardent temperament and 
 deep toned piety, he impressed himself upon the people. He 
 made his characteristics theirs. 
 
 He found the people here with vague, diverse and unset- 
 tled opinions on religious topics, and it needed a master mind 
 to indoctrinate them, and unite their hearts to walk in the 
 right way. And he liad that master mind. He saw what was 
 needed, and at once planted himself on those great doctrines 
 that constitute the frame-work of Christianity ; those great 
 doctrines that are the life and marrow of the gospel — God's 
 sovereignty, man's depravity, salvation through the blood of 
 
62 
 
 Christ, by the effectual working of the Holy Ghost. Stand- 
 ing on this foundation, he preached. He scattered the seeds 
 x)f these truths broadcast over the town, with a liberal hand 
 whicii he never withheld. And they germinated, sprung up and 
 bore fruit that is visible here at the present time. It was then 
 that the people learned soberness and stability. Trained by 
 such a leader for more than forty years, what wonder these 
 have been, and are now, your characteristics ! To day, it is 
 known in all the regions round, that the church here is sound 
 in the fiith, and loves the strong meat of God's word ; that 
 the people here are stable, sober, honest — hating shams and 
 quackery^ either in medicine, politics or religion. Heresies 
 could never flourish here. It is poor soil to grow courts and 
 councils on. Why, there was but one ecclesiastical councilin 
 this town for seventy year&^, and that to dismiss a minister who 
 had worn out his life upon the ground, and install his successor, 
 while some of your neighboring towns are able to count two 
 or three councils to every decade. You have had so few, that 
 were it not for your superior intelligence, you would not know 
 how to call one, — to your honor be it spoken. 
 
 You have an honesty and love of principle that bids the 
 pettifogging pohtician beware how he deals with you ; you 
 have a firmness and invincibihty, absolutely provoking to one 
 who would convert you to some new doctrine, and cannot. 
 
 These are worthy traits of this honored town, and are as 
 certainly the fruits of religious training, as the apple is the 
 fruit of tlie apple tree. 
 
 Dunbarton has another characteristic I am proud to speak 
 of It is one of the most intelligent and best educated com- 
 munities in New England. There is more general knowledge, 
 more religious knowledge, more cultivated mind liere, than is 
 wont to be found in towns of this size. I think it will be hard 
 to find another place, whore, in proportion to the population, 
 so many young men have been liberally educated, and entered 
 some of the learned professions ; where so many young men 
 and young ladies have become first-class teachers of common 
 schools. My own observation has been altogether in favor of 
 Dunbarton in this particular. And that the root of the tree 
 bearing such fruit as this is religious training-, none can doubt 
 who has intelligence concerning the ecclesiastical history of 
 this people. It was from the pulpit that the people learned 
 the vast importance of knowledge, both religious and secular. 
 Tlie origin of all those efforts they have been willing to make 
 tiiat their offspring might be educated, is found in a deep re- 
 
63 
 
 ligious conviction of responsibility to God and duty to iho 
 child, in tliis particular thing. 
 
 And here again do we come upon the direct influence and 
 agency of Dr. Harris. He systematically visited the common 
 schools, and stimulated parent and teacher and pupil. He, 
 himself, prepared many young men for college, and conducted 
 the theological studies of many fittiiig for the ministry. My 
 father also followed the lead of Dr. Harris in this matter of 
 regularly visiting the schools, for more than twenty years, al- 
 ways giving a healthful impulse to every educational interest. 
 
 It is clear as any historic fact, that the superior education 
 of Dunbarton's children, has been due very much to her re- 
 ligious institutions and christian teachers. 
 
 And here 1 might stop, did not the light of peace, that to- 
 day streams broadcast over the land, remind me of the dark 
 night that has just vanished, and the sad war our nation has 
 passed through. 
 
 If we go back to revolutionary times, we find that foremost 
 among the patriots were the chaplains, clergy and christians 
 of that pej'iod. The religious element constituted one of the 
 chief features of the Revolution. The ministers taught pat- 
 riotism, and marked out the duties of the people. They 
 preached the doctrine of freedom and the duty of resistance 
 to tyrants ; and it was their voice, more than anything else, 
 that roused the people to defend their homes, as a christian 
 duty, and plant here a nation on the principle of equal rights 
 and political liberty. 
 
 In this early struggle, Dunbarton was not behind her sister 
 towns. She entered it with ardent zeal. Under the banner 
 of Stark, — a historic and honored name with us — her sons 
 fought sternly at Bennington. Bravest of the brave were 
 some of them, and foremost in the tight ! In the darkest hour 
 of that dark day, Dunbarton was struggling to fill her quotas 
 and furnish men to push the fight to its successful issue. 
 
 And in this last sad war, of four years past, you have not 
 stained your ancient name. Your record is good, — showing 
 that the blood of '76 still runs in your veins. You have been 
 represented in the rank and file of our army, as well as in the 
 list of officers. Some of her noblest sons has Dunbarton laid 
 upon the altar of her country, and there they have been offer- 
 ed up. 
 
 Now, out of what soil has grown this patriotism and phi- 
 lanthropy ? From the beginning of this town's history till 
 now, your pastors have been patriots^ true as steel. Year by 
 
64 
 
 year, these doctrines have been preached to you, ringing out 
 from the pulpit HI no uncertain sounds. The first and great 
 con:imand has been put first, but the second, which is like unto 
 it, has ever followed hard after. The best energies of your 
 ministers have been exerted to teach you to love liberty, and 
 hate slavery ; to love man, as man, and because he is a man, 
 and hate and aivay ivith, all caste and aristocracy. One thing 
 is certain : if the pairiotism and philanthropy of the people is 
 not due largely to the patriotism and philanthropy of the pul- 
 pit, for lo ! these seventy-five years ! Then much precious seed 
 has been scattered here for nought. I cannot believe it. Nay, 
 I reckon your sobriety and stability, your great intellig-ence 
 and consequent honor ; your love of man, and love of coun- 
 try, — as largely the beneficial result of your religious institu- 
 tions. This town Avas early baptized into these things, and in 
 them, by her christian teachers, she has been nurtured ever 
 since. 
 
 And now, one hundred years hence, and where shall all 
 this throng that now surround me be gathered? When Dun- 
 barton's children shall come up to her tivo hundredth anniver- 
 sary where shall we be who now stand upon these pleasant 
 heights and look out upon these beautiful scenes ? "All that 
 tread this earth shall then slumber in its bosom." Heaven 
 grant that we who depart, may ascend to a higher and better 
 life, to scenes more beauteous far than these ; and that our chil- 
 dren, and our childrens' children, may at last be gathered with 
 us, and the sainted fathers who have gone before us, in the cir- 
 cle of the redeemed, in the paradise of God. 
 
 No 4. The Former Ministry of the First Congregational 
 Church — Dr. Walter Harris and Rev. John M. Putnam. 
 Response by Rev. L. S. Parker of Derry. 
 
 Sir Christopher Wren, the architect of Westminster Abbey, 
 has this inscription over his grave : "If you ask for his mon- 
 ument, look around." The structure was his best memorial. 
 To a large extent Dunbarton, as it was and is, stands as a 
 proof of the influence of these two men. Of this fact we have 
 had striking evidence to-day. Every address, poem and prayer 
 has made distinct reference to the debt the town owes them. 
 
65 
 
 As wise master builders, the one lays the foundations, tlie oth- 
 er carries up the temple of God. For their respective works 
 they were fitted by several points of likeness and unlikencss 
 in their nature and training. Dr. Harris was physically com- 
 pact, of very commanding presence. The impression he made 
 upon my heart in childhood wn^^t/iat God AbnlglUy vjas first, 
 and Dr. Harris vjas second. Mr. Putnam was of a delicate 
 frame, and was often like Baxter, subject to infirmities that 
 would have laid aside many men. Eatfh was the son of a 
 praying mother. It is recorded as the habit of Dr. Harris's 
 mother, to place her hands on the heads of her fatherless boys, 
 and thus oifer the family prayer. The mother of Mr. Putnam 
 we knew as one who brought forth fruit in old age. There 
 was a marked ditfercnce in the exercises of these servants of 
 Christ in conversion. Dr. Harris had emphatically a "law 
 work." He had a fearful struggle and agony that sometimes 
 brought him to the borders of total despair. Mr. Putnam was 
 led more gently to the Savior. The effects of this variety were 
 seen in their sermons and wholf^ ministry. It was wise, it was 
 providential, that he should thus differ from his predecessor, 
 that the benefits of both forms of presenting the truth might 
 be here felt. 
 
 Both were good citizens, the friends of letters, thorough 
 patriots. Dr. Harris in respect to his farm, buildings, fences, 
 was a model for the town. Said an aged man to me lately — 
 a neighbor of mine in Derry — "I worked for him in 1809 ; he 
 was the best man I ever served." Before school committees 
 existed, he was the volunteer inspector of the schools. How 
 well he knew the art of "putting things," some of us vividly 
 remember. A soldier of the Revolution, his only brother hav- 
 ing fallen at his side in battle, he loved his country, he loved 
 liberty with an intensity inspired by such an experience. 
 Trained in more peaceful times, Mr. Putnam proved himself 
 the worthy successor of such a man. Each has a record to 
 which we can point at this time without a blush. Both were 
 most happy in their domestic connections. Dr. Harris was 
 thrice married. His first wife — the mother of his children — 
 died before my recollection. She is highly spoken of. The 
 praise of his other wives is on all tongues. The last yet lives 
 at a great age.* 
 
 Mrs. Putnam was a woman of rare piety, living to do good. 
 
 Both were remarkable extemporaneous speakers. The 
 compass of Dr. Harris's voice was extraordinary. He was 
 
 * She has since died at Manchester, Januarj- 1800, aged 90.— (Ed.) 
 H 
 
66 
 
 a perfectly natural orator. His pathos could not well 
 be surpassed. Mr. Putnam was one of tlie best platform 
 speakers in liis profession in tlie State. Both were revival 
 men in the best sense. Dr. Harris began his ministry under 
 serious disadvantages. For forty years the town had had very 
 little preaching. The church just formed consisted of but ten 
 members. But the hero of the Revolution was not the man 
 to be dishearteiicd. In a year or two the Spirit came, and a 
 multitude were converted to Christ. In 1816 another heav- 
 enly refreshing was enjoyed. And in 1826, near the close of 
 his active pastoral life, a mighty work of grace was wrought. 
 
 A few months after Mr. Putnam's installation, a most won- 
 derful outpouring of the Spirit of God was granted. That 
 scene in the old church can never be forgotten. In gentler 
 measures from time to time tlie same blessings came, till a 
 short period before he retired from his pastorate, another pre- 
 cious Divine awakening was experienced, bringing into the 
 church the flower of the young men of the society. More than 
 anything else, these revivals have stamped its character on 
 Dunbarton. 
 
 Both laid down their charges from choice, through infirmity, 
 with the warm regard of the people. The one is not, he went 
 to his rest twenty years ago. The other still lives, cherished 
 by filial love. While the former lived, the harmony between 
 them was delightful to witness. Mr. Putnam testifies in his 
 funeral discourse after. Dr. Harris's death, that he had been 
 everything to him that he could ask. And we all know that 
 he honored Dr. Harris, even as a son honors his father. 
 
 I indulged a hope under Dr. Harris's ministry, and came 
 into the church under Mr. Putnam. Thus tenderly related 
 to both, the friend of both, I lay this small tribute as a wreath 
 of olive on the grave of the one, and on the aged brow of the 
 other, of these honored ministers of Christ. 
 
67 
 
 No 5. Our Native Ministry. 
 
 Response by Rev. (Jaleb Mills, Prof, in Wabash College, 
 Crawfordsville, Indiana. 
 
 Ladies and Gentlemen, Natives of Dunbarton, resident and 
 non-resident : It would have been to me a matter of great 
 gratification to be present and participate with you in the fes- 
 tivities of this Centennial Celebration. I should have enjoyed, 
 in a high degree, the pleasui-e of a personal interciiange of 
 social greeting with the associates of my early years and ma- 
 turer life, now gathered both from our native hills and the 
 more distant abodes of their emigrant homes ; but that satis- 
 faction I must forego for reasons unnecessary now to specify. 
 Had the sul»ject of this celebration been ventilated twelve or 
 fifteen months ago, the number of absentees would have been 
 greatly lessened, and the responses from those providentially 
 absent would have been more numerous. Here let me sug- 
 gest for the consideration of the committee of arrangements 
 for the next celebration, that, when "Dunbarton sends greet- 
 ing to her absent sons and daughters and bids them all come 
 home" in 1965, she gives them, at least, a twelve months' no- 
 tice of her maternal wishes and their corresponding duties 
 and obligations in the premises. 
 
 The century, whose close we celebrate to-day, commemora- 
 tive of the incorporation of our native town, has been one of 
 wonderful development and deliverance in the history of our 
 country — too great not to be recognized, and too important 
 to be passed without devout thanksgiving to their Divine Au- 
 thor. Let this day, therefore, be one of joyful thanksgiving 
 for the past and present, and of noble and generous purpose 
 for the future, in regard to the highest welfare of both our 
 native town and beloved land. Let us thank God for the de- 
 liverance and triumph which He granted to our lathers at the 
 openings and to us at its close. 
 
 It is a remarkable fact that our fathers, in less than ten 
 years after the incorporation of their town, were summoned, 
 by the battle of Lexington, to the defense of their country 
 against British oppression. Their response was a noble one, 
 for Stark, in his "History of Dunbarton," gives the names of 
 thirty-seven, who served their country in the Revolutionary 
 War. Among those names will be found the representatives 
 of the most substantial families of the town, as the Stinsons, 
 Pages, Starks, Mills, Hammonds, Putncys, Buntcns, Lords, 
 Baileys, Beards, Holmes, McCurdys and McColleys. Several of 
 
68 
 
 tlicse volunteers were minors. Two of tlicse wlio were in the 
 battle ol Bunker Hill — John Mills and Caleb Stark — were 
 mere youths, the former was in his nineteenth, and the latter 
 in the sixteenth year of his age. Whether Dunbarton's re- 
 cord, in the second struggle for civil liberty and true democ- 
 racy, just closed so triumphantly, is as brilliant and patriotic, 
 1 know not. ])ut if the lunne residents have done as well as 
 some of the foreign, as illustrated in the case of the descend 
 ants of three brothers, sons of one of the branches of an old 
 family represented at Bunker Hill and Bennington, who fur- 
 nislied no less \\mn fourieen sons and grandsons for the glori- 
 ous conflict of the last four years, Dunbarton of I8G0 has 
 nothing to fear in comparison with Dunbarton of 1775. That 
 contribution was not a bloodless one, for Jive of the fonrteen 
 lie in a soldier's grave. Our historian also states that Dun- 
 barton furnished but one Tory in the Revolutionary War, and 
 it is to be hoped that, in the slaveocratic rebellion, she has 
 not had a larger number of rebel sympathizers. 
 
 The developments in the physical appearance of the town 
 during the first century of its existence would appear strik- 
 ing, indeed, could we have a photographic view of the farms 
 which our grandfathers opened, the roads they traveled, the 
 liouses they built and the forests through which they pursued 
 the game, and their children sought the chestnuts in 1765, 
 and a similar view of the corres])onding ol»jects, which 1865 
 would present. Few traces of resemblance would be discov- 
 ered even in the natural ol)jects modified and changed by cul- 
 ture and transformation. Hills, then covered with forests con- 
 cealing their configuration, how denuded of their primeval 
 ornaments, are dotted over with fields and orchards and farm 
 houses. The first edition of dwellings, in which the original 
 settlers reared their families and taught their children to love 
 their country better than party, has passed away, and even 
 the sites of many of thera are now unknown. The roads, 
 then few and of a primitive character, now, by relocation, 
 multi])lication and improvement, woukl greatly mystify the 
 tojjographical knowledge of the early settlers. But I will not . 
 enlarge on these points, lest I should trench on some other's 
 theme, for I must hasten to the topic assigned me, viz : "Dun- 
 barton's quota of college graduates and professional men." 
 
 Here 1 must confess a slight change of pi'ogramme, for hav- 
 ing had a part of the loaf assigned me, I have taken the lib- 
 erty to ai)pro])riate the whole to my use on this occasion. 
 Whether it will Ije deemed grand or petty larceny, I cannot 
 
69 
 
 say, but I will make a full confession of the facts, and throw 
 myself on the clemency of the court before which 1 stand. 
 Having been requested to give a sketch of the ministerial 
 graduates from Dunbarton, I found tliat but twcrhwd fnnshed 
 their ministry, ami that of tlie surviving, ])robalily all but two, 
 would be present, and therefore 1 took the liberty to make 
 the change above stated. 
 
