* \ 1 ft ft -• s 4 v 'r 1T^ ^P- 1 f of ^ 'M>a *>-• — 5 s By IH S ila ^ H etchun t- t THE ORIGINAL SOURCES OF HISTORICAL KNOWLEDGE. A FLEA FOR THEIR PRESERVATION. BY REV. SILAshKETCHUM, President of the New Hampshire Antiquarian Society Member of the Historical Societies of New Hampshire and New York. WINDSOR (Ct.) : ( 125 copies for private distribution.) Crowell Ketchum, Printer. 1879. 33V K43 //*L /&>- With smoking axle hot with speed, with steeds of fire and steam, Wide-waked Today leaves Yesterday behind him like a dream. Still 'from the hurrying train of Life, fly backward far and fast The milestones of the Fathers, the landmarks of the Past. John G. Whittier. ORIGINAL SOURCES OF HISTORICAL KNOWLEDGE. [ Note. — Some of the statements and illustrations, and most of the recommendations, contained in this essay, were used in an Ad- dress by the writer before the New Hampshire Historical Society, at its Annual Meeting in Concord, 13 June, 1877.] Knowing so well as I do the destruction that has already overtaken the historical records of the fathers, and the calamities which have fallen on the lares and penates of our New England homes, I de- sire to make a plea for their preservation. I shall name a few of those original sources of his- torical knowledge which are generally the least prized, and so most likely to be slighted and de- stroyed. I shall also attempt to point out a practica- ble method for their aggregation at a convenient place ; to indicate in outline a system for their ar- rangement and classification ; and a method whereby they can be made most easily accessible, and most 6 ORIGINAL SOURCES OF HISTORY. readily available to the enquirer after facts, and for all purposes of history or law. John Farmer has been styled "the Father of New England Genealogy." He was in a conspicuous sense the founder of the New Hampshire Historical Society, and edited the first five volumes of its col- lections. He laid the foundations for Sava Genealogical Dictionary. He set the example of writing town histories. He gave currency to the project of a periodical literature devoted exclusively to American history. The New England Historic, Genealogical Society was established by his pupils. * Under the impulse of forces which he more than any other man set in motion ; by the energy of pro- clivities to which he by counsel and example gave wise direction ; the boundaries of legitimate history have been much enlarged, and the subjects of histori- cal enquiry considerably multiplied in these latter days. States and empires, crowns and dynasties, r lutions and invasions are no longer considered the * In a letter from Hon. John Went worth, LL. D., of Chicago, he assures me his enthusiasm for genealogical pursuits was aroused l>y the letters of JOHN FARMER to his father, making encjuir- nceming the early meml ers of the Wentworth family, so long distinguished in New Hampshire affairs. How many men took the fever from the same contact it would be impossible to mine. But when we recall to mind the men who. being younger than he, were brought into intimate relations with this great Ami quary — Bouton, Drake, Towne, the sons of Jacob Bailey M Jr., the Spaldings, the Bells, and man)- others-— an i then note the character of their literary labors and favorite pursu fail to see how this quiet, unobtrusive, patient . ul man re peated himself, without intention, in the generation which su ed him. * I find tli.it M Wi s i win; I it fcko st.itcs the s.iiiif tlni. ;, in she Puf.uc t> the Wi>r I. v. 1873 ORIGINAL SOURCES OF HISTORY. 7 only proper subjects of record, or as presenting- the only themes worthy of the true historian's ambition. For histories of churches, parishes, societies, associa- tions, institutions, towns, cities, and even peculiar local customs, social and religious movements, secu- lar enterprises and industries, there is already a large demand. And the delight taken in their study and preparation may be expected to increase in due pro- portion to the. increase of intelligence and culture. These works may not reach to that high importance ascribed to the more pretentious labors of the recog- nized historian. Nevertheless, the accuracy, extent, and variety of information, contained in the larger, are often derived from these humbler and .inferior treasuries of facts.* In the t days of Bradford, Morton," Hubbard and Winthrop, American history could hardly be more than a series of memoranda, detailing local events. It is only within this century that it became very generally recognized that we had any history to write. Nor is biography — the history of a life — any long: er;, confined, to the. "great ones." Many men are found to be locally great — in influence and power. No man can be the proper historian of a town or state, that do.es .-not clearly discern the influence, on * Family tradition and genealogical history is [are] the very re- verse of amber which, itself a valuable substance, usually includes' flies, straws, and other trifles ; whereas these studies, being them- selves insignificant and trifling, do nevertheless serve to perpetuate a great deal of what is rare and valuable in ancient manners, a*nd to record many curious and minute facts which could- have -been preserved and conveyed through no other medium. — Sir W. Scott, 11 Waver ly" ch. iv. S ORIGINAL SOURCES OF HISTORY. their character and destiny, of the opinions and ex- ample of their leading citizens. * And in the transformation of ideas which has swept over the nation and the nations in this hundred years, the importance of the local community, like that of the single person, has been much enhanced. The love of family, which we inherit from our Eng- lish ancestors ; the love of one's own which is inherent in most men ; and the assumed par excellence of every citizen, which our American individualism has pushed conspicuously into focus ; have all conspired to endow with unusual interest and dignity enquiries into the traits, employments, social status and general influence of the individual, in every walk of life. Moreover, Americans are beginning to feel that they have an ancestry to be proud of. To bear a name that was borne in the Mayflower is like bear- ing one that came in with the Conqueror. To find one's patronymic in Savage is next to finding it in Burke. And there are few families therein named (that have obeyed the command to multiply), that have not in some of their members attained an hon- orable distinction. It is gratifying to observe the large and healthy increase of inn rest among Americans in simply fam- ily history. Ii it is true that those who care for their ancestors will care lor their posterity, it ought to be hailed with gratitude as a cheering sign of the times. * Take, for example, Benjamin Bellows in Walpole ; Amos Shepard in Alstca 1 ; Francis Davis in Warner ; Christopher Hussey in Hampton; Ebenezer Webster in Salisbury j John Hazen in Haverhill ; Jacob Bailey in Newbury and Jacob Davis in Montpel- ier ; the TyngS in OKI Dunstable ; Benjamin Pierce in Hillsborough ; and scores of others which might be named. ORIGINAL SOURCES OF HISTORY. 11 at once aware that a vast number of facts, desirable to be know n, are no \ here recorded in order, if at all. It ispiobable that the 'same degree of importance may attach to no subsequent generation, that does attach to the first inhabitants of a town or state. Men in the commonest walks of life, whose education, talents or ability would never have made them con- spicuous in older communities, become historic as pioneers. They have in innumerable instances, and in no small degree, helped to lay the foundations, and give si ape and character to the institutions, of towns which have in turn exerted much influence on the affairs of the state. On the other hand, many towns were settled by men of high intelligence, good education and unusual ability. This was partic- ularly true of Dover, Portsmouth, Exeter, Hampton, Charlestown, Salisbury, Hanover, Haverhill and many others in New Hampshire. The men who cleared the forests, subdued the soil, erected homes, founded churches, put in operation the machinery of local government and established permanent institu- tions, were men of diversity of talents, attained much experience in affairs, accumulated great masses of private papers which would reveal a tolerably fair record of their lives and times ; but they wrote no history ; seldom made a memorandum designed for a historical purpose. They were otherwise employed. It is doubtful if they understood the magnitude and significance of their part in the drama in which they were actors. Nevertheless now, not a century after they have gone to their rest, men eagerly piece to- gether the fragmentary records of their labors, and the story of their lives, thus constructed, reads like a romance. Who shall say that the zeal and endeavor 10 OBIOIKAL SOURCES OF HISTORY. and what were his children's names. Surely, when we examine the array of volumes devoted to family history, which every well-furnished, historical library now presents, we cannot be unaware of the propor- tions to which this literary industry has grown ; nor ought we to underrate the importance which may possibly attach to the most ^///important facts, in the estimation of those engaged in it, and who ought to be competent to judge in such matters. L is probable that the peculiar circumstances of our condition, as a nation of recent origin, made up of communities some of which have been settled "within the memory of men still living," and many within the remembrance of their fathers, for the com- pilation of whose history so much material is sup- posed to be accessible, has tended to encourage a disregard for those Sources of historical knowledge we are beginning to so highly prize. It doubtless never occured to the first settlers in the forest that they were making history ; or that the facts of their lives, or the transactions of their public meetings would ever become subjects of historical inquiry. Their care to secure and preserve good titles to their estates, and to transact all business legally, made the early proprietors generally dilligent to keep faithful records of their doings ; and. although in many i meagre an 1 incomplete, yet they become of great interest to the local historian. The earl)- records of births, marriages and deaths, and of main event local importance are, however, surprising for their full- , when we consider the character and employ- ments of the first settlers of our towns generally. But, with all these helps invaluable, he who pur- sues enquiries into local or persona! history becomes ORIGINAL SOURCES OF HISTORY. 