 A centennial celebration, like the blooming of a century 
 plant, can be witnessed only by a few of every third generation. 
 While some may admire the beauty and enjoy the fragi'ance 
 of the q\ieen of the floral world, others may gather up and 
 consider the lessons of wisdom and warning, which a century's 
 experience sends down the stream of time, for the admonition 
 or imitatioii of all whose barks are floating on its silent and 
 resistless tide to the boundless ocean of immortality. Such is 
 the privilege of all participating in this celebration. Lot us 
 contemplate one of these lee^sons so productive of good, and 
 so suggestive of the life and labor of one gone to his rest. 
 
 An earnest zeal and a corresponding effort to promote the 
 cause of popular education, characterized the first settled 
 minister of Dunbarton, whose pastorate extended over forty 
 years. His labors in this department gave, in a greater or 
 less degree, development and shape directly to the character 
 of parts of three generations, and indirectly, more or less, to 
 their descendants. He took a deep and lively interest in all 
 the district schools, and probably not an individual went from 
 this town to an academy or college, who was not indebted to 
 him for the initial idea or subsequent encouragement. This 
 hearty sympathy with the tyro in his initial essays and the 
 student in his academic and collegiate course was shown by 
 his semi-annual visitations of the common schools during the 
 entire period of his pastorate. Dr. Harris performed this 
 labor of care for a series of years without any public thanks 
 or remuneration, and it was not till near the close of these 
 self-imposed labors that the people bethought themselves of 
 the obligation of gratitude and compensation. While the 
 catechetical exercises connected with these visitations evinced 
 his interest in moral training of the pupils, and the persever- 
 ing inculcations of such a form of sound words, embodying 
 the fundamental doctrines and duties, for our belief and prac- 
 tice, left an ineffaceable impression on the youthful part of his 
 charge, he always manifested a lively sympathy in the strug- 
 gles of youthful intellect, and bestowed on the diligent and 
 deserving the stimulus of his appreciating smile and approval. 
 
70 
 
 Herein lay, in no unimportant sense, the secret of that power 
 which ho possessed and employed in mohling tlie moral and 
 literary development of the people of Dunharton. The pow- 
 er of such uucomcious luUiuti may, nevertheless, he seen and 
 distinctly traced in the character of not a few of the gradu- 
 ated sons of Dunharton. 
 
 Nothing is more striking in the history of our notivetown, 
 during the century that this day completes, than her gener- 
 ous appreciation of sound learning, shown in the number of 
 her sons who have enjoyed the advantages of a collegiate, 
 and of her daughters who have been trained in academic 
 institutions. Introductory to a sketch of the former, the 
 appropriateness of the above allusions to the labors and influ- 
 ence of the venerable Gamaliel, long since passed to his re- 
 ward, and at whose feet many of us sat in early life, will 
 appear too pertinent and just to be questioned by the ad- 
 vanced portion, at least, of this audience. Two years after 
 his ordination, the first native graduate of the town, entered 
 Darmouth College, rendering it very probable that he fitted 
 under Dr. Harris's tuition, and went forth from that institu- 
 tion to the life mission of an academic teacher in 1795, just 
 thirty years after the incorporation of the town, while the 
 people were struggling with the difficulties incident to a new 
 settlement and tlie necessities of young and growing families. 
 Such were the times and circumstances of the entrance and 
 graduation of the first native of Dunharton who completed a 
 collegiate course of stud 7. 
 
 It is a remarkable fact that during the seventy years from 
 that date to the present yeaV, there has been but one year, 
 1808, that I am aware of, in which there has not been from 
 one to five sons of Dunharton in Dartmouth college. Few, if 
 any of the rural towns of New England, with an average pop- 
 ulation of less than a thousand inhaljitants, and with no grad- 
 uated professional man residing in its midst but the pastor, 
 can produce such a record as the above. Such a fact is in- 
 deed significant of the popular appreciation of learning, and 
 the character of the training under which such a trait was de- 
 veloped and established. This also explains why so many of 
 the youth of Dunharton have received, supplementary to the 
 common school, an academic training, more or less extensive. 
 It is a better and more reliable investment than railroad 
 stocks, as some of you know by sad experience. Better ex- 
 pend more in sending your sons to an academy and college, 
 and your sprightly daughters to Mount Holyoke Female Sem- 
 
71 
 
 inary, and less for big farms and attractive marriage portions. 
 This intellectual culture and moral development far out- 
 weigh any pecuniary inheritance at the expense of the former. 
 The former will, ordinarily, secure as much of the pcrishaWle 
 as is necessary to the true welfare of the higher nature, while 
 the latter has often proved its poverty and incapacity to meet 
 the wants of either the mental or physical man. A sugges- 
 tion on this point will be made in a subsequent part of this 
 address. 
 
 It appears from triennial catalogues that thirty-three natives 
 of Dunbarton have been graduated, and in subsequent life en- 
 tered the professions of theology, law and teaching. Of the 
 first class, who have made preaching their life work, the num- 
 ber is ten, of whom six are still living, and only four have 
 been called from the harvest "to enter into the joy of their 
 Lord." 
 
 Of the ministerial graduates the sketches will be given in 
 the order of the date of graduation. 
 
 Isaac Garvin was born in 1774, graduated at Darmouth in 
 1803. He was employed many years by the N. H. Missionary 
 Society, and closed his ministerial life and labors in 1848, 
 aged 74 years. 
 
 Abraham Burnham, D. D., was born in 1775, graduated at 
 Dartmouth in 1804. Taught an academy at Bradford, 
 Mass., a few years, and was settled at Pembroke. He was 
 not only a zealous and successful minister, but a warm and 
 efficient friend of education. Under his fostering care, Pem- 
 broke Academy arose and flourished. Dr. Burnham was a 
 man of clear and decided opinions, and equally fearless in 
 their utterance and defense. He Hved to a good old age, and 
 died among his flock, beloved and respected, in 1852, aged7'5 
 years. The remaining ministerial graduates are still living. 
 
 Hosea Wheeler was born in 1792, graduated at Dartmouth 
 in 1811. Settled in the ministry at^NewburyportjMass., where 
 he died in 1823. 
 
 Amos W. Burnham, D. D., now in his seventy-fifth year was 
 born in 1791, graduated at Dartmouth in 1815 ; taught the 
 Academy at Pembroke one or two years, and then settled in 
 Rindge. He has spent his ministerial life among the same 
 people, and now passing the evening of life among the people 
 of his first and only pastoral charge, which is a sufficient com- 
 ment on the character of his ministerial fidelity and success, 
 awaits the Master's summons. 
 
 Thomas Jameson was born 1794, graduated at Dartmouth 
 
72 
 
 College, 1818 ; studied theology at Andover, Mass., was 
 approbated as a candidate for the ministry by the Ilopkintoii 
 Association ; instructed Academies at Pembroke and Eflin- 
 ham, was ordained and installed pastor of Cono-regational 
 Church and Society, at Scarborough, Me., in 1825. His 
 health failing, was dismissed in 1840 ; resided in Gorham, Me., 
 till 18G0. Since that time has resided with his children in 
 Cambridge, Mass., Greenland and Exeter. 
 
 Harrison C. Page was born in 1820, graduated at Brown 
 University, where he remained as Tutor for two years. He 
 then went to Newton Theological Seminary, where he died 
 just before graduation. 
 
 Charles H. Marshall was born in 1823, graduated in 1841, 
 at Wabash College, Indiana, and studied theology at Lane 
 Seminary. He was pastor of the 2d Presbyterian church at 
 Lafayette, Ind., for five years. Failing health compelled him 
 to relinquish his charge. He is now pastor of tlie 4th Pres- 
 byterian Church of Indianapolis. 
 
 Abraham Burnham was born in 1820, graduated at Dart- 
 mouth College in 1852, and at Theological Seminary at Ando- 
 ver, in 1857 ; was ordained and installed pastor of the Con- 
 gregational church in East Haverhill, Mass., September 30th, 
 1857. He was dismissed at his own request. May, 1865, and 
 is now employed as stated supply of the Congregational 
 church in Hooksett, N. H. 
 
 Ephriam 0. Jameson was born in 1832, fitted for College at 
 Gilmanton Academy ; graduated at Dartmouth, 1855. Went 
 immediately to Andover Theological Seminary, where he grad- 
 uated in 1858. Supplied the church in Dracut, Mass., through 
 that summer, and various other churches through the year. 
 In August, 1859, he engaged as permanent supply at East 
 Concord, N. H., where he was ordained and installed March 
 1st, 1860. He was dismissed at his own request, November, 
 1805, and installed over the Union Evangelical Church of 
 Salisbury and Amesbury, Mass., November 9th, 1865, where 
 he is now pastor. 
 
 George A. Putnam was born in 1835 ; commenced his pre- 
 paratory studies at Reed's Ferry, Merrimac, the winter of 
 1851, entered the Sophomore Class at Union College, in 1855; 
 entered the Middle ('lass at Bangor Theological Seminary, in 
 1858 ; was ordained and installed pastor of the First Congre- 
 gational Church in Yarmouth, Me., November 14th, 18G0, 
 where he is still located. 
 
73 
 
 Six of the Duubartoii graduates have made teaching their 
 life mission. Tiie first was Samuel Burnham, who was the 
 first graduate. He was born in 17U7, and graduated at Dart- 
 mouth in 1795. He taught the Academy at Derry for many 
 years and died in 183-1, aged 07, deeply loved for amiableness 
 of character. 
 
 William Parker was born in 1802, graduated at Dart- 
 mouth in 1827, spent his life teaching, mostly in the State 
 of Now York, and died in Illinois in 186.5, aged 62. 
 
 Caleb Mills was born in 1800, graduated at Dartmouth in 
 1828, studied theology at Andover and went directly from 
 the seminary to take charge of the Preparatory Department 
 of Wabash College in 1833, and has remained connected with 
 that Institution as Professor, to the present date, with the 
 exception of two years he was Superintendent of Public 
 Instruction of the State of Indiana, having been elected to 
 that office in 1854. Having been called directly from the 
 seminary he has never had any pastoral charge. 
 
 Charles G. Buniham was born in 1807, and graduated at 
 Dartmouth in 1829. He taught a classical school at Rahway, 
 N. Y., several years, and then took charge of Pembroke Acad- 
 emy. He subsequently became Preceptor of an Academy at 
 Danville, Vt. Pie was Representative of the town for two 
 years, and also Superintendent of Public Instruction of that 
 State. His educational labors, in his native and other states 
 of his residence, have been exceedingly valuable. He is the 
 author of the well-known " Burnham's Arithmetic." He has 
 resided for several years past on a farm at Haverhill, Mass., 
 and is now in charge of a plantation at Montgomery, Ala. 
 
 Joseph Gibson Hoyt, LL. D., was born in 1815 and grad- 
 uated at Yale College in 1840. He was for several years an 
 assistant teacher and assistant Principal of Phillips Academy 
 at Exeter. Having won a high reputation as a classical 
 scholar and accurate teacher, he was elected Chancellor of 
 Washington University in the city of St. Louis. He fully 
 sustained himself in that position and promised to become a 
 man of distinguished usefulness. He was cut down in the 
 midst of his splendid career, and the prime and vigor of life, 
 in 1862, aged 47 years. He was the most brilliant son, Dun- 
 barton ever educated. 
 
 31ark Bailey was born 1827, graduated at Dartmouth in 
 
 1849. His taste having led him, after graduation, to direct 
 
 his studies in the line of Rhetorical development and culture, 
 
 he soon acquired a reputation as a teacher of Elocution that 
 
 I 
 
74' 
 
 has led liira to give an annual course of lessons in several of 
 our Theological Seminaries and Colleges for several years. 
 He is permanently connected with Yale College as Teacher of 
 Elocution. 
 
 William A. Piitneij was born 1840, fitted for College at 
 Meriden, graduated at Dartmouth 18G5, served three months 
 in a detached company stationed at Portsmouth, N. H. Pres- 
 ent occupation, teaching. 
 
 The first on the list of graduates, who entered tlic legal 
 profession, is Jeremiah Slinson. He was born in 1775, and 
 graduated at Dartmouth in 1798. Having studied his profes- 
 sion, he opened an office in his native town, but devoted his 
 attention to agricultural and other pursuits. He died in 
 1809, of a wound received in sliding from a haymow in his 
 barn, aged 36 years. 
 
 Of William Stark, the next on the list, I know nothing, 
 except the date of his graduation which took place in 1799. 
 Studying law at Hopkinton, he went to Canada, since which, 
 nothing is known of him. 
 
 John Burnham was born in 1779, graduated at Dartmouth 
 in 1807, and died in 1826, aged 47. He practiced law in 
 Hillsboro'. I have the impression, from my faint recollection 
 of him, that he attained some distinction in his profession, 
 
 John Whipple was born in 1789, and graduated at Dart- 
 mouth in 1812. "He held- the office of Register of Deeds 
 of Merrimack County, and also Judge of the Police Court of 
 Concord." He died in 1859, aged 68 years. 
 
 John Jameson was born 1797, graduated at Dartmouth 
 1821, passed three years in teaching at Milledgeville, Ga., 
 read law with Hon. Rufus Mclntire, Me., and has been a suc- 
 cessful lawyer and farmer in the same State, and Paymaster 
 in the Union army. His present residence, is Cornish, Me. 
 
 John Tenney was born in 1799, graduated at Dartmouth in 
 1824, and opened an office in Methuen, Mass., where he was 
 highly esteemed by his fellow citizens and sent to the Senate 
 of his adopted State, and was, also, a member of the Council. 
 He died in 1853, aged 53 years. 
 
 James Henry Paige was born 1811, graduated at Union 
 College in 1834, studied law at Aurora, N. Y., and located in 
 practice in Lewiston, N. Y. Died at Dunbarton, 1852. 
 
 Walter Harris Tenney was born in 1818 and graduated at 
 Dartmouth in lc39. Whether ho studied law 1 know not. 
 His feeble healtli after graduation forbade any very close appli- 
 
75 
 
 cation to study, and in five years he was laid in the grave, 
 aged 26 years. 
 
 Amos Hadley graduated at Dartnioutli 1844. Settled in 
 the practice of" law, at Concord, and has been for some years 
 associate editor of Tiie Independent Democrat. 
 
 Joseph M. Cavis was born in 1824, graduated at Dart- 
 mouth in 1846, opened an office in Holyoke, Mass., went to 
 California in 1851, and was elected, in 1804, Judge of the 
 Fifth Judicial District of that State. 
 
 David B. KimbaU was born 1829, graduated at Wabash 
 College, 1854, read law at Salem, Mass., and is now settled in 
 the practice of his profession at the same place. 
 
 Georg-e H. Twiss was born 1833, fitted for college at 
 Francestown, graduated at Dartmouth 1859, has read law, 
 but has been engaged mostly in teaching, being for some years 
 Superintendent of Schools in Columbus, Ohio, where he still 
 resides. 
 
 Wm. E. Bunten was born 1833, fitted for college at Meri- 
 den, graduated at Dartmouth, 1860, read law at Concord, 
 N. H., enlisted in the 14th Regiment of N. H. Volunteers, 
 served as captain in the Army of the Potomac, and is now in 
 a clerkship at Washington, D. C. 
 
 • Henry M. Ccddweil was born 1839, fitted for college at 
 Pembroke, graduated at Dartmouth 1861, enlisted as sharp- 
 shooter, received a captain's commission, and died at Fal- 
 mouth, Va., July, 1862. 
 
 Henry M. Putney was born 1840, fitted for college at New 
 London, graduated at Dartmouth 1861, read law at Concord 
 and ^Manchester, N. H., admitted to the Ear in 1862. Pres- 
 ent location, Manchester, N. H. 
 
 Henry E. Burnhani was born 1844, fitted for college at 
 Meriden, graduated at Dartmouth 1865, now reading law at 
 Concord, N. H. 
 
 The following gentlemen, whose names are appended, were 
 members of college at some period, but closed their studies 
 short of graduation, as their names do not appear on any 
 triennial catalogue : 
 
 John Stinson was born 1773, was for a time a member of 
 Dartmouth College. Was a prominent man in his native 
 town for many years. 
 
 N. Fisher Harris, son of Walter Harris, D. D., was born 
 1797, was in Dartmouth College for a time, became a physi- 
 cian, resided in Georgia where he was made a Judge, and 
 where he died in 1844. 
 
le, 
 
 Caleb Stark, Jr., grandson of Gen. John Stark, of Revolu- 
 tionary memory, was born 1804. Was a member of Har- 
 vard College for some time, but did not graduate. Studied 
 law, but did not practice his profession. He spent his life in 
 Dunbarton, engaged in private literary pursuits, among which 
 was a history of liis native town, published by him in 18G0. 
 He died in 18(54. 
 
 John Gould, Jr.^ was born 1794, died in Dartmouth Col- 
 lege, 1815. 
 
 Abel K. Wilson was born 1808, died in Dartmouth Col- 
 lege, 1831. 
 