11 at once aware that a vast number of facts, desirable to be know n, are no \ here recorded in order, if at all. It ispiobable that the 'same degree of importance may attach to no subsequent generation, that does attach to the first inhabitants of a town or state. Men in the commonest walks of life, whose education, talents or ability would never have made them con- spicuous in older communities, become historic as pioneers. They have in innumerable instances, and in no small degree, helped to lay the foundations, and give si ape and character to the institutions, of towns which have in turn exerted much influence on the affairs of the state. On the other hand, many towns were settled by men of high intelligence, good education and unusual ability. This was partic- ularly true of Dover, Portsmouth, Exeter, Hampton, Charlestown, Salisbury, Hanover, Haverhill and many others in New Hampshire. The men who cleared the forests, subdued the soil, erected homes, founded churches, put in operation the machinery of local government and established permanent institu- tions, were men of diversity of talents, attained much experience in affairs, accumulated great masses of private papers which would reveal a tolerably fair record of their lives and times ; but they wrote no history ; seldom made a memorandum designed for a historical purpose. They were otherwise employed. It is doubtful if they understood the magnitude and significance of their part in the drama in which they were actors. Nevertheless now, not a century after they have gone to their rest, men eagerly piece to- gether the fragmentary records of their labors, and the story of their lives, thus constructed, reads like a romance. Who shall say that the zeal and endeavor 12 ORIGINAL SOURCES OF HISTORY. to recover and preserve such facts is a fruitless toil ? " Let his name, and the name of his posterity, be blotted forever from the memory of mankind." If, for instance, the general mass of facts preserved in Savage's Dictionary are to be considered as in any sense valuable, surely we cannot estimate as unim- portant any authority which throws a gleam of cer- tain light on the humblest individual in society. Not only does every man become the possible progenitor of a Franklin, a Webster or a Wilson ; but every man belongs to a family whose history is liable — and, according to present indications, likely— to be writ- ten. It seems to be morally certain that, at seme time or other, somebody will be in quest of all there is to be known, not only concerning the commander at Bunker Hill, c I arum el venerabite notnen* but also concerning 11 Honest John Tompkins the hedger and ditcher." And the preservation of authentic information is the more desirable, because fable has often b .en ac- cepted for fact, and has come near to usurp its p'ace in history. The story that Henry Wilson was born in a gyps)' camp was believe 1, and circulated as true, by well informed men, and was only finally killed, after his decease, by the testimony oi family papers. f The story of David Thomson, the- first settler in New Hampshire, as told by Hubbard, accepted by Bel- knap, and passing current in history for more than two hundred years, is finally overthrown and the truth apparently established, by the diso f an * Quid? — Sec the controversies of the Centennial year. . Extracts from tl published in the Boston// his un imiah S. Col bath, Durham, N II.. .* tew President's death. ORIGINAL SOURCES OF HISTORY. 13 indenture, among the private papers of Gov. John Winthrop, by his worthy descendant the Hon. Rob- ert C. Winthrop, of Boston.* Whether Richard Pot- ter, a man of New Hampshire though not a New Hampshire man, was a native of the East or West Indies, of Boston, London, or New Orleans, is a ques- tion to which no man is able to give a certain an- swer, and it has been gravely asserted that he was a son of Benjamin Franklin. And yet, Richard Potter lived twenty years in Massachusetts, and fifteen years in New Hampshire, both within the present century, is remembered by thousands still living, and was al- most as well known in his day as Daniel Webster.f No man has attempted to write the history of a town, or a family, or even of a single life, but he has discovered that events, of no small importance, and occurring within times not yet forgotten, cannot be established beyond a peradventure. To illustrate : I endeavored for some years to piece together the facts in the life of a man who was an active magistrate for twenty-seven years, a man of influence in the town where he lived, was marked by physical characteristics that distinguished him from all other men (which would naturally excite the cu- riosity and enquiries of his townsmen), and was well known in three counties ; and I could learn neither when nor where he was born, nothing of his ancestry, nor the whereabouts of his descendants, nor when nor * This Indenture, with a valuable paper thereon by Charles Dean, Esq., of Cambridge, is printed in Proceedings of the Mass- achusetts Historical Society, 1875 — 7^- f In 1876 I collected all the facts I could discover concerning " Richard Potter, the Celebrated Ventriloquist," and they were published in the Granite Monthly (Dover), II. 56. 14 ORIGINAL 8OUBCE8 OF HISTORY. where he died ; and yet there are scores of men still living who knew him intimately and one distinguish- ed member of the New Hampshire bar now living pleaded causes at law before him.* It may safely be affirmed that tradition is not very faithful to preserve facts, and not trustworthy when she assumes to do so. We are perhaps content to receive as history the traditions of the ancient peoples, preserved in the productions of an epic age, and to consider them, if not facts, as being better than facts. We give up with tardiness and reluct- ance the story of Poccahontas, and the Norse origin of the Old Wind Mill. But we are also aware that, in writing history, we place little reliance on tradi- tions that are not strongly corroborative of each other, and coincident with every reasonable expectation. And yet, I would not exclude tradition from among the original sources of history. Nor am I unaware that man\- things are stated as true, even in written history, on no more absolute authority than that con- current circumstances indicate that they ought to b true. Having therefore given this rapid survey o( the * This was Jerahmeel Bowers, sometime a merchant in New Chester, afterwards a resident of Bristol, where he was a magistrate from 1815 to 1842, and for some years held a justice-court almost every Saturday. The records of this court, in his own hand. comprised in three volumes, are in the archives o\ the \ * Hampshire Antiquarian Society. He had the head and bod) man, but the lower limbs of a child, said to be not over in length. He taught school many years, and was commonly known as "Master Bowers." Judge Nesmith told me he had tried several cases al law before him. Certain ascertained tacts indi cite that he was born m Franklin. He removed from Bristol to Bridgewater, but it is thought he died and was buried in Hebron. 1 le left several children. ORIGINAL SOURCES OF HISTORY. 15 need and use of authentic information, and the grow- ing importance, in the estimation of those best acquainted with the subject, of all records of facts, and all clews which lead to their discovery, I will enumerate some of the most common, least prized, and therefore most liable to be destroyed, among the original sources of historical knowledge. And passing over tradition to which I have already referred, and which, although to be used with great caution, is by no means to be. ignored, I will name I. THE RELICS OF AN OBSOLETE PAST. Recent as is the beginning of our history, yet there are some things, besides Pine Tree Shillings and Colonial Bills of Credit, once in common use in New England, of which the "oldest inhabitant" has no recollection. I remember that the venerable State Historian, Dr. Bouton, searched a considerable time, and no man's memory was able to afford him any help, before he could discover the use of that military accoutrement the "tumpline," so well known to the Revolutionary soldier. * Of the pre-historic age of Europe we know only so much of the perished race as we are able to gather from their implements, structures and remains, found in the drift, in the caves and in the lakes. But from these scanty sources of information, and from the de- tached facts discovered in times and places far apart, has been pieced together a tolerable knowl- edge of their physical characteristics, employments and manner of life.f * See N. H. Provincial Papers, vii. 591. f In America the Stone Age of the aborigines was interrupted and abolished, before passing to any higher attainment, by the in- troduction of European methods. The natives made haste to sup- Id ORIGINAL SOURCES OF HISTORY. Now it is probably true that, of the implements and utensils ever in common use in New England, not only do some examples remain, but some knowl- edge of their purpose is retained by record or tradi- tion. Of most of them the eldest portion of our people, and many of middle age, have a vivid recol- lection. But the children are growing up — yea, many are already themselves parents — who have no knowl- edge whatever, except as they have read or heard, of a great number of domestic implements once deemed ply themselves with the more effective implements of the invaders, which were suited to their simple modes of life, and speedily abandoned their own rude constructions. In Mexico and Peru, the Spanish conquest arrested and destroyed a native American civilization remarkable for its character and achievements. If it ever had any "Stone Age," it had passed it long before, and had attained to the manufacture and use of bronze implements, ceramic wares, textile fabrics, and the working of the v precious metals. Public records were kept in a rude picture-writing, on perishable materials, of which some fragments were preserved, and transla- tions made by Spanish scholars. Hence it would be difficult to determine, at this distant day, how much of our knowledge of the native American races was derived from actual intercourse with them, and acquaintance with their methods by the settlers and conquerors of the country ; and how much from archaeological in- vestigation. It is probable also that, in our reconstruction of the methods and characteristics of the Mound Builders, much vivid- ness has bten lent to our conceptions, by our knowledge o\ the and means of the Mexicans and Peruvians, derived from more authentic sources, with whom they appear to have been COgnate, and of whom they may have been the an Never theless, it is certain that, had all knowledge o\ these remarkable American peoples, obtained by their conquerors, perished with them, .m understanding, both accurate and extensive, of their physical traits, their modes of life, their form of government, their attainments in the arts, their knowledge of the physical sciences, and their methods of public administration, could have been derived solely from the study of their remains. ORIGINAL SOURCES OF HISTORY. 