 Leonard S. Parker vffis horn Dec. 6, 1812, fitted for col- 
 lege mainly at the Boston Latin School, ejitered Dartmouth 
 College in 1832, but left before graduating from a failure of 
 health, — spent four years at the Oberlin Institute, Ohio, — was 
 ordained at Mansfield, Ohio, Dec. 16, 1837, was two years 
 pastor of that church, — was installed as pastor of High St. 
 Congregational Church, Providence, R. I., in 1840, leaving 
 after three years from ill health, — subsequently became pas- 
 tor of the churches in West Brookfield and Haverhill, Mass., 
 remaining seven years in each place, was installed pastor of 
 the First Church in Derry, N. H., Feb. 20, 1861, where he 
 now labors. He was the first scholar in his class, both at the 
 Latin School and in College. Before completing his studies^ 
 with another young man, (now Rev. Hiram Foote,) Mr. Par- 
 ker lectured against slavery in Northern Ohio, and was 
 repeatedly assaulted by mobs. The late Hon. Joshua R. 
 Giddings said that these two young men revolutionized his 
 district. 
 
 Frank A. Pulney was born 1843, fitted for college at New 
 Hampton, entered Dartmouth 1859, left in August, 1861 and 
 enlisted in First Co. N. H. Sharpshooters, served with the 
 Army of the Potomac until after the seven days' fight before 
 Richmond — was then transferred to Philadelphia, mustered 
 out in 1864, but returned to duty and left at the close of the 
 war in June, 1865. At present in Eastman's Business Col- 
 lege, Poughkeepsie, N. Y. 
 
 Of professional men who did not enjoy a Collegiate 
 Education, we find Joel JVheeler, born 1808, and Christie 
 Wheeler, his Ijrother, born in 1810. Both received their edu- 
 cation at New Hampton, settled in the clerical profession at 
 McHenry, Illinois, where the elder still resides, the younger 
 having died some twenty years since. 
 
I i 
 
 I am not aware that any Dunbarton graduate has entered 
 the medical proicssion, and as another speaks i'or that profes- 
 sion, I will not take up your time by any further allusion to 
 our native physicians. 
 
 Very likely some names belonging to the above lists have 
 been overlooked. If so, I trust you will pardon the omission 
 as it is through lack of information and not design. 
 
 ISuch is the educational record of our native town, and 
 such are the minds which have mingled, from time to time, 
 with this people during the period of their development and 
 culture. The unconscious tuition of such intercourse is not 
 without a significance and power, which should not be over- 
 looked, nor unrecognized in our estimate of the causes which 
 have made Dunbarton what she is. Did time permit, it 
 would be both appropriate and pleasant to notice some of the 
 elect Ladies^ who have gone forth from these hills and valleys 
 and been the joy and hght of many households in various 
 commonwealths of this glorious Union, now redeemed and 
 disenthralled from the curse and stigma of slavery. Would 
 that they and their husbands and children were present, but 
 they cannot be gathered, for it w^ould be necessary to sum- 
 mon some of them from not only distant States, but also 
 to call them from Syria and Persia and Asia Minor. 
 
 In conclusion, I cannot forbear to make one suggestive 
 enquiry. Shall this audience disperse and this Centennial 
 Celebration become a subject of historic record, and nothing 
 be done to indicate to posterity that such an assembly had 
 ever been convened ? Shall no memorial of our gratitude 
 for the countless blessings we have received, as a town, dur- 
 ing the first century of its history, be left behind, and no 
 monument be reared to express our appreciation of the value 
 of our present happy condition, and indicate a desire for the 
 increase and perpetuity of the agencies for good that the past 
 and present generations have enjoyed ? I seem to see \i\ 
 your countenances an expression of a noble and generous 
 response to the suggestion. Let that monument be such as 
 will best express our conviction of the true interests of those 
 who succeed us, and contribute most directly and effectually 
 to secure those interests, would seem to be the utterance of 
 you all. If so, what can be more appropriate for the purpose 
 than the establishment of the Dunbarton Classic School, a.t 
 which the present and future youth of this town may receive 
 an academic education preparatory to college, Mount Holyoke 
 Female Seminary, or the activities of business life. The upper 
 
78 
 
 story of the old meetinghouse would furuish a fine room 40 x 
 60, 12 feet high, and the lower story of the same dimensions 
 will be all that ihc town needs for its public meetings. Let 
 the town, as a cor|)orati()n, give the porch and upper story to 
 (he Trustees of said D. C. S. The expense of fitting it up 
 would be very small. The school needs $6000 permanent 
 funds to suj^plement the tuition income. Such a monument 
 vrould be worthy of its builders, and an object of delightful 
 contemplation to the sons and daughters of Dunbarton the 
 world over. 1 shall be happy to contribute to the enterprise 
 if it is deemed advisable to undertake it. Let me say to you, 
 from my distant home, that my life experience of almost 
 threescore years has been an ample confirmation of hhe 
 seemingly paradoxical scripture utterance, " there is that 
 scattereth and yet increaseth." Many have found that with- 
 holding from good causes and philanthropic enterprises more 
 than was meet, has tended to poverty. " It is more blessed 
 to o-rye than to receive." These are the Lord's stocks and 
 are always in the market with this general coupon attached, 
 " he thatsoweth bountifully shall als<o reap bountifully." 
 
 (See Appendix.) 
 
 Note. The Editor is repponsihle for many of the above statistics, having made them 
 as accurate as he could, at the rCHuest of" Prof. Mills. The followiiii; correction was 
 received after the above was in i)rint. Hosea Wheeler was born in 1791. Was pastor of 
 the Baptist church in N^wburyport, Mass., for live years . Died at Eastport, Maine. 
 
 No. 6. The Baptist church of Dunbarton ; she cherishes 
 the memory of her former pastors with fraternal and chris- 
 tian regard. She has not forgotten the name of a Mason and 
 a Pillsbury who have gone to their rest, nor a Wescott, a 
 Walker, a Hodge and a Poland who still survive, and also oth- 
 ers, who as stewards of the grace of God, prepared and Cooked 
 food for the flock that was well seasoned and fit to be Eaton. 
 The Baptists of Dunbarton, while tenaciously adhering tA the 
 Bible truth, that God only can give the increase, are, never- 
 theless, willing to acknowledge that much in their present 
 hopeful condition and encouraging prospects, is due to the 
 past labors of a faithful ministry. 
 
79 
 
 Response by Rev. Stephen Pillsbury, pastor of the Baptist 
 church of Dunbarton. 
 
 Mr. Fillsbury commenced by sayinj^ he had hoped some 
 former pastor would be present to respond in behalf of the 
 Baptist church, but as no one had appeared, he would 
 endeavor to supply the deficiency as best he could. 
 
 The Baptist church of Dunbarton was organized Dec. 15, 
 1828. It was composed of nineteen members who had been 
 dismissed from the Goffstown and Bow churches for that 
 purpose. The interest that led to this step was the result of 
 the labors of a young man by the name of Isaac Wescott. 
 He taught school at the East part of the town, near the resi- 
 dences of most of these members, and about this time com- 
 menced exercising his gift in preaching. The meetings were 
 first held in a school-house, but that was soon filled to over- 
 flowino-. They were then removed to a large shop owned by 
 John Gould, Esq., and erected for a blacksmith shop, but never 
 occupied for that purpose. Many persons are now living at 
 the East part of the town (Mountalona,) who used to sit in 
 that shop and listen to the preaching of young Wescott, who 
 already evinced" superior abilities for the ministerial profes- 
 sion. 
 
 Not long after this, a meeting-house was built by a Mr. 
 Elliott for the Ba|)tist church and society. I am unable to 
 learn from the records the precise time when it was completed, 
 but it was duly occupied by the Baptist Society. It is the 
 same house that now stands there, a short distance from 
 Gould's corner and nearly opposite the residence of Thomas 
 Johnson, Esq. 
 
 While Mr. Wescott remained, the house was crowded with 
 eager, listeners, people came from all sections, and some from 
 as far off as Amoskeag, to hear the earnest young preacher. 
 Mr. Wescott continued his labors until near the beginning of 
 the year 1831, when he left and removed to Vermont. He 
 has since proved one of our strongest and most successful 
 preachers and pastors, and is now settled over a large church 
 in the city of New York. 
 
 After Mr. Wescott left, it seems the church remained with- 
 out a settled minister until the Spring of 1835, but was sup- 
 plied a part of the time by a Mr. Ellis and a Mr. Strong. In 
 the Spring of 1835, the church called and settled as its pas- 
 tor, Rev. Stephen Pillsbury, who continued to labor with them 
 nearly four years, or until about the beginning of the year 
 
80 
 
 1839. Durino; his ministrations the church enjoyed a revival 
 of rehgion and a good degree of prosperity. 
 
 After Mr. Pillsbur^ left, the church seems to have remained 
 without a settled minister till the Spring of 1843 ; but was 
 supplied by different persons, and in the mean time enjoyed 
 two considerable seasons of revival, the lirst in the Autumn of 
 1839, which seemed to spring from a prayer-meeting estab- 
 lished by three brethren agreeing to meet together and pray 
 for the conversion of sinners. Soon the Spirit of the Lord 
 was poured out and souls were converted, and, as a result, 
 twenty-two were baptized into the fellowship of the church. 
 
 During this season the church was supplied a part of the 
 time by Horace Eaton, then a student at New Hampton. 
 After him I find the names of a Mr. Walker and a Mr. Pear- 
 son, and also Mr. Pillsbury, the former pastor, supplied the 
 desk half of the time during the season of 1841. 
 
 In the Fall of 1842 the church was blessed with another 
 revival of religion, which seemed to have some connection 
 with the labors of Rev. Mr. Knapp, in Concord. In October 
 a protracted meeting was held, conversions followed, and nine- 
 teen were added to the church by baptism. During this time 
 the church was without a regular pastor. In March, 1843, 
 Rev. Abner Mason was called to ordination and settled as pas- 
 tor. 
 
 For reasons which do not appear, this pastorate was short. 
 In 1845-6 a Rev. Mr. Smith is spoken of as the minister. 
 
 In the Spring of 1847 the meetings were removed from the 
 old house at Mountalona to a Hall which, with a lot of 
 ground, had been purchased at the centre of the town. 
 Rev. J. W. Poland supplied the desk during the sea- 
 son. In 1848 the church engaged the services of Rev. H. 
 D. Hodge, as pastor, and during this year the society built a 
 new meeting-house upon the site of the old Hall at the Centre, 
 and in November the meetings were moved into it. Owing 
 to some dissatisfaction growing out of the building of the 
 meeting-house, Mr. Hodge, (whose labors, it seems, were very 
 acceptable to the church generally,) did not remain longer 
 than the year 1848. 
 
 In the Spring of 1849, Rev. Samuel Cook became the pas- 
 tor of the church, and continued so until near 1854. Some- 
 time during this year, (1854,) Rev. Horace Eaton commenced 
 his labors with the church. He continued its pastor till the 
 Spring of 1859. 
 
81 
 
 In 1860 the church was supplied by Rev. J. M. Coburn, 
 and in February, IS'il, Wasliington L. Coburn, (brother of the 
 former,) was called to ordination and settled as the pastor. 
 
 For reasons which do not appear in the records, this pas- 
 torate was also a very short one. 
 
 In the Spring of 1862, Rev. John Peacock, the evangelist, 
 was engaged as a supply. He continued to supply the church 
 until September, 1868. During his ministrations, in the fall 
 of 1862, the church was much revived ; some ten or twenty 
 persons were hopefully converted and united with the church 
 by baptism. 
 
 In September, 1863, the present pastor, Rev. Stephen Pills- 
 bury, (son of the Rev. Stephen Pillshury who was settled in 
 1835,) commenced his labors. He labored about a year as a 
 licentiate from the New London Baptist church, and in Octo- 
 ber, 1864, was ordained and settled as pastor. In ihe Spring 
 of 1864 the church enjoyed another refreshing season of revi- 
 val ; as a result of which eleven new members were added by 
 baptism and experience. 
 
 It appears by the records that the church has had, during 
 its thirty-seven years of existence, some severe trials of disci- 
 pline, and many changes of pastors and ministers, yet it has 
 never been long without the preached word. It has also had 
 five or six special seasons of revival, in all of which some 
 seventy new members wore brought into the church. It has 
 also had at other times, tlie usual experience of additions of 
 individuals by baptism and letter ; and losses by removal and 
 death. These losses have been so numerous that from nine- 
 teen it has increased to only seventy -three, its present num- 
 ber. 
 
 Mr. President, in the sentiment of the toast referring to our 
 church and society, its present condition is spoken of as hope- 
 ful and prosperous. I think it may truly be said to be so, 
 compared with many former periods of its history. As an 
 evidence of this I will mention, first, a willingness to give the 
 minister a comfortable support. Secondly, a disposition to 
 recognize its obligations to contribute to the various objects 
 of benevolence, also a willingness to incur additional expense 
 to procure help from abroad to sustain a series of meetings 
 and a special effort for a revival of God^s tvork. Thirdly, a 
 state of union and harmony between the members of the 
 church, and lastly, the good feeling that seems to be existing 
 between the two denominations in the town. 
 J 
 
82 
 
 In conclusion, let me express the confident liope, that they 
 will ever continue to work harmoniously together, that what- 
 ever jealousies may have existed in the past, they will now be 
 forgotten, and this day the hatchet be buried out of sight for- 
 ever ; that henceforth tlie various members of the two socie- 
 ties will always be ready to bid each other God-speed in all 
 their efforts to save souls and build up the cause of Christ. 
 
 Let me also express the hope that in 1965 the whole srrovnd 
 will be occupied, that " every house will henhouse of prayer,'' 
 ■and the two denominations be two only in name ; thus 
 answering the end of the prayer of our Savior, "That they 
 all may be one ; as thou. Father, art in me and I in thee, that 
 they also may be one in us, that the world may believe that 
 thou hast sent me." 
 
 No. 7. Ancient and Modern Travel ;— The Bridle path 
 and embroidered Pillion, versus the Railway and the cush- 
 ioned Car. 
 
 Response by Ex. Gov. Gilmore : 
 
 Concord, N. H., Sept. 12, 1865. 
 Rev. SUvanus Hayward, Chairman Centennial Committee, 
 
 Dimbarton, N. H. ^ . 
 
 My Dear Sir : — Since I wrote you accepting your kind invi- 
 tation to be present at the centennial celebration of the settle- 
 ment of Dunbarton, I have been so seriously ill that I have 
 hardly been able to attend to business at all. Of course cares 
 have accumulated and duties been neglected which tax my 
 returning strength to the utmost, and I greatly fear that "tlie 
 rail-way car" will engross all my energies to-morrow, to the 
 titter exclusion of the "embroidered pillion." In other words, 
 I fear that I shall be compelled to deny myself the pleasure of 
 minoling with my friends and fellow citizens on an occasion 
 of so much interest to them and to myself. 
 
 I cannot claim to be more than half a native of Dunbarton ; 
 but that, you will recollect, is my "better half." _ I have 
 known the town intimately, sympathized heartily in its great 
 prosperity, and done what I might to promote its welfare dur- 
 ing one third of the period whose lapse you commemorate. 
 
83 
 
 The appropriate sentiment to which you invite me to respond, 
 recalls the circumstances in which I first became acquainted 
 with your beautiful and thrifty neighborhoods ; the tedious 
 miles of staging which then separated you from the outside 
 world ; and all the wonderful changes, not alone in our modes 
 of communication, but in our habits of thought and ways of 
 living, which the last generation has witnessed. 
 
 With such memories thronging upon me, and so many ties 
 of interest and affection binding me to your people, it is hard 
 for rae to confess my inability to participate in your commem- 
 orative services ; but 1 cannot grant myself this day's enjoy- 
 ment without imperilling interests which are not my own. 
 Will you do me the kindness to explain to your citizens the 
 cause of my absence and assure them of my desire that their 
 prosperity in the future may be as steady, substantial and sat- 
 isfactory as in the past. 
 
 Very respectfully, 
 
 Your obedient servant, 
 
 J. A. GILMORE. 
 
 No. 8. Our Native Physicians : — Dunbarton, the honored 
 birth-place of many professional children — but through the 
 pure air of her hills, and the pure morals of her inhabitants, 
 offering but small inducements to her doctors and lawyers to 
 practice upon their own townsmen. 
 
 Response by J. L. Colby, M. D., Harlem, N. Y. 
 
 In responding to this sentiment we may say of our venera- 
 ble mother town as Daniel Webster said of the State, it is a 
 good place from which to emigrate. She has given sound 
 minds in sound bodies to hundreds who are now devothig 
 their healthy and mature energies to the interests of other com- 
 munities, but will never forget the hale and honored matron 
 in whose mountain cradle they were rocked. 
 
 The temperance of the community never perilled by a tav- 
 ern or grog-shop, (at least in my recollection,) and the good 
 temper of the people never tampered with by a resident law- 
 
84 
 
 yer, (we intend no reflection upon the legal profession,) have 
 made our town conspicuous as a city set upon a liill. For 
 nearly three quarters of a century the people sat in great har- 
 mony under the ministrations of the pious and beloved Dr. 
 Harris, and Putnam, the venerable survivor whom we would 
 congratulate in his long continued and successful ministry ; 
 and even in their division into two congregations under the 
 respected clergymen now occupying the pulpits, the same good 
 feeling is preserved. 
 
 Among the deceased members of the medical profession of 
 our old town, we would mention with profound respect the 
 excellent Drs. Clement and Stearns, my old preceptor and 
 true friend, Avho devoted so many years of unremunerated 
 professional toil among their own townsmen. 
 
 Of other deceased members of tlie profession, the names of 
 Mills and Rider will be held in honoral)le recollection. 
 
 We mention with pride Dr. David P. Goodhue who is yield- 
 ing his professional skill to his country's service as a surgeon 
 in the navy ; and Oilman Leach devoting his energies to the 
 interest of the community near my own field of labor, we 
 "would not forget. 
 
 Friend Story, my old associate in the study of medicine, 
 has withdrawn from the profession he practiced with so much 
 success, as the people of Hooksett, Manchester and Massachus- 
 etts well know, and retiring to his numerous flocks in Weare, 
 having ceased to be doctor, deals now more in "greenbacks" 
 than plasters ; and in palatable bank-drafts, not nauseating 
 draughts of the shops. 
 
 For my medical brother now bestowing his valuable ser- 
 vices upon the residents of the town,* we offer both our 
 hearty congratulations and liveliest sympathies. He could 
 not have chosen a more picturesque home, a more delightful, 
 social circle in which to move, nor a more limited field for 
 the display of professional skill. We would wish for him the 
 liighest success compatible with the continued good health of 
 the community. 
 
 May the old town during the next century be as honored 
 in her children as she honors them with her unspotted record ; 
 and wliile she gives them a healthful berth in her airy hills, 
 may she as generously as heretofore, offer their services for 
 the good of the whole country. 
 
 *Dr. Colby was probably unaware of the fact that there ha? been no phypician resident 
 Jn Dunbarton for nearly ten years past. (Ed.) 
 
S5 
 
 Permit me to otTer the following sentiments : 
 Present clergy of Dunbarton. !May the mantle of the early 
 clergy descend upon the present clergy, making them if pos- 
 sible, more eminent in piety and usefulness ; and may the 
 sympathy uniting them with the people among whom tliey la- 
 bor, be like that which existed in olden time. 
 
 Tlie kindred professions, Dimnil//, Law and Pli/jsic^ alike 
 founded for tlie protection and advancement of human wel- 
 fare : May they never be diverted from their true and holy 
 callina:. 
 
 No. 9. Dunbarton Farmers ; — Noted for broad shoulders 
 and broad lands, for hard hands and hard cash, for good 
 morals and good stock, for tender consciences and tender 
 beef. No town can boast of better farmers, and no farmers 
 of a better town. 
 
 The early farmers of Dunbarton ; — our ancestors, brave, 
 honest and true. Their privations and virtues should ever be 
 remembered with filial love and gratitude. May we, their 
 sons and daughters, emulate their principles and do what in 
 us lies to add to the fair fame of our dear old native town. 
 
 Response by Charles G. B. Ryder, Esq. 
 
 The Bible teaches us that agriculture was the first employ- 
 ment of mankind. That God made Adam and Eve and 
 placed them in a garden to till and to dress it. And the cul- 
 tivation of the soil has been the leading pursuit of the whole 
 human race up to the present time. It has not only been the 
 leading, but it is among the most honorable, the most healthy 
 and the most independent of all pursuits to which man has 
 given his attention. 
 
 True, there have been offshoots, some have gone into me- 
 chanical, commercial and professional engagements, while 
 others, unwilling to wait so slow a process, have plunged 
 themselves into all the uncertainties of speculation. Yet the 
 intelligent and industrious farmer is the sovereign of them all. 
 He wields a sceptre to which all must bend. He holds the 
 
8G 
 
 balance of the life and comfort of the world in his stalwart 
 liand. None can exist without the proceeds of his toil. It 
 is he who virtually feeds and clothes the whole human family. 
 Cities spring from the traffic in the products of his labor, 
 commerce is the legitimate offspring of his industry. Neither 
 armies nor fleets can exist without his aid, as we have seen 
 during the past four years, and the day is past when the tiller 
 of the soil is to be confounded with tlie sod which he turns 
 with his plow. It is true the men of science and of letters 
 are good in their places, and do mucli towards promoting the 
 happiness and prosperity of the world. But the farmer is 
 master of the most needful of toils and the most serviceable 
 of products. Yet he should be learned in his profession, and 
 when this is the case, how vast is the field for study. It is no 
 less than " the earth and the fullness thereof." 
 
 Dunbarton is and always has been exclusively an agricul- 
 tural town. We have now and then a carpenter, a black- 
 smith and a shoemaker, but they are more or less connected 
 witii the cultivation of the soil. No one of them would 
 hardly attempt to gain a living by his own particular busi- 
 ness. 
 
 We are as " a city set upon a hill, which cannot be hid." 
 Surrounded by rivers, not a drop of which has ever washed a 
 grain of sand from among these rocks. The shrill whistle of 
 the iron horse may be heard in every direction, but he never 
 yet has ventured to travel these hills witli his heavy tread, or 
 to spout his hot and fetid breath along these valleys. 
 
 We are farmers, and as such our interests are bound up in 
 the great interests of agriculture. No lawyer with his legal 
 documents, or doctor with his pills and physic dare to intrude 
 upon this sacred soil. The people are too honest for the one, 
 too healthy for the other. Even the minister, man of letters 
 as he is, finds but one single boon companion, and they two 
 tread these iiills in one solitary pair. 
 
 The first settlers of this town were farmers. Men of indom- 
 itable energy and perseverance, men who feared no hard- 
 ships, were ready to brave all dangers, men of sterling worth. 
 Had they not been such, a Putney and a Rogers would never 
 have left the pleasant fields and the, then, comparative com- 
 forts of old Rumford, for the sterile and uninviting surround- 
 ings of " Great Meadow." Nor would a Page, a Stinson, and 
 others equally fearless, have left their homes and their friends 
 in Londonderry, crossed the beautiful and fertile valley of the 
 Merrimack, and the easily cultivated plains of Goffstown to 
 
87 
 
 make for tliemselves homes in the western wilds of the town^ 
 far from each other, where the echoing sounds of the wood- 
 man's axe had never been heard, with bears, catamounts and 
 wolves, tlieir associates by night, their guns and other weapons 
 of defence, their only reliable friends by day. Such was the 
 character of those brave men wlio first settled in tliese val- 
 leys. Those too, who at a later day cleared these hills, made 
 these farms and erected these dwellings, possessed that same 
 invincible spirit which characterized those who had lived here 
 before them. That same energy and perseverance may be 
 ours, but we need to pass through the same trying ordeal to 
 know our own characters. 
 
 But what a change, in the farming interests of this town, 
 has a hundred years wrought. These hills were then covered 
 witli their native forests, standing in all their primeval gran- 
 deur. These farms were then in a great measure unoccupied. 
 The timber of which tliese pleasant dwellings are made had 
 never received the jar of the pioneer's axe. Now we see 
 beautiful fields, which have been made productive by the 
 energy and labors of those who have taken an active part in 
 the great drama of life since that period, covered with luxu- 
 riant corn and waving grain. We see elegant farm houses 
 and commodious barns built upon the most improved modern 
 plans. We see these churches, too, from the spire of one of 
 which, every Lord's day morning, may be heard the peals of 
 the Sabbath bell, echoing and re-echoing over these hills and 
 through these vales, calling together those, who with willing 
 feet, would come to worship at the shrine of Jehovah. In- 
 stead of the log hut with its single room, entrance and win- 
 dow, may be seen the scliool-house with open doors and its 
 many reminiscences of other days, inviting thither our chil- 
 dren that they may get to themselves knowledge, which shall 
 prepare them for usefulness in future life. What improve- 
 ments in our farms, also, may be noticed as having been made 
 from time to time. Fences have been built, trees planted, 
 meadows, otherwise unproductive, have been reclaimed, now 
 yielding a rich reward for the support of the beast of the 
 field. 
 
 In the products of the farm also, a great advance has been 
 made, even within the recollection of those here present. 
 Among the more substantial fruits, the first of all of which 
 is the apple, we have the delicious Baldwin, the crispy and 
 juicy Gravenstein, sweet enough, sour enough, and pleasant 
 enough to satisfy the taste of any epicure, besides others " too 
 
88 
 
 numerous to mention,'' instead of the gnarled and crabbed 
 cider apple which our fathers had. Fears, peaches and plums, 
 besides many smaller fruits, come in by way of dessert. The 
 culture of flowers and shruljs also, evinces no less of improve- 
 ment than the other products of the farm. 
 
 All this change has been brought about through the intelli- 
 gence and the industry of the man of the soiL 
 
 What shall be said of the implements of husbandry ? 
 What they were a hundred years ago I know not. Of course 
 they were rude and inconvenient. But even since my own 
 recollection, the improvement in these has been almost beyond 
 imagination. Instead of forks, rakes, and scythes, such as 
 our fathers used, we hear people talk of mowing machines, 
 . horse rakes, hay tedders and horse hay forks. Instead of the 
 wooden, straight handled hickory up plow, we have the smooth, 
 easy running cast iron. In hoes, carts and carriages of all 
 kinds, we notice the same great degree of advancement. So 
 of many other things which I need not name. 
 
 As an agricultural community, Dunbarton has fully kept 
 pace with all her sister towns. Where do you find better 
 sustained churches, according to the number of its popula- 
 tion ? Where in any farming community do you find better 
 regulated schools, although they are far from being what they 
 should be ? Where wull you find better farm-houses with 
 better appendages, or kept in better repair ? As for barns, 
 she is ahead of almost any neighboring town. 
 
 Such, in a few brief words, is the character of those men 
 who have cultivated these hills and valleys within the last 
 hundre<i years. Such too, the improvements they have made. 
 But I should do injustice to those noble women who have 
 travelled the weary journey of life with them, did I allow 
 them to pass unnoticed here. They have proved themselves 
 competent for arduous labors, and granted cheerful aid in all 
 the way of life. Who but they spun the tow, the flax, and 
 the wool, and manufactured them into clothing for the benefit 
 of the husband and children, and in many instances furnished 
 the necessaries of the family by the proceeds of their toil ? 
 They, too, bestowed upon those men that womanly love, 
 sympathy and encouragement which man always needs in 
 whatever s[)here of life he moves. To these mothers as well 
 as sires, belong the honor of making the agricultural interests 
 of Dunbarton what they are to-day. Their influence does not 
 end here. They have sent out many a noble son and daugh- 
 ter to grace the walks of life in almost every sphere, Farm- 
 
89 
 
 ers, Lawyers, Doctors, and Ministers not a few. Some have 
 returned to us on this occasion. Otliers are far away in dis- 
 tant places, while some have fallen and their ashes lie mingled 
 with the soil of almost every state of the Union. 
 
 We can boast of no great and gifted statesmen, who, after 
 the turmoils and strife of a political life, have retired to the 
 peace and quietude of the country. But we have others 
 equally worthy of our esteem and admiration. Among them 
 I gladly refer you to him, to whom we have listened with so 
 much interest this morning as the orator of this occasion, 
 who, after the trials and perplexities of the school-room for 
 many successive years, has fallen back to his own productive 
 acres. We also have a son-in-law who is now Ex-Governor of 
 our own little State, He, too, is a farmer, and his possession 
 lies within the nativity of his better half. Others there are, 
 by no means unworthy, would time permit, to be named in 
 connection with these. 
 
 Farmers of Dunbarton at home or abroad : — Ours is a noble 
 calling. Let us never be ashamed of hard hands or brown 
 faces. We also can claim a noble ancestry, who with their 
 sufferings and hardships in making old Starkstown what she 
 is to-day, should never be forgotten. 
 
 No. 10. Our Mechanics : May their memory be cherished 
 and their value appreciated by the present and future genera- 
 tions of the town. 
 
 Response by Leroy R. Mills. 
 
 Mr. President, Ladies and Gentlemen : — In this sentiment 
 we have a three fold cord well entwined, which the inspired 
 penman has declared "is not easily broken." In the history 
 of the past, we have had the Religious, Literary, Legal, Med- 
 ical, and Agricultural interests of the town presented to our 
 minds in all the power with which eloquence and argument 
 could enforce them, nor would I detract one jot or tittle of 
 their importance, or the sacredness of their memory ; but only 
 add that all has not been told of our good Old Mother Town. 
 
 Although Dunbarton is emphatically a Farming town, yet 
 her sons and daughters have not been insensible to the many 
 
90 
 
 other useful and refined arts. Among these, Mechanics have 
 held a prominent place. 
 
 Need I speak of their value ? If so, look about you and be- 
 hold the monuments that our fathers reared, that in silence 
 speak of genius and labor ; the mills they built to saw and 
 grind, — the stately mansions they raised and adorned ; — all 
 are silent reporters of the skill and energy in generations that 
 have gone to their long home. Their names and worthy 
 deeds should we keep in grateful remembrance. 
 
 Of some of these will I speak. 
 
 Of Mill-wrights, we record the names of Simeon and Levi 
 Palmer, Eben and Samuel Gould, and Eben Bailey. 
 
 Of Wheel-wrights : — John Ferguson. 
 
 Of Carpenters and Joiners: — Wm. Tenney. who framed and 
 finished our venerable Old Town House, Shubael Tenney, 
 John Garvin, John Leach, Robert Fulton, David and Moses 
 Eliot. 
 
 Of Painters : — James Stinson. 
 
 Of Masons : — Timothy Jones, Henry M. Putnam and John 
 Burnham. 
 
 Of Blacksmiths : — Moses Poor, John Jameson, Wm. Brown, 
 Eben Chase, John Gould, Abel Currier, Jared Fuller, Jona- 
 than Waite, Richard Parkinson, and Jonathan Ireland, 
 
 Of Shoemakers: — Hugh Jameson, John Wilson, Wm. Cur- 
 tice, Joseph Twiss, and Jesse Sargent. 
 
 Of Tanners : — Wm. Parker, Jonas Hastings, John Cavis, 
 Obadiah and Wm. Woodbury. 
 
 Of Tailors and Tailuresses : — Thomas George, Robert Dins- 
 rcore, Adaline Curtice, Ann Stinson and Hannah Colby. 
 
 Of Coopers : — Moses Colby, Abraham Burnham, William 
 Beard, Perley P. ajid Aaron Ray, John Mills and Isaac Bar- 
 nard. 
 
 Of Pumpmakers : — Thomas Hammond. 
 
 These all liave done their work and gone to their reward. 
 Others, doubtless, lived and acted, but their names were not 
 at hand, for me to record. 
 
 Of those of the present day, we have not time to speak, as 
 they are too numerous to mention. Suffice it to say, the rest 
 of these trades are practiced l)y citizens of the town, and some 
 others have arisen to give beauty and stability to our domestic 
 institutions, and perpetuate the memory of by-gone days. 
 
 May the mantle of the cherished dead rest upon the living. 
 Most of these are with us to-day, to share our joy, and "wel- 
 come home" each wandering son and daughter that has re- 
 
91 
 
 turned to mingle with us in songs of grateful praise to our 
 kind and gracious God, for his guardian care and watchful 
 Providence, that has been around and witliin us hitlicrto. 
 
 Let us keep in mind the past, to enliven the present, and 
 inspire us in the future to noble deeds, and^pcrsevering efforts 
 in climbing the hill of Science and Art. May our zeal never 
 cool, and our energy never tire, until from its lofty summit 
 we shout the note of victory. 
 
 No. 11. The Starks : — Soldiers in time of War, Historians 
 and Poets in time of Peace ; an honor to the State that gave 
 them birth, and an ornament to the society in whicii they 
 lived ; — we cherish and revere the memory of the departed, 
 and we honor the worth of those now living. 
 
 At the request of the Misses Stark, Hon. Horace Chase of 
 Hopkinton, gave the following Response : 
 
 Mr. President, Ladies and Gentlemen : On an occasion 
 like the present, there are some thoughts which irresistibly 
 force themselves iipon the attention. 
 
 A reflective mind cannot forl)ear to contrast the condition 
 to-day of the town which now celebrates its hundredth birth- 
 day, with that which existed in its infancy, and to inquire 
 what was the moving and primary cause whicli has produced 
 the wonderful improvements that we witness among us and 
 about us. 
 
 Tliis country, then a pathless wilderness, is now covered 
 witli cultivated fields, yiekling all the necessaries, and many 
 of the comforts and luxuries of life — then inhabited by the 
 wild beasts of prey and savage tribes of Indians equally wild, 
 and, if possible, more ferocious — now its hills and valleys are 
 dotted over with civilized habitations, the abodes of peace, 
 plenty, prosperity, and, above all, cliristianity. 
 