17 indispensable in a well-furnished New England house- hold. And this is true, not only of the appliances for the internal economy of the home, but of those used in agriculture and mechanics ; while, of those which remain, the form and fashion have been so changed, by modern inventions and improvements, that no true idea of the rude and durable character of those in use a hundred years ago can be obtained from them. So completely have the methods of our industries and the manners of our domestic life changed within this present century, that 1800 and 1876 are, as com- pared with other ages of the world, hundreds of years apart. Nor can any written description, aided by the engraver's art, convey to the mind that vivid and accurate conception, of the discarded machinery of the past, that can be obtained from an examination of the things themselves. Hence it is safe to assume that the collections, classification and intelligent de- scription of the implements and contrivances of an obsolete past in New England will not, probably,- at the end of another hundred years, be deemed a use- less service to history. * * During the; greater part of nine months from Oct. 1876, I was engaged in literary labor at the Museum of the Antiquarian Society at Contoocook. This is located in the midst of a rural and mostly permanent population, where ''old fashioned things" would be used many years after they had disappeared from cities, would be longest kept after they had been superceded by others, and hence the knowledge of their forms and uses longest retained. Nevertheless, I was constantly surprised by the enquiries of persons, twenty-five or thirty years of age and under, as to the names and uses of many articles, once as familiar in every home as spoons and platters ; and, when told, they would gener- ally say " they had heard the old folks tell of such things, but never saw one before." I had never before realized into how remote ob- scurity the recent past of New England had retreated. 18 ORIGINAL SOURCES OF HISTORY. 2 SEPULCHRAL INSCRIPTIONS. Our state is not yet so old that the sepulchral rec- ords of an early age are much decayed. But no one can visit the Burying Hill at Plymouth, or even the first cemeteries in Exeter and Haverhill ( Ms.), with- out foreseeing how near at hand is the time when many of the tablets, bearing the record of the exit, age and family connection of our early settlers, will have ceased to exhibit any legible inscription. The old Dummerston slate, and the old gray sandstone, were very perishable materials for sepulchral monu- ments. Even inscriptions upon our enduring granite will yield their sharp-cut edges to the erosion of the elements, and become illegible after one or two hundred years. It does not preserve the facts com- mitted to it like the syenite of Egypt. It is possible, of course, that all facts thus inscribed on sepulchral stones are preserved in local records. But it is morally certain they are not, and it is doubly certain that no such completeness is found in the public records of the present day. I have it on the authority of the late Secretary of State [Gov. Pres- cott] , that not above two-thirds, and probably not above one-half, of the deaths occurring in the state, arc any year reported to his office ; and I know towns in which I think there has not been a birth or death recorded for fifteen years. A file of any one of the leading newspapers is probably a better record of deaths than our state elsewhere affords. But, without reference to those of more modern date, it seems certain that any plan by which all sepulchral inscriptions made previous to the close of the first quarter of this century, at which rime by tar the larger part of those- who fought in the war for in- ORIGINAL SOURCES OF HISTORY. 19 dependence had passed away, could be collected and indexed, would furnish the historian with innumer- able and valuable facts scarcely obtainable in any other way.* 3 PRIVATE PAPERS. Such as bonds, contracts, indentures, inventories, store- and shop-books, wills, deeds and private letters. Of the great mass of material of this kind, only a small part would be of any value. Most of it will and ought to be destroyed. But of such as remains to the third and fourth generation, and particularly of such as belonged or related to the early settlers of towns, a judicious and serviceable use could be made; It was from a document of this kind that the * Since the publication of President Alden's admirable Col- lection of American Epitaphs in 1814, considerable attention has been paid to the subject of sepulchral records. It has been chiefly directed however to the transcription of such inscriptions as marked the resting-place of those who had achieved some dis- tinction. Hence of slight