 We are standing on what then miglit be called the frontiers 
 of an infant colony, the young and feeble offspring of Euro- 
 pean civilization, now in the rear guard of a great and power- 
 ful nation which has swept like a resistless deluge through the 
 the valleys and over the mountains of New England, along the 
 
92 
 
 shores of the great Lakes, and across the prairies of the mighty 
 West, arrested in its course only by the waves of the Pacific 
 Ocean. 
 
 It is but natural then, to inquire whence these mighty 
 changes, and wliat arc tlio causes which produced these stu- 
 pendous results. Our growth from weak and feeble colonies 
 originally under the government of Great Britian, to a great, 
 powerful and independent nation, is undoubtedly owing to 
 many and various co-operating causes which I do not propose, 
 nor would the limits of my remarks allow me to discuss ; but 
 I may be allowed to say that, with sentiments of just pride and 
 reverence, mingled with a sense of the obligations on our 
 own part, arising from the relation, we can assert, it was our 
 fathers and our fathers' fathers who first set this ball in mo- 
 tion, and began the creation of this new world. 
 
 We go back but two or three generations to find the in- 
 trepid little band which forms our order of nobility, not, it is 
 true, decorated with the insignia of rank, originating in an old 
 and artificial state of society, but nature's own noblemen, the 
 true Knights Errant of their age — born to battle with diffi- 
 culties and conquer them — to court danger and survive it — 
 men not educated in the refinement of Courts, nor in the tech- 
 nicalities of European lav/s, nor in the dialectics of the Uni- 
 versities, but men of stalwart arms, honest hearts and clear 
 heads, amply competent to deal with the practicalities of their 
 time, and, as we have the proof before our eyes, in the results 
 of a hundred years, to lay the foundation of a mighty empire, 
 and a system of Democratic government, such as never entered 
 the imagination of dreaming philosophers. 
 
 Among these heroes of a hundred years since, perhaps no 
 one can be found more truly a representative man, both in his 
 personal character and personal history, than Major-General 
 John Stark, one of the original proprietors of your town, a 
 man, in person of medium size but strongly knit frame, with, 
 as the saying is, " no loose flesh," but all bone and muscle, 
 made for use, and capable of great endurance ; possessed of a 
 daring and adventurous spirit — perfectly insensible to any 
 feelings of personal danger, as early evinced in his contests 
 with the Indians and his conduct when a prisoner in their 
 hands — receiving a fine practical military education, in the 
 old French and Indian wars, where he, like most of his revolu- 
 tionary compeers, got all his knowledge of the art of war-— ■ 
 frank and outspoken in manner, unhesitating and decided in 
 opinion, clear-headed and independent in thought, as ready 
 
93 
 
 to act as to think — he was just the kind of man to whom all 
 ordinary minds look in time of difficuly and danger, and 
 whom, even men themselves qualified to lead, are ready to 
 accept as their Chieftain. 
 
 When came the terrible life and death struggle of the Rev- 
 olutionary War, it was easy for those who knew his personal 
 history, to predict that the man, who, when a youngster, had 
 struck up the guns of savages aimed at his brother's life, when 
 to do so seemed certain death to himself, would think no sac- 
 rifice too great for his beloved country, and that so long as iiis 
 countrymen were swayed by the young warrior whose indom- 
 itable pride would never allow him, as a prisoner, to submit 
 to the degradation of compulsory hibor or corporeal punish- 
 ment, they would never submit to oppression, but having de- 
 termined on resistance, would conquer their independence or 
 perish in the last ditch. 
 
 And the expectations of those who understood the char- 
 acter of John Stark were never disappointed. 
 
 He was emphatically the man for the times and the occa- 
 sion, a man with wiiom honor was an end, and life merely a 
 means, valuable or worthless, and worse than worthless, as 
 it could be used in the great contest for freedom and right, or 
 must be dragged out in unmanly submission to tyranny and 
 opppression. As generous and openhanded as the day, John 
 Stark was not the man to withhold millions for defence ; but 
 to yield one cent for tribute, he must have ceased to be John 
 Stark, or the true model of any other Stark whom I ever 
 knew or heard of. 
 
 But why dwell longer on the character of this great Revo- 
 lutionary hero, on the romantic incidents of his early life or 
 the glorious achievements of his mature manhood ? These 
 must be familiar to you all ; history has recorded them, poe- 
 try has found in them a pleasing theme for immortal verse. 
 
 He-has failed to read the story of his country's trials and 
 triumphs who knows not of the Stark of Bennington, him 
 who led the sons of New Hampshire over the borders of their 
 native mountains, (for, thank God, the hillsides of the old 
 Granite State have never yet been pressed by tlie foot of the 
 invader,) to a glorious victory whicli turned back the tide of 
 successful invasion, about to sweep with resistless fury over a 
 despondent and almost exhausted land. 
 
 My friends, I should do injustice to my own feelings, and 
 I doubt not, to yours as well, should 1 confine myself to a 
 consideration of the character and services of Gen. John 
 
94 
 
 Stark alone. It has been my good fortune to enjoy a per- 
 sonal acquaintance and intercourse with many of the Stark 
 family, descendants of Gen. John Stark, at diiferenl periods 
 of my life ; they have been my neighbors and my friends 
 and I can truly say that the same traits of character exhibi- 
 ted in exalted public stations by Gen. Stark were and are pos- 
 sessed by his descendants and kinsmen, and shown by them, 
 in their less conspicuous but always useful sphere of life. 
 His brother, Archibald Stark, served as a lieutenant in the 
 Ranger (jorps in the old French war, was one of the first 
 grantees of your town where he long resided and died at a 
 very advanced age, in Hopkinton, N. H., at the residence of 
 his son James, who was a surgeon in the U. S. army in the 
 war of 1812, a skillful physician, very quiet in manner, clear 
 headed and of resolute will, highly respected while livmg and 
 deeply lamented when dead. 
 
 Caleb, son of Gen. John Stark, was a man of marked 
 ability — a worthy son of a worthy sire — and as a writer, I 
 should judge more talented than his father, owing probably 
 to better advantages in acquiring an education. The open- 
 ing scenes of the Revolution found him a stripling of sixteen 
 years, but not too young in his own estimation to do yeoman's 
 duty in the service of his country. The remonstrance of af- 
 fection failed to keep him from the field of honor, and after 
 taking part as a private volunteer in the battle of Bunker's 
 Hill, he continued to serve in various capacities throughout 
 the war, the close of which found him a Major in the con- 
 tinental army. He was, as a writer, possessed of a forcible 
 and vigorous style, clear ideas and powerful logic. 
 
 Of his son Caleb Stark, Esq., late a resident of your town 
 and well known to most of those who hear me, I can scarce- 
 ly speak save with the partiality of personal friendship ; but 
 I think you will agree with me wdien I say, that added to 
 spotless integrity he possessed a fine education and excellent 
 literary taste and ability, and that there never breathed a man 
 of more genial and hospitable nature, a truer gentleman or 
 more generous friend. 
 
 The sole surviving male representative of the Stark family, 
 now resident in your town, is here to-day in the person of my 
 young friend, Charles Frederick Morris Stark, and as I have 
 spoken at some length of his paternal ancestry, it may not be 
 inappropriate to allude briefly to his ancestry on the maternal 
 side. 
 
95 
 
 He is the lineal descendant of Robert Morris of Revolu- 
 tionary celebrity, an eminent merchant of Philadeli)bia, one 
 of the signers of the Declaration of Independence, at one 
 time Treasurer of the United tslates and the great financier of 
 his day, Avho devoted not only his financial skill but his own 
 private credit to achieving that independence, the blessings 
 of which we have so long enjoyed and which we fondly hope 
 our descendants will maintain and enjoy to the latest genera- 
 tion. '' 
 
 I doubt not the noble qualities of head and heart exhibited 
 by his revolutionary ancestors and likewise by his uncle and 
 namesake, Charles Frederick Morris, who fell in the fight of 
 Molino Del Rey, and by his uncle, Commodore Henry W. 
 Morris, who died of disease contracted in the service of his 
 country during the late rebellion, are shared by our youthful 
 friend, and need only the maturity of manhood and the trump- 
 et-call of his country which stirred the hearts of his illustri- 
 ous kinsmen, to bring forth the fruits of heroic action and 
 glorious achievements. 
 
 I am sure that to all the surviving members of the Stark 
 family the toast to which I have endeavored to respond does 
 no more than justice. I will not, however, enlarge upon this 
 topic because however much it may be due to their merit, 1 
 know it would not be grateful to their modesty. 
 
 Allow me in their behalf to return their thanks for the very 
 kind and complimentary manner in which allusion has been 
 made to them, and to assure you that the high esteem ex- 
 pressed toward them is most heartily reciprocated. 
 
 They feel with you that we should in the language of your 
 sentiment, cherish and revere the memories of the departed 
 soldiers, statesmen and patriots of the last eventful century, 
 no matter of what state, town or family. Let us, my friends, 
 not fail to render to them the tribute so justly due of that 
 honor, which, next to their country's freedom and welfare, is 
 the richest reward for their toils and sacrifices. 
 
 Let us imbue ourselves with and teach to our children those 
 high sentiments of honor, that generous spirit of self-sacrifice, 
 that stern, unflinching allegiance to duly and love of coun- 
 try which distinguished our heroic fathers, and let us adopt 
 those ideas and practice those habits of republican simplicity 
 which governed their actions, for tiius may we best preserve 
 and transmit unimpaired to our posterity the rich inheritance 
 of civil and religious liberty which they have bequeathed to 
 us, and thus our names shall be held in grateful remembrance 
 
96 
 
 when Dunbarton in 1965 shall again celebrate the centennial 
 anniversary of the first day of her municipal existence. 
 
 No. 12. The Ladies of Dunbarton : — "True Marys," who 
 in this street sweeping age, are " keepers at home," bright 
 'exemplars of the domestic virtues, the light and joy of every 
 home, their presence shall purify and bless. 
 
 Response by Col. William Kent of Boston, Mass.: 
 
 Mr. President : — I suppose I am indebted to the fact that 
 I am half Dunbarton, (the better half,) for the privilege of 
 addressing you on this occasion ; at any rate 1 am gratilied 
 to be present, to unite with the good people of Dunbarton in 
 this interesting service, I recognize in the sentiment just 
 read, the language of one of Dunbarton's most gifted sons,* 
 who, if he had been here in bodily presence, would not only 
 have richly enjoyed this gathering of the sons and daughters 
 of his native town, but have largely contributed by his genial 
 spirit and brilliant talents to the interest of the occasion. 
 
 If, Mr. President, departed spirits are cognizant of what 
 takes place on earth, may we not suppose that his noble and 
 pure spirit is now hovering around us and participating in 
 the enjoyment of the present scene. 
 
 It appears to me, sir, that the sentiment is a just and true 
 one, as applied to the ladies of this, ancient and respectable 
 town, remote f]-om the allurements and temptations of city 
 life. The ancient mothers of this Israel who have mostly passed 
 on to a higher, led a quiet domestic life, in the regular and 
 faithful discharge of all the duties devolving upon them as 
 wives and mothers, and almost literally exemplified Solomon's 
 description of a virtuous woman : "She seeketh wool and 
 flax and workcth diligently with her hands ; she risctli while 
 it is yet night and giveth meat to her household ; she layeth 
 her hands to the spindle and her hands hold the distaff; she 
 lookcth well to the ways of her household and cateth not the 
 bread of idleness." 
 
 With the pulpit services and parochial duties of those 
 faithful servants of God, who for so many years ministered to 
 
 ♦Chancellor Hoyt, of the University of St. Louis. 
 
97 
 
 this people, they generally were well fortified in religious and 
 moral principles. 
 
 Given to hospitality, not grudgingly, they ministered of 
 their abundance to the corat'ort and entertainment of their 
 friends and the relief of tlie sick and suffering among them. 
 Witli no taste for the favorites of fashion, they let their 
 "adorning be not the outward adorning or plaiting of hair, 
 (no waterfalls in those days,) nor of wearing of gold or put- 
 ting on of apparel, but a meek and quiet spirit which in the 
 sight of God is of great price." " In this manner did the holy 
 women of old, who trusted in God, adorn themselves." 
 
 The impress of their characters has been in a great degree 
 stamped upon their descendants. With the increased advan 
 tages of education, (in no town of its size has it been more 
 generally diffused,) the present generation have in an un- 
 common degree exhibited the morality, industry and simplic- 
 ity of the mothers. Their education is not of that kind 
 which delights itself in outward exhibition, but practical in 
 its application to all the various duties and situations in which 
 they are placed, whether to grace the parlor, and intellectual- 
 ly to entertain their friends, or in attention to tlie humbler 
 but not less necessary duties of the domestic affairs of the 
 household. 
 
 The ladies here do not consider that a finished education 
 wholly consists in " working a fine screen, dancing a polka, 
 drumming a sentimental tune upon a piano, or writing a love 
 note upon gilt-edged perfumed letter paper to some gilt edged 
 perfumed dandy." 
 
 In the fashionable world the ladies here are not distinguish- 
 ed for the street sweeping dresses so annoying to the unsus- 
 pecting pedestrian, who, if by chance he steps upon one, (a 
 liability that he is continually exposed in large cities,) is al- 
 most sure to receive the frown if not the outward expression 
 of anger. 
 
 It was my fortune or misfortune the other day in Boston, 
 to step upon one of these unnatural dresses, and received the 
 sharp rebuke " that no gentleman would step upon a lady's 
 dress." My only reply was, " Madam, your dress is very 
 long^ but your Gc^-dress is very short.^'' The ladies here, to 
 their credit be it spoken, so far as I have observed, are like 
 their deportment, chaste and unassuming. 
 
 Mr. President, the time usually allotted to services of this 
 kind has expired, although the subject is far from being ex- 
 
98 
 
 haiisted, but I will close by remarking that wherever there 
 are any Coelebs in search of a wife, I would recommend that 
 they should do as I did — come to the hills of Dunbarton. 
 
 No. 13. The A. B's of Dunbarton, extensively known and 
 as extensively honored. 
 
 Response by Rev. Abraham Burnham, of Hooksett. 
 
 The college graduates of Dunbarton owe very much to their 
 native place. A most important part of their education is that 
 which they acquired here among these rocks and hills. It is 
 here that they received those early lessons which have given 
 direction to their course of life. And what have they learned 
 in this school of their nativity ? They have learned the ne- 
 cessity of hard labor — a lesson which must be learned by every 
 one who would be successful in professional life. No man 
 can reasonably expect to be useful in any learned profession 
 without hard and perservering labors, and if he becomes ac- 
 quainted with this necessity at an early period of life, he will 
 have so much the better opportunity to prepare himself for 
 the business of his calling, and to become successful in it. 
 
 This lesson is generally learned very early by those who are 
 brought up on these rugged farms. Here the farmer must 
 work or die^ and his children grow up with the impression 
 that they who will not work, oiiii:ht to die, and when they go 
 out into the world, they go with the expectation that they must 
 labor hard and wait patiently for the reward of their toil. If 
 they devote life to study, they naturally feel the benefit of 
 their early impressions, and they must be greatly at fault if 
 they do not profit by the stern lessons to be learned from the 
 hard and stony ground. 
 
 The college graduates of Dunbarton may also, very prop- 
 erly, acknowledge a debt of gratitude to their native town on 
 account of its natural scenery. The scenes which surround 
 us in childhood, may be regarded as among the most import- 
 ant of those influeuces which contribute to the formation of 
 character ; and if there is any spot on earth where the natu- 
 ral scenery is well adapted to exert a salutary influence, that 
 
99 
 
 spot is to be found in our dear, old native town. A person 
 who is brought up on these lofty hills, where he may gaze upon 
 these vast and beautiful prospects, ought not to become a man 
 of narrow views. Tiie impression made by these natural 
 scenes, ought to find its way to the mind and heart, and the 
 opportunity of seeing so much of nature at a single glance, 
 should lead to the habit of taking extensive views in the moral 
 world. In this way, and in many others, this natural scenery 
 in childhood, and tlie recollections of it in later years, should 
 prove very beneficial to the scholar. 
 
 The college graduates of Dunbartonalso owe very much to 
 the interest which the good people of tliis town have always 
 felt in the subject of education. The citizens of this place 
 have generally manifested a deep interest in those who were 
 seeking the benefit of a public education, and this may be one 
 great reason why so many have been encouraged to pursue a 
 course of study in college, and, speaking as I now do in be- 
 half of the graduates, I feel that I cannot express too much 
 obligation to the people of Dunbarton for the interest they 
 have uniformly manifested in the cause of education, and in 
 those who are — in some measure — associated with that cause. 
 
 No. 14. The Children of Dunbarton : — The delight of 
 their parents in the present, and the hope of all for the fu- 
 ture. 
 