value to the historian or genealogist, the facts being obtainable elsewhere. A few entire collections from old Cemeteries in Massachusetts have been printed. The Worcester Society of Antiquity, makes a specialty of this kind of effort, and published, with biographical notes, the Inscriptions from the Old Cemetery in that city, before the bodies were re- moved in 1878. The New Hampshire Antiquarian Society has a^o paid particular attention to the same subject, and has col- lected, and copied into its MS. Historical Collections, vols. I — V, and carefully indexed, the entire lists of inscriptions in the towns of Alexandria, Ashland, Bristol, Hanover, Hill, Hopkinton, and Trinity Church Yard, New York City. Also partial collections from Exeter, Franklin and Henniker, (N. H.) ; Barre, Calais, Montpelier and East Montpelier (Vt.) ; Greenwich, Haverhill, Hubbardston and Maiden, (Ms. ) ; Windsor (Ct. ) ; and Mount Ida, Troy, N. Y. It has also in process of collection the entire lists of Canaan, Concord, Danbury, Dunbarton and Henniker.- 20 ORIGINAL SOURCES OF HISTORY. historic error concerning David Thomson's con. nection with Mason's schemes of colonization in New Hampshire, above referred to, was corrected. 4 PRIVATE PAPERS ON PUBLIC AFFAIRS. Of the importance of this class of documents much might be said. The experienced antiquary and his- torian knows well their value. They are not formal records, but supply much valuable information for which records would be searched in vain. They give the inside of affairs, of which records, if kept and preserved, commonly give but the outside, or no more than the frame-work. What a flood of light is thrown on the drawing-rooms and social life, on political intrigue and the interior of British ad- ministration, by the Diary of Samuel Pepys. Where shall we look in the journals of the Parliament, or the records of Westminster Hall, for that illustration of the profligacy of the Court, which virtuous, old John Evelyn gives in his private memoranda, when he went to pay his respects to his Sovereign on that Sunday night before Charles II. died ? Even the brilliant imagination of Macauley would have failed to give such graphic descriptions of the nun and events of that time, had these two private documents on public affairs been suppressed or destroyed. An examination of Lossing's Field Hooks will show how important is this class of documents as sources of historical knowledge ; and all history may be said to have received its most vivid tints chiefly from this kind o\ material. Not only are great masses of matter, written to town committees and selectmen by their agents and representatives in the stormy days of the Indian wars. ORIGINAL SOUR CES OF HISTORY. 21 and of the Revolution, stowed away in town, county and state offices, their contents and existence un- known, but, after all the vandalism of the paper-mak- ers in the last seventeen years, there still remain val- uable collections in private hands. They seemed of no importance at the time they were produced. Their real value is not generally understood by the parties into whose hands they have fallen. But they are often found to contain facts nowhere else recorded, and have sometimes given a new phase to history. Similar to these are the records and transactions of informal gatherings, of a semi-public character. Assemblies of the people, self-constituted and un- known to the law, in which citizens discuss and de- liberate upon public affairs, are germane to the gen- ius of our republican institutions. In the crises and emergencies of our history, such gatherings have been frequent and influential. Such were the advis- ory bodies known as County Congresses, in the days of the revolution. Such were the conventions held in Dracut and Springfield, Mass., to devise means to regulate the price of commodities, and check the ra- pacity of merchants and speculators, in 1776* Such was the Hartford Convention of 18 14, whose rec- ords, remaining in private hands, were afterward ed- ited and published by the secretary.f Such were the War Meetings of 1 861, and the Loyalist Con- vention of Philadelphia in 1864. In modern times, the doings of such bodies, of any importance, become at once public through the columns of the newspa- * See 2 Coll. N. H. Hist. Soc. 58 ; 8 N. H. State Papers, 628. f History of the Hartford Convention : with a Review of the Policy of the United States Government which led to the War of 1812. By Theodore Dwight, Secretary of the Convention. 8°, pp. 447, New York and Boston, 1833. 22 ORIGINAL SOlliCES OF HISTORY. per. But it was not so anciently, and there can be no doubt that much matter valuable to the local his- torian, has been irrecoverably lost. Even of the first two Provincial Congresses at Exeter, no list of the members can be found, although these bodies cleared the way for the foundations of a state government. The records of our Hillsborough County Congress- es always have been and are now in private hands, and their discovery, after a long search, was purely accidental, the parties to whom they had descended having no knowledge of what they were, nor to what they related.* The controversy between Vermont and Connect- icut, as to the honor of originating the measures which resulted in the capture of Ticonderoga, 1775. is thought to have been