 Response by Rev. Silvanus Hayward. 
 
 Mr. President and Friends : — If there be a man whose heart 
 is not warmed by the presence of children, he is far from be- 
 ing one to be envied. Children serve to keep life fresh and 
 ever new. Even in old age, parents and grandparents live 
 over again their boyisli and girlish days in the persons of their 
 children and grandchildren. We are thus interested and de- 
 lighted in what our children now are, — in witnessing the hi- 
 larity of their sports, and the eager unfolding of their minds 
 to receive the treasures of knowledge poured in upon every 
 side. But the great thought connected with children is the 
 thought of the future. I never look upon a child but I think 
 of the probabilities of existence bound up in that little frame. 
 
100 
 
 We have here had tributes paid to the memory of all classes 
 of the Past and the Present. Divines, Physicians, Lawyers, 
 Soldiers, and men of Peace, all have their place in your 
 thoughts and your words to-day. One man speaks for one, 
 another for another. But I spealc for all. For the children 
 — our children — represent all these classes in the Future. 
 Look upon the children and you see the hope of Dunbarton 
 for the next hundred years. The Dunbarton of a century to 
 come will be just what they make it. 
 
 Speaking then, in behalf of the coming generation of men 
 and women, in the name of your children, I would say, 
 Fathers and Mothers, we thank you for this day long to be 
 remembered by us. We thank you for the pleasures we here 
 enjoy. We thank you for the stories which to-day you have 
 told us of the deeds and renown of our great-grandfathers. 
 And we now ask that in looking back thus to your ancestors, 
 you will not forget us. We ask you to remember that your 
 influence and example, and the privileges you give us will 
 serve to shape and determine our future lives. Let them 
 then, be such as to make iis just what you desire us to be- 
 come. Remember that our characters will be just what you 
 make them. Give us good school-houses well filled with all 
 the means of storing our minds with useful knowledge. Give 
 us good mceling-houses, attractive and commodious, where 
 the pure gospel shall be preached, and the Sabbath School 
 shall open its doors to give us a knowledge of bible truths. 
 And especially let our home influences, your example and 
 instruction be such as to elevate and improve our minds and 
 hearts. Such as we see you, we shall endeavor to become, 
 except that we shall try to advance fiirther than you in what- 
 ever direction you take the lead. If you set before us high- 
 minded christian characters, adorned with noble-hearted, 
 open-handed generosity, or if, on the other hand, you choose 
 to show that tlie great end of your existence is to save and 
 accumulate money, regardless of honor, ])ublic-spirit and 
 christian benevolence, — in either case, we shall imitate you. 
 Your characters will be reflected in us. 
 
 We ask you then, to influence us to the noblest, purest 
 course of life. We ask you to give us all the privileges and 
 advantages that this modern age can bestow. And we pledge 
 ourselves to improve them well. We will advance in propor- 
 tion to the privileges you furnish us. And in our turn will 
 we bestow still greater advantages upon those who come after 
 us. Then shall your " sons be as plants grown up in their 
 
101 
 
 youth, and your daughters as corner-stones polislicd after the 
 similitude of a palace." Thus shall Dunbarton be every- 
 where known as a pattern, not only of morality and intelli- 
 gence, but of unselfish charity and manly generosity. And 
 om' children, also, gathering from all parts of the laud, shall 
 celebrate her second Centennial, and commemorate with 
 thankful hearts the wisdom and virtues of their fathers and 
 mothers, — the children of to-day. 
 
 No. 15. The absent Sons and Daughters of Dunbarton. 
 
 Response by Frank A. Putney. 
 
 Mr. President, Respected Townspeople, and Friends : I do 
 not know why I am called upon to respond to a sentiment 
 here to-day, while there are so many others in this grand as- 
 sembly, more befitting the theme and the occasion, 
 
 I speak to you with diffidence, for I cannot but feel myself 
 a stranger. 'My school-life, varied only by an occasional and 
 short vacation, and latterly, my connection of nearly four 
 years with the army, have narrowed my acquaintance with 
 you, and kept me for the greater part away from among these 
 dear familiar spots, which we, in after life, but learn to love 
 so well. 
 
 It were needless to speak of the occasion that has assem- 
 bled us here on this bright and beautiful autumnal morning, 
 and it were also needless to make mention of the settlement 
 of our loved and honored town, or any of the incidents con- 
 nected with her career, for they must be familiar to you all, 
 from the time, when, one century ago, those iron arms and 
 sturdy chests commenced battling with the giants of the wood, 
 when the boundless expanse of the majestic forest was un- 
 broken save by the waving meadows and sparkling waters, 
 and the stillness of the air unbroken save by the timid footfall 
 of the industrious beaver, the angry howling of the beasts of 
 prey, or the startling war-whoop of the hostile Indian, down 
 to to-day, when native historians have so eloquently chroni- 
 cled her progress, and native bards so sweetly sung her praise. 
 
 'Tis a pleasing study for the eye to look upon the assembly 
 here to-day, when every heart seems glad. 
 
102 
 
 I see dancing, prattling children, unconscious of the nature 
 of the occasion, yet confident from the assuring smiles of all, 
 that the hour is one of joy. I see young manhood in all its 
 pride of strength and aspiration, eager and ardent to begin 
 the great battle of life. I see the laughing eye and rosy check 
 of fair maidens, whose willing hearts and dextrous fingers 
 have converted the grim and dingy walls of this time-honored 
 old edifice before which we stand, almost into a bower of par- 
 adise. I see stern fathers and smiling dames, whose open 
 purses and capacious side-boards have furnished the boimte- 
 ous collation which we have so much enjoyed. And I see, 
 too, still further back, those whose brows have been furrowed 
 by so many years of care, whose heads have been tinged by 
 the frosts of so many winters, but whose hearts are affection- 
 ate and youthful still. 
 
 We can imagine their thoughts as they gaze upon this scene. 
 These orchards planted by their own hands, these forests sub- 
 dued by their own industry, the rock, the stream, the wood, 
 the hearthstone around which they and their children have 
 sat, where they have seen so much to love, and learned so 
 much to remember. These are sacred scenes to them — these 
 bring back memories to their minds, that nothing else can, — 
 these are their homes, the homes of their children and their 
 childrens' children. 
 
 But there are others, sons and daughters of Dunbarton, who 
 are not with us here to-day, whom distance or circumstances 
 have forbidden the pleasure of taking part in this commemo- 
 ration, but who, through numerous letters of regret, tender 
 us their well-wishes, and sympathetic cooperation. From the 
 Atlantic to the Pacific, and from the Lakes to the Gulf, in the 
 busy cities and smiling villages of the interior, on the fertile 
 prairies of the vast West, and among the sunny valleys of the 
 golden ganJen of the world, they are helping to develop the 
 products of the soil, to unfold the hidden riches of the mine, 
 and to bring out and apply the hitherto undiscovered myste- 
 ries of natural and artificial science, thus adding to the power, 
 the wealth and honor of our country. God bless and prosper 
 them. We can but wish them well. 
 
103 
 
 No. 16. Our Returned Soldiers: — 
 Our country's saviors, and our township's pride, 
 Our real heroes, patriotic, braA'e and true, 
 Who knowing how to dare, knew also how to do. 
 
 Response by Lieut. Marcus M. Holmes. 
 
 Mr. President, Ladies and Gentlemen : — The long list of 
 exercises yet remaining upon the programme, and tlie sun 
 already hid behind yon western hills, admonish me to be 
 brief. 
 
 1 rejoice that I am included among those mentioned in the 
 heading of the sentiment just read, and that the true and 
 brave men, in whose behalf I am called upon to speak, need 
 no words of mine to prove that " knowing how to dare," they 
 " knew also how to do." 
 
 We are thankful, although many of our comrades sleep 
 their last sleep, that so many of us are permitted to b(^ here 
 to-day. Our soldier's life with its many temptations, its daily 
 privations and its unknown dangers, has passed away. if-The 
 cause in which we engaged has been successful. No armed 
 band bears aloft a hostile flag within the limits of the repub- 
 lic, and quietly but gladly we return to our chosen pursuits 
 in civil life. 
 
 Let us all hope that, if a century hence, when the citizens 
 of Dunbarton shall assemble to commemorate its two hun- 
 dredth birthday, there shall be occasion to offer such a senti- 
 ment as the one just proposed, that it will apply to soldiers in 
 a foreign and not a domestic war. 
 
 No. 17. Our Invited Guests. 
 
 Response by Hon. N. G. Upham of Concord. 
 
 Mr. Upham said he considered it an honor and a pleasure 
 to be called upon to speak in behalf of the invited guests, 
 because he knew he expressed their unanimous sentiment 
 when he said they were higldy gratified in being present on 
 this Centennial Anniversary of the settlement of the town. 
 
 It is always an occasion of interest when we are called 
 upon, after long recurring periods, to look back upon the 
 
104 
 
 history of the past, compare it with the responsibilities of the 
 present, and look onward to the future. To-daj always bears 
 within it the promise of to-morrow. If the citizens of a 
 town are distinguished during the first fifty years of its his-, 
 tory, by their efficiency, industry and high moral character, 
 such you may reasonably expect, will be their history the 
 coming fifty years. If such has been their character the past 
 century, such you have reason to hope it will continue to be. 
 
 Dunbarton was settled by an enterprising, laborious popu- 
 lation, who came here for the purpose of building up perma- 
 nent homes. They worked not for the day merely, but with a 
 wise forecast, for the best interests of themselves and their 
 posterity. They selected this long upland slope of hills, then 
 crowned with the giant growth of centuries, knowing that its 
 soil bore, within it, the means of sustenance, and its breezy 
 atmosphere gave assurance of health, and that, with their 
 own good efforts, and the blessings of God upon them, they 
 might lay the foundation of a thrifty town and aid in upbuild- 
 ing the high destinies of a great and glorious country. 
 
 Here they have lived and labored, illustrating through va- 
 rious generations, the worth of an honored and pious ances- 
 try ; rearing their children in the faith of their fathers, main- 
 taining among them a high order of intellectual culture and 
 rendering them worthy successors of a goodly heritage. All 
 around us to-day we see the evidences of thrift and content- 
 ment ; cultivated fields and happy homes ; highly developed 
 moral sensibilities and bright-eyed intelligence. 
 
 There are many subjects connected with your history, and 
 others connected with those public duties incumbent upon us 
 as citizens of a favored country, on which we migbt like to 
 remark, but the lateness of the hour will not allow us to de- 
 tain you farther. 
 
 We can only say that we are most happy to greet you and 
 be with you on this occasion ; to trace our ancestry, or that 
 of those dear to us, from this ancient home. We thank you 
 for your cordial reception and liberal hospitalities. We join 
 you in all the happy associations and sacred remembrances of 
 the past, and we bid you God speed, as we take leave of you, 
 bearing with you the bright banners of hope into the coming 
 century. 
 
105 
 
 No. 18. Our Fallen Soldiers : — Martyrs to Trutli, Liberty 
 and Law ; — their memories are always glorious and shall be 
 always green. 
 
 Response by Capt. David A. Macurdy, of Webster. 
 
 Mr. President and Fellow-citizens of my native Town, and 
 of a yet noble, glorious, undivided Country : — I feel incompe- 
 tent to do justice to the noble sentiment just uttered, but as 
 your committee, through the Rev. Mr. Hayward, have kindly 
 invited me to respond to this sentiment on this occasion, as a 
 native of Dunbarton I did not feel at liberty to refuse to com- 
 ply with the request. Yet it is with diffidence that I appear 
 before you to-day to make this response, feeling sensible of 
 my incompetence to do the subject justice, but hoping you 
 will cast the mantle of charity over my failings, and remem- 
 bering that I am Si soldier, (not an orator,) I will be very brief. 
 My business during the past three years has called for actions 
 more than words. 
 
 Many of those within the sound of my voice, have, during 
 the past four years, suffered and toiled through the long and 
 weary night of darkness and gloom, with strong faith in the 
 justness of our cause, and that the God of Battles who guided 
 our grandfathers safely through tlie long dark struggle of the 
 Revolution, would eventually bring us safely out of all our 
 troubles, a united, happy people, and the priceless blessing of 
 liberty handed down to us by the Revolutionary fathers, we 
 would transmit to our posterity unimpaired, baptized anew in 
 the blood of the bravest and best of our land. Our sacrifices 
 have not been in vain. The dear old flag now defiantly floats 
 all over our land, and as we have waited patiently but anx- 
 iously through the long weary years of the past, years filled 
 with gloomy, disconsolate defeats as well as glorious victory, 
 we have reason to thank God and rejoice that before our vic- 
 torious armies, this wicked, hell-born rebellion has been put 
 down, and to-day sweet pe.ace smiles all over our land, from the 
 Canadas to the Gulf, from the Atlantic to the Pacific shores. 
 And the dear old flag under which we have met the rebel 
 hosts in deadly conflict, and again and again rallied beneath 
 its folds and met the enemies of our country, now proudly 
 floats upon every hill-top and in every valley throughout the 
 length and breadth of our whole land. I say we have reason to 
 rejoice and be glad that peace, with its unnumbered blessings, 
 now smiles upon us. Fellow soldiers, the hunger and fatigue, 
 
 M 
 
106 
 
 the danger and exposure, and hardship and siifTering of the 
 past four years are not to be endured by us again. They are 
 to be remembered and talked of as of the past. The war is 
 over ; no more shall the beat of the drum, the echoes of the 
 fife or the bugle blast call you from the peaceful pursuits of 
 civil life to deeds of daring and of death, but you can now 
 return to your farm, your counting-room or your workshop 
 with the proud satisfaction, that when the dark breakers of 
 disunion were tossing the old ship, and she seemed just ready 
 to sink, and when traitors, even here among our granite hills, 
 were aiding by their words and sympathies the monster re- 
 bellion, tlien you manfully rallied to the rescue, and have no- 
 bly and bravely fought the battles of our country, and the 
 liidcous monster rebellion is dead and hurried, although some 
 of its children yet live, the old chief within the walls of Fort 
 Monroe, others scattered around in different forts — some beg- 
 ging pardon of the President, others exiles in a foreign land, 
 looking vainly to see the shores which they left in the hope 
 of returning despotically to rule. Some of you come back 
 maimed and crippled for life, others with constitutions broken 
 and health ruined ; but, fellow soldiers, your sufferings have 
 not been in vain, but to save a nation's flag, a nation's honor, 
 and a nation bears you on its lists of heroes. But the tear of 
 regret, of sorrow, fills the eye when we remember the bloody 
 battlefields of Bull Run, Antietam, Ohancellorsville, Gettys- 
 burg, Port Hudson, Opequan, Vicksburg, Spottsylvania, 
 Fisher's Hill, Cedar Creek and Petersburg, and hundreds of 
 others as bloody, and those brave and true men who so nobly 
 fought by your side, and to-day are sleeping the long sleep of 
 death. As you recall their memories, their smiling counte- 
 nances and hopeful and cheerful dispositions, and remember 
 how in a soldier's grave you laid their mangled bodies away 
 , there on the battlefield to rest until the resurrection morn ; 
 and others, wounded and bleeding, you carried from the field 
 to linger and die in a southern climate far away from home 
 and friends, that they, too, cannot rejoice over the downfall of 
 rebellion, and with you return to the embrace of the loved 
 ones at home. 
 
 Well may we weep for those brave and true men ; they 
 were our brothers and sons, and the best of our nation's 
 blood has been freely poured out. Dunbarton mourns to- 
 day amid her rejoicing for her martyr dead ; "martyrs to truth, 
 liberty and law. Their memories are always glorious and 
 shall be ever green." But when we consider that they have 
 
107 
 
 fallen as soldiers love to fall, that their sufferings and death 
 were not in vain, but to save a nation's flag, a nation's honor, 
 the eye loses the tear, their graves are ours, our country's 
 flag for which they died shall wave in triumph over them un- 
 til the last trumpet shall sound, their graves shall be kept sa- 
 cred, their memories shall be enshrined in the hearts of a gen- 
 erous people, and we offer the mourning friends a soldier's 
 sympathy, who have lost husband, son or brother during gal- 
 lant duty for Truth, Liberty and Law. We know how to 
 sympathize with you, for a loved brother's bones lie bleach- 
 ing on Virginia's soil. And let us not be unmindful of the 
 mourning widows and orphan children whose husbands and 
 fathers have perished in defence of the old flag, give them 
 substantial tokens of your regards, and remember, you who 
 have not been permitted to share in the dangers and hard- 
 ships of the campaign, that you owe the living heroes a debt 
 which you never can repay ; you know but little of the sac- 
 rifices they have made and the dangers and hardships endur- 
 ed for the nation's life. And, my fellow soldiers, we who 
 have survived the terrible conllict of the past four years, and 
 are permitted to return to the embraces of the loved ones at 
 home and the peaceful pursuits of civil life, let us make as 
 good and faithful citizens as we have been soldiers, then we 
 shall have the proud satisfaction of having done our duty 
 faithfully to our counlry in its time of need, and to our fel- 
 low men. And to the misguided people of the South, to the 
 rank and file of the rebel armies, we offer pardon, at the 
 same time we demand that justice be meted out to the lead- 
 ers, to those who have murdered our brothers by the thou- 
 sand in the southern prison pens. It is dilTicult to conceive 
 of punishment for those men too severe. The trial of Wirz, 
 now going on at Washington, is daily developing facts in con- 
 nection with the Andersonville prison too revolting to be 
 mentioned here. Thousands have there sufl'ered and died 
 from starvation, martyrs to Truth, Liberty and Law. Their 
 memories shall be ever cherished by a grateful people. Their 
 graves, although far from the homes they loved, where no 
 wife, mother or sister can scatter flowers or wet with their 
 tears, shall ever be kept sacred. We trust that sweet peace 
 will smile on our beloved land for all time to come, but if 
 treason shall again raise its unholy head, if traitors shall 
 again assaU the old flag, our swords, our muskets, our lives 
 are pledged on our country's altar, and we swear by the graves 
 of onr dead brotbf^rs. scattered all over the South, we swear 
 
108 
 
 by the grave of our murdered President, that hereafter trai- 
 tors shall receive a traitor's reward, and the assassin the as- 
 sassin's doom. 
 
 No. 19. Dunbarton for the next hundred years. 
 
 Response by Rev. E. 0. Jameson of Salisbury, Mass. 
 
 Being called upon to respond to the Future of Dunbar- 
 ton, I beg leave to do so by reading from the Book of Pro- 
 phecies the things that are written, concerning this goodly 
 land and the inhabitants thereof: 
 
 For it came to pass in the first year of the reign of one 
 called Frederick, whose surname was Smyth, when he was 
 Governor in the land of New Hampshire, in the nintli 
 month and thirteenth day of the month, that all the people 
 that were born and dwelt in the region called Dunbarton, as- 
 sembled with one accord in one place. 
 
 For it was a hundred years since their fathers had gotten 
 the land in possession. And it seemed good unto the elders 
 and scribes and chief men to make proclamation and assem- 
 ble the people and observe a day of feasting and congratula- 
 tion over the past and of rejoicing over the bright prospects 
 of the future. 
 
 And so word went forth and the people flocked together, 
 and sons and daughters came from far, so that there was a 
 large midtitude both of men and women and children. 
 
 And when many had risen up and spoken in the great as- 
 semblage, and the people were made glad by the things that 
 their sons heard. Then rose up Ephraira one of the least 
 among the gospel prophets, and he stood and prophesied of 
 things that should come to pass. 
 
 And these are the saying and prophecies which Ephraim 
 prophesied in the ears of the people when they celebrated the 
 first Centennial in the land of their fathers : 
 
 " Unto me, who am least of all the prophets, who are call- 
 ed prophets is it given to speak of things that shall come to 
 pass in this land, where, for generations, our fathers have 
 lived and within whose sacred soil their ashes now peacefully 
 repose. 
 
 And now be it known unto you, O, ye people, that this 
 goodly land of onr fathers shall not cease to be called as it is 
 this day, to the end of time. 
 
109 
 
 Dunbartoii shall be tho name thereof to tlie latest genera- 
 tion. Nor shall the stranger and the foreigner possess and 
 cultivate your fields, but your lands shall be to you, and your 
 children after you, for a perpetual possession. And it shall 
 come to pass that the fruitfuiness of your lands shall be great- 
 ly increased. Your wide acres shall become as gardens, and 
 your waste places fruitful field*:. Your meadow lands shall 
 redden with cranberries in abundance. Your hills, even to 
 their summits, shall wave and shake like Lebanon with ripen- 
 ing grain and the golden corn. Your wild woodlands shall 
 become as cultivated fields. Your streams shall nourish 
 swarms of the finny tribes, and turn the mighty waterwheels 
 of enterprise and manufacture. 
 
 By the genius and industry of the people will the natural 
 resources of land and water be developed to a wonderful ex- 
 tent. Agriculture will continue to be the chosen and chief 
 pursuit of your sons. Yet not as the father will the son cul- 
 tivate the paternal estate. Newly invented implements of 
 husbandry will displace and supersede those in present use. 
 Labor-saving machines will be largely introduced so that farm- 
 ing, once regarded drudgery, will^becorae a pleasurable pas- 
 time. Wealth will increase, greater conveniences of living 
 will be introduced and men of taste and elegance of archi- 
 tecture will beautify your homes ! 
 
 With the increase of enterprise and wealth will come also 
 improvements in every direction. Your educational inter- 
 ests will receive greater attention, and a new impulse will 
 be given to your schools. Your public schools will ere 
 long be conducted on a new plan and more liberally patron- 
 ized and endowed. 
 
 It will be the wisdom of your citizens to establish at the 
 Center of the town a High School of the first order, affording 
 all the facilities needed to prepare your sons and daughters 
 for college and the higher seminary, or graduate them well 
 qualified for any of the business and social positions they may 
 be called upon to fill. 
 
 It will further be the wisdom of those who are to provide 
 for the interests of education to resolve the numerous schools 
 of the town into three or four at reasonable distances, all of 
 them tributary and subordinate to the High School at the 
 Center. On such a system the best teachers can be secured 
 and the terms now so fractional and short, can be made to 
 fill the whole year, so that the amount of schooling will be 
 more than doubled, while it will be of a much higher quality. 
 
110 
 
 Tlie future will unfold no greater improvements than those 
 indicated in the new system adopted and the new interest 
 taken in your schools. The results will become very appar- 
 ent in the increased intelligence of the people. 
 
 There will come to pass, also, favorable changes and great 
 advances to the mind and religious condition of your popu- 
 lation. Two regular religious services will be sustained, one 
 at the Center and the other at the east part of the town. 
 
 The pastor of each will be liberally supported and his min- 
 istrations fully attended. The house of God will become a 
 lit place for his worship, neatly furnished and tastefully ar- 
 ranged where the people will love to meet and pay their vows 
 to Jehovah. As dawns God's holy Sabbath all will devoutly 
 say, '• Let us go up to the house of the Lord." Let us stand 
 in his holy courts to-day. And it shall come to pass that 
 when all the people hear the gospel, morality and piety will pro- 
 vail and your land shall be the " Garden of the Lord." 
 
 But a hundred years will quickly roll away, and unto me 
 it is given to prophesy what shall then be. Attend, therefore, 
 to the vision of Ephraim, the prophet, for I behold and see 
 things worthy to be written. 
 
 When tlie things which shall then be have been passed in 
 brief review, the object of these prophecies will be attained 
 and my powers shall cease. A hundred years hence all things 
 that are shall not l)e, all things that are not shall come to 
 pass. 
 
 Your grand children and descendants to the third and 
 fourth generation, who shall meet a century hence and cele- 
 brate a new Centennial, will see what it is not permitted us 
 to see save by the light of this prophesy. 
 
 Great improvements are to change the face of the scene 
 before us to-day. This ancient church, where our fathers 
 worshiped and prayed and were blessed, but now unused save 
 for secular purposes, will withdraw from its present promin- 
 ent position, and carefully restored g,nd yielded up to hands 
 skilled in workmanship, a century hence it will be seen to 
 grace the site now held by yonder vestry, a public hall of grand 
 proportions and inviting appearance, and beside it will be seen 
 a neat white chapel, consecrated to the purposes of the church. 
 Ch'owning yonder hill to the south will be seen a substantial 
 building of solid masonry in the midst of surrounding trees, 
 within whose spacious walls assemble your sons and daugh- 
 ters for purposes of learning. A hundred years hence your 
 high scliool will be your pride and glory. 
 
Ill 
 
 And as the eye sweeps up and down tliQ highway, it will 
 take in many elegant private residences and other huildings 
 of tasteful structure in highest contrast with wliat we see to- 
 day. 
 
 This public common, now so barren and waste, a century 
 hence will bear on its fruitful bosom gigantic trees, wide spread 
 and arching, a century old, planted by our hands' toil. These 
 shaded groves enclosed with a substantial fence, traversed by 
 graveled walks and adorned with flowers, will afford a sweet 
 retreat, and make a lovely spot for our childrens' children 
 to celebrate their centennial of this good town. 
 
 It will then be told of us, and they shall proudly speak of 
 their fathers of a hundred years ago, who impelled with an in- 
 terest for those who shall live after them, as a tribute for com- 
 ing generations, did thickly set centennial trees to record their 
 names to the kind remembrance of those who shall thereafter 
 enjoy their grateful shade. 
 
 Not one of you, men of this vast multitude, will remain to 
 extend our congratulations to those who shall celebrate the 
 Bi-centennial of the town, but the trees we plant shall live and 
 stand a memorial of this day and of us, Avhich shall call forth 
 a deep response from thankful hearts, and inspire to further 
 works of public improvement and beneficence. And those of 
 a hundred years hence shall be worthy children of their noble 
 sires. 
 
 And here the vision ends. A century hence and these spa- 
 cious grounds other feet shall travel, and gathered here beneath 
 the coohng shade, other voices shall be heard, and catch a 
 glance at the scene, and the vision passes. 
 
 So ends this prophecy. 
 
 And may a hundred years of glorious fulfillment succeed, 
 is the prayer we utter to-day on the altars of our nativity. 
 
 The next exercise in order was the singing of the closing 
 Hymn, written by Rev. Silvanus Eayward. Tune, Saint 
 Nicholas. 
 
 Now the evening shadows lengthen, 
 Comes the hour that we must part ; 
 
 Let the festive moments strengthen 
 Chains of love to twine the heart ; 
 
112 
 
 Every soul their power shall feel, 
 
 Binding as with bands of steel. 
 
 .- • -N, 
 
 For a moment let us linger, 
 Ere again we scattered roam, 
 
 While Time's restless, bony finger 
 Points to our last silent home. 
 
 Where, at length, a looked-for guest, 
 
 Every wandering foot must rest. 
 
 Here onr fathers' graves are round us. 
 Here they bowed before their God, 
 
 Here with solemn covenant bound us 
 To the holy path they trod ; 
 
 On their home-invited guests 
 
 Now their benediction rests. 
 
 Soon with them shall we be sleeping 
 'Neath the shadows of life's even ; 
 
 And our next centennial keeping 
 On the battlements of heaven, 
 
 In their mansions may we dwell, 
 
 Never more to sino: " Farewell." 
 
 After prayer by Rev. Wm. Clark, the assembly united in 
 singing Old Hundred, in the familiar words, 
 *' Be thou, God, exalted high, 
 And, as thy glory fills the sky, 
 So let it be on earth displayed, 
 Till thou art here, as there, obeyed." 
 
 The sun had already set and the twilight was fading into 
 darkness, when we dispersed to our homes, grateful for the 
 record of a century past, and girding ourselves anew for the 
 toils and conflicts of a century to come. 
 
APPENDIX 
 
I 
 
 POE M 
 
 The following lines were written for the occasion by Mrs. 
 Louisa W. Colby of Henniker, but were not received till after 
 the day of celebration. 
 
 Dunbarton's centennial bh'tbday, 
 
 Proud day for her children to meet; 
 On her beautiful hill-top they gather 
 
 To mingle in intercourse sweet. 
 
 From every point of the compass, 
 The highest and humblest she's called ; — 
 
 They joyfully come at her bidding 
 In her favor to be re-installed. 
 
 Some come with the tear-drop of sorrow 
 
 To moisten the spot, where repose 
 The mortal remains of some loved one, 
 
 Whose eyelids in death they had closed. 
 
 All come with softened emotion, 
 
 The scenes of the past to review ; 
 The lost links of memory to grapple, 
 
 And join with the present anew. 
 
 Ere the forest trees lost their dominion, 
 Or the wild beasts had ceased here to roam. 
 
 Our puritan fathers and mothers 
 
 Had christened this spot as their home. 
 
 They first thought to call it Dwmbarton, 
 But for some reason changed it to Dun, 
 
 For which their posterity thank them, 
 The last name's a beautiful one. 
 
115 
 
 And what other place like Dunbarton 
 
 Can boast for a century of time 
 So much of a pure morality, 
 
 So little of vice and crime ? 
 
 O where has our holy religion 
 
 More firmly been planted than here ? 
 
 The fire on its altar-place burning 
 Through every revolving year. 
 
 And here, without aid from Endor, 
 A good man comes up to our view. 
 
 He seems still to stand at that altar 
 Enkindling its fires anew. 
 
 The full gushing tears are fast falling, 
 As he sends forth his thrilling appeals : 
 
 Other hearts by his eloquence stirring 
 With the sacred emotion he feels. 
 
 But no ! we but dream ! he's not here. 
 
 From his glorious stand-point away, 
 Where his eye is undimmed by a tear, 
 
 He looks on this gathering to-day ; 
 
 Sees the fire has still been kept burning 
 By those who his mantle have worn ; 
 
 Long years by his chosen successor, 
 And now by another in turn. 
 
 From such scenes her sons and her daughters 
 Have gone forth to bless the wide earth ; 
 
 Where'er they've unfurled their life-banners, 
 They've honored the place of their birth. 
 
 They've adorned the holiest professions 
 
 On native and heathen ground : 
 Through the loftiest halls of science 
 
 Their well- trained voices resound. 
 
 They've been heard in the voice of the nation, 
 Helped its mighty power to wield ; 
 
 They have stood mid the din of battle. 
 And died on the tented field. 
 
 Her daughters shine bright in her annals, 
 
 Their influence they've stamped on their age; 
 
116 
 
 Noble deeds cluster thick in their pathway. 
 Noble themes their best powers engage. 
 
 Though skilled in modern inprovcments. 
 And the drawing room fitted to grace, 
 
 They can bring forth the fruits of the dairy. 
 And could ride on a pillion apace. 
 
 "With sterling good sense they've united 
 The virtues their mothers possessed 
 
 With those of more delicate culture, 
 Which so beautiful thrive in their breast. 
 
 But Dunbarton possesses a history 
 That cannot in poor rhyme be told ; 
 
 She has children to gather its treasures. 
 And place them in settings of gold. 
 
 So we bid farewell to the century, 
 
 And our pen reluctantly drop, 
 In the midst of a theme so inspiring, 
 
 We scarcely know how to stop. 
 
 Very few letters were received in response to the circular 
 of invitation. The following are given as specimens. 
 
 Columbus, 0., Aug. 12, 1865. 
 Rev. S. Hayivard. Dear Sir: — 
 
 Having been absent from the city, yours of July 26th, is 
 just received. I am ver?/ sorry to say that press of business 
 just at that time, will probably make it impossible for me to 
 be present on the occasion of the celebration on the 13th of 
 ►September. 
 
 Please accept my thanks for the kind invitation, and assure 
 the Committee that nothing would afford me more pleasure 
 than to join with them in reviewing the old associations of my 
 dear old home — Dunbarton. God bless you and her. 
 
 Yours, truly, 
 
 GEO. H. TWISS. 
 
 West Granville, Aug. 26, 1865. 
 To H. M. Putney, David Story, G. B. French, 3. 31. Bailey 
 
 and L. Rowell. 
 
 Gentlemen — Your notice of a Centennial celebration in 
 Dunbarton has come to hand, and it is with pleasure that I 
 
117 
 
 learn the citizens of my native town are to assemble and unite 
 on that pleasing occasion, to wit, the hniidredth year from its 
 incorporation, and it would give me much pleas^ure to once 
 more visit my native place, and join in your celebration, if ar- 
 rangements for September would permit. But, gentlemen, 
 and fellow-townsmen, if we should never meet on earth, God 
 grant we may meet in that great assembly who shall gather 
 around the throne in heaven, ascribing glory, honor and 
 thanksgiving to Him that sitteth on the throne and unto the 
 Lamb forever. I remain, your humble servant, 
 
 ANDREW SMITH. 
 P. S. My wife joins with me in the foregoing. 
 
 Oberlin, Sept. 2, 1865. 
 To the People of Dunbarton. 
 
 Respected fellow citizens — I received your very kind invi- 
 tation to meet with you to celebrate the one hundredth anni- 
 versary of the incorporation of my native town. How many 
 pleasant recollections are associated with that place where I 
 spent my childhood ; and nothing could give me greater pleas- 
 ure than to visit those places so familiar to me in youth, and 
 hold converse with those who were then my companions. But 
 as 1 shall not be able to be present, I write a few lines to ex- 
 press my thanks for your kind remembrance, and to add, if it 
 were possible, one mite of interest to the occasion. 
 
 My father, William Alexander, came from Dunharton to 
 the state of New York (I think) in the year 1820, when I was 
 twelve years old. At that time I had four brothers and two 
 sisters living ; since then, my parents, three brothers and one 
 sister have died in the faith of the gospel ; and the inquiry 
 often presents itself to my mind : how many of those with 
 whom I was acquainted in youth, should I find living if I were 
 with you to-day. 0, how I should like to take you l>y the 
 hand, and bid you God speed in your way to Zion, if your 
 faces are thitherward. I hope no son of Dunbarton has been 
 found disloyal to his country in the hour of trial. If so, may 
 he remember from whence he has fallen, repent and return to 
 his allegiance, that he may be forgiven before it is too late. 
 
 I very well remember the instruction of the venerable Mr. 
 Harris, who so long and faithfully labored in Dunbarton ; his 
 preaching on the Sabbath, his visiting and catechising the 
 schools, and the various other ways in which he, as a pastor, 
 
118 
 
 labored to promote the cause of true religion ; and as he was 
 laid aside by the infirmities of age, and called to his reward, 
 I am happy to learn that the candle-stick has never been re- 
 moved out of its place. May the water of life, that has been 
 issuing from under the threshhold of the sanctuary, still con- 
 tinue to flow until it shall become a river that cannot be passed 
 over. May the same kind hand tliat has ever led you, still be 
 your guide and protector, and make you fruitful in every good 
 work, is the sincere prayer of your humble son and brother, 
 
 ROBERT ALEX AN*DER. 
 
 P. S. Not being present in substance, I can do no less than 
 to send my shadow, with the request that it may be given to 
 some relative or friend, which ever it may be, who will cast 
 their shadow back to me. R. A. 
 
 This letter enclosed a photograph of Mr. Alexander, which 
 is now in possession of his relatives in Dunbarton. 
 
 Pembroke, July 26, 1865. 
 * * * * As to being with you on the loth, at 
 the Centennial,! know I should enjoy the occasion very much, 
 and if I were present, should be happy to speak on the sub- 
 ject you mentioned. But such is the condition of my health, 
 I dare not give any encouragement. Want of health is my 
 only excuse ; but this is something which I cannot control. 
 Should I feel able at the time, I should rejoice to meet you. 
 
 * * * Very truly, yours, 
 
 JOHN M. PUTNAM. 
 
 Under date of August 31st, 1865, Mr. Putnam writes from 
 Yarmouth, Me.: " The case is very decided that I cannot be 
 present consistently with any suitable regard for my health. 
 
 * * * Tell the people it is a very great self-denial for 
 me to stay away, and nothing but want of suitable health 
 would prevent my attendance on your celebration." 
 
 The suggestion of Prof. Mills on page 77, was accompan- 
 ied with a private letter, in which occurs the following pas- 
 sage : " I will give $50 towards i\\Q permanent funds of the 
 proposed school. * * Some of the non-residents * * 
 could give $500 better than I could give $50. If the scheme 
 strikes you favorably, push it through, and it will prove a 
 fountain of perennial blessings to the people of Dunbarton." 
 
119 
 
 In accordance with this suggestion, the matter was brought 
 before the Centennial Committee, and a committee was ap- 
 pointed to consider tlie matter, and take such action as they 
 deem advisable. This committee consisted of Rev. Silvanus 
 Hayward, Rev. Stephen Pillsbury, Deacon Daniel H. Parker, 
 Thomas Kimball, Esq., Thomas Johnson, Esq., LeRoy R. 
 Mills, Esq., Hon. Henry L. Burnham, Chas. G. B. Ryder, 
 Esq., John C. Mills, Esq. After several meetings, it was 
 agreed by this committee that ten thousand dollars would be 
 the smallest sum that would place the school on a working 
 foundation, so as to secure free tuition to the inhabitants of 
 the town. Chas. G. B. Ryder, Esq., was chosen to see what 
 subscriptions could be raised for this purpose. At this time 
 no more definite report can be made. 
 
 The following is the subscription list for defraying the ex- 
 penses of the Celebration : 
 
 Betsey Alexander, 
 
 $100 
 
 Elizabeth Marshall, 
 
 2 50 
 
 Hiram Atwood, 
 
 100 
 
 Enoch P. Marshall, 
 
 10 00 
 
 Horace Atwood, 
 
 100 
 
 Mary Marshall, 
 
 2 50 
 
 Oliver Bailey, 
 
 10 00 
 
 James McAuley, 
 
 100 
 
 Amsdeu Barnard, 
 
 100 
 
 J. C. Me Intire, 
 
 100 
 
 Ezra C. Barnard, 
 
 50 
 
 John 0. Merrill, 
 
 100 
 
 Sam'l E. Barnard, 
 
 100 
 
 James F. Mills, 
 
 2 00 
 
 Tristram Barnard, 
 
 3 00 
 
 John Mills, 
 
 2 00 
 
 Charles Brown, 
 
 5 00 
 
 JohnC. Mills, 
 
 5 00 
 
 John D. Bunten, 
 
 2 00 
 
 Leroy R. Mills, 
 
 200 
 
 Henry L. Burnham, 
 
 5 00 
 
 Matthew S. Mills, 
 
 100 
 
 John Burnham, 
 
 10 00 
 
 Thomas Mills, 
 
 5 00 
 
 Saml Burnham, 
 
 100 
 
 James W. Moore, 
 
 100 
 
 Wm. B. Burnham, 
 
 3 00 
 
 Joseph C. Moore, " 
 
 2 00 
 
 Lora Brigham, 
 
 50 
 
 John E. Morse, 
 
 2 50 
 
 Serena Brown, 
 
 30 
 
 True Morse, 
 
 2 50 
 
 Wm. Caldwell, 
 
 2 00 
 
 George Noyes, 
 
 1 00 
 
 Alonzo P. Chamberlain, 
 
 100 
 
 Caleb Page, 
 
 4 00 
 
 Joseph A. Chamberlain, 
 
 3 00 
 
 Ebenezer Page, 
 
 5 00 
 
 Charles Cliftbrd, 
 
 3 00 
 
 George W. Page, 
 
 5 00 
 
 Isaac P. Clifford, 
 
 5 00 
 
 John Page, 
 
 2 00 
 
 Walter G. Clough, 
 
 100 
 
 John Page, Jr., 
 
 100, 
 
 Cyi-us F. Colby, 
 
 2 50 
 
 Daniel H. Parker, 
 
 20 00 
 
 Ira N. Colby, 
 
 100 
 
 Alfred Perkins, 
 
 5 00 
 
 James W. Colby, 
 
 100 
 
 George Perkins, 
 
 100 
 
 Nath'l J. Colby, 
 
 100 
 
 John C. Per ley. 
 
 100 
 
 Sargent Colby, 
 
 100 
 
 Lydia Perley, 
 
 50 
 
 Willoughby Colby, 
 
 60 
 
 Moses Perley, 
 
 100 
 
 !Mrs. Colby, 
 
 100 
 
 Stephen Pillsbury, 
 
 2 00 
 
 A. Collins, 
 
 50 
 
 W. E. Poor, 
 
 200 
 
 Luke Converse, 
 
 3 00 
 
 Abel Pi-escott, 
 
 50 
 
120 
 
 Eben Dow, 
 
 150 
 
 Otis Duke, 
 
 2 00 
 
 Wm. A. Elliott, 
 
 100 
 
 Lewis C. Fitts, 
 
 100 
 
 R. P. Fitts, 
 
 1 00 
 
 G. B. French, 
 
 5 00 
 
 Wm. N. Fuller, 
 
 1 00 
 
 Laiiriman Gutterson, 
 
 100 
 
 Lewis W. Hadley, 
 
 100 
 
 Wm. P. Hadley, 
 
 100 
 
 Alonzo P. Hammond, 
 
 6 00 
 
 Henry L. Hammond, 
 
 3 00 
 
 Horace Hammond, 
 
 100 
 
 J. M. Hammond, 
 
 100 
 
 Sam'l B. Hammond, 
 
 5 00 
 
 Stephen Hammond, 
 
 100 
 
 George Hart, 
 
 100 
 
 Wm. Haseltine, 
 
 1 00 
 
 Wm. G. Haseltine, 
 
 100 
 
 Silvanus Hayward, 
 
 2 00 
 
 Joseph F. Healey, 
 
 I 00 
 
 Chas. L. Holmes, 
 
 3 00 
 
 George W. Holmes, 
 
 50 
 
 Marcus M. Holmes, 
 
 3 00 
 
 John D. Houlihen, 
 
 - 100 
 
 James Huse, 
 
 100 
 
 John B. Ireland, 
 
 2 50 
 
 Jonathan Ireland, 
 
 3 00 
 
 Hugh Jameson, 
 
 5 00 
 
 J. P. Jameson, 
 
 100 
 
 Thomas Johnson, 
 
 5 00 
 
 John Keyes, 
 
 2 00 
 
 Chas. Kimball, 
 
 5 00 
 
 John Kimball, 
 
 4 00 
 
 Sam'l Kimball, 
 
 10 00 
 
 Thomas W. Kimball, 
 
 2 00 
 
 Almira Leach, 
 
 100 
 
 Aaron Lord, 
 
 100 
 
 Benj. Lord, 
 
 2 00 
 
 John Lord, 
 
 5 00 
 
 Justus Lord, 
 
 2 00 
 
 Thomas E. Luf kin, 
 
 100 
 
 Ansel Marshall, 
 
 100 
 
 Whole amount. 
 
 
 Deduct, not paid in. 
 
 
 •' counterfeit, 
 
 
 George W. Fresco tt, 
 John Putnam, 
 Heni-y Putney, 
 Henry M. Putney, 
 John C. Ray, 
 James M. Rogers, 
 Leonard Rowell, 
 Lewis D. Rowell, 
 Chas. G. B. Ryder, 
 Harris E. Ryder, 
 Thomas C. Ryder, 
 Nathl T. Safford, ■ 
 David Sargent, 
 Eliphalet R. Sargent, 
 James Sawyer, 
 Harriet Stark, 
 Charles Stinson, 
 John Stinson, 
 Wm. C. Stinson, 
 James Stone, 
 James H. Stone, 
 Wesley P. Stone, 
 David Story, 
 Lafayette Story, 
 Israel Straw, 
 David Tenney, 
 John P. Tenney, 
 Paige Twiss, 
 George O. Waite, 
 Jonathan G. Wheeler, 
 Nathaniel H. Wheeler, 
 Asenath Whipple, 
 Benjamin Whipple, 
 David T. Wliipple, 
 Ann Wilson, 
 Lewis Wilson, 
 Thomas Wilson, 
 Thos.S. Wilson, 
 W. H. Wilson, 
 Lyman Woodbury, 
 Stillman Woodbury, 
 Wm. B. Worthley, 
 Native of Dunbarton, 
 
 160 
 60- 
 
 100 
 
 50 
 
 10 00 
 
 5 00 
 3 00 
 100 
 100 
 1 00 
 
 6 00 
 5 00 
 5 00 
 5 00 
 150 
 5 00 
 
 1 00 
 10 00 
 20 00 
 
 2 00 
 10 00 
 
 5 00 
 100 
 
 2 00 
 10 00 
 20 00 
 
 3 00 
 
 1 00 
 5 00 
 3 00 
 100 
 100 
 3 00 
 
 50 
 5 00 
 
 2 00 
 100 
 5 00 
 
 5 00 
 2 00 
 
 6 00 
 5 00 
 1 00 
 1 00 
 5 00 
 
 $416 80 
 
 - 2 00 
 
 $444 80 
 
121 
 
 The following is a list of those citizens of Dunbarton who 
 served in the Union Array during some part of the late war. 
 Is is not probably perfect, but is*as accurate as the Editor has 
 the means of making it. 
 
 Amos C Bailey, 
 James A. Baker,* 
 Alonzo Barnard, * 
 James E. Barnard, 
 Peter Barnes, 
 Ira Briggs, 
 Elbridge C. Brown, 
 Wilbur T. Brown, * 
 Capt. Wm. E. Bunten, 
 Bradford Burnham, 
 Capt. Henry M. Caldwell, 
 Horace Caldwell, 
 Alonzo P. Chamberlain, 
 Timothy Clark, 
 Jeremiah Clongh, 
 Moses K. Eaton, * 
 John R. Emerson, 
 Wm. C. Flanders, 
 Peter Gravelin, 
 Henry G. Hammond, 
 Joseph F. Healey, 
 David T. Heath, 
 Simeon N. Heath, • 
 Lieut. Marcus M. Holmes, 
 JohnD. Houlihen, 
 
 David A. Jameson, * 
 Wra. H. Marshall, 
 MerzellahA. Merrill, 
 Frank B. Mills, 
 George Noyes, 
 Dan'l Ordway, 
 Moses E. Ordway, 
 Chester L. Page, 
 Wilson E. Poor, 
 Frank A. Putney, 
 Wm. A. Putney, 
 Daniel B. Roberts, 
 John B. Scruton, 
 Capt. Andrew J. Stone,* 
 Samuel A. Symonds.* 
 Benjamin Twiss, 
 John W. Twiss, 
 Frederick Waite, • 
 Henry A. Waite, 
 Robert E. Wheeler, 
 Edward Everett Whipple,* 
 J. Henry Whipp le, 
 Leonard Wilson, 
 Lewis Wood, 
 Ly Sander Wyman. 
 
 *Dete«ied. 
 
122 
 
 FINANCIAL REPORT 
 Of the Dunbar ton Centermial Executive Committee. 
 
 REPOBT OF THE TREASURER. 
 
 Received of Financial Committee, $444 80 
 
 Ticket " proceeds sale of tickets 17 25 
 
 Building " 19 34 
 
 Dinner' " 192 
 
 I have paid orders of the Secretary as follows : 
 
 To C. Stinson, for use of Dinner Committee, 1G3 18 
 
 S. Hay ward " Exercise " 66 65 
 
 H. W. Putney " Invitation " 39 92 
 
 C.Kimball " Building " 50 00 
 
 H. W. Putney, Orator's expenses, 5 00 
 
 G. B. French, forage, 2 50 
 
 Total, $327 25 
 
 TIIOS. WILSON, Treas. 
 
 REPORT OP COMMITTEE ON EXERCISES. 
 
 Paid for baud, Co 00 
 
 postage, ... 1 65 
 
 Total, $f)G r.5 
 
 S. HAYWARD, Chairman, 
 
 REPORT OF INVITATION COMMITTEE. 
 
 Paid for 700 invitations, 1500 programmes and 1500 dinner 
 
 tickets 25 00 
 
 For envelopes, 1 87 
 
 Postage on 647 invitations, 13 05 
 
 Total, $39 92 
 
 II. M. PUTNEY, Chairman. 
 
123 
 
 REPORT OP DINNER COMMITTEE. 
 
 Paid for meat, 132 00 
 
 Brownbread 10 00 
 
 Ice 3 00 
 
 Use of crockery, 8 68 
 
 Cooking meat, 8 00 
 
 Table covering, 1 50 
 
 Total $163 18 
 
 Received for sale of baker's bread &c., 1 92 
 
 CHARLES STINSON. Chairman. 
 
 REPORT OP BUILDING COMMITTEE. 
 
 Paid postage, 21 
 
 Nails 3 00 
 
 Brooms, 1 00 
 
 T. C. Rider, drawing lumber, 3 50 
 
 John C. Mills, " ♦• 8 50 
 
 " three day's labor, 6 00 
 
 D.T.Whipple, " " 6 00 
 
 Lyman Woodbury, two day's labor, ... 4 00 
 
 Harris E. Rider, three " " 00 
 
 Charles Kimball, four " " 00 
 
 D. T. WHiipple and J. C. Mills, for lumber, 22 16 
 
 Use of and breakingnvagon, drawing lumber 2 00 
 
 Surveying lumber 35 
 
 $51 72 
 
 Received from sale of lumber 20 56 
 
 for bi'ooms 50 
 
 $21 06 
 
 Whole expense, $30 66 
 
 CHARLES KIMBALL, Chairman, 
 
 The above is a correct copy of the reports of the eeveral sub-com- 
 mittees and Treasurer, as returned to me. In addition to the expen- 
 ses of the committee, G. B. French has been paid $2,50 for horse- 
 keeping, and Prof. Burnham, orator of the day, $5 for ('expenses. 
 Nothing has been charged for, and no account 'kept of the labor of 
 the members of the committee, or of the editor, except as shown by 
 the report of the building committee. 
 
 HENRY M. PUTNEY, Sec'y of the Com. 
 
124 
 
 At a duly notified meetmg of the subscribers to the Cen- 
 tennial fund, it was voted that the balance remaining in the 
 hands of the Treasurer be used towards defraying tlie expenses 
 of printing a record of the Centennial proceedings. Rev, Sil- 
 vanus Hayward had previonsly been appointed to edit the 
 same. His financial report is as follows : 
 
 Paid Hc]n-y A. Gage for 500 copies of Centeunial 
 
 Record $207 96 
 
 Paid for postage in procuring manuscripts, &c 177 
 
 209 73 
 
 Received of Thomas Wilson, Treasurer of Centen- 
 nial Committee 156 06 
 
 Balance now due the Editor $53 67 
 
 Vici 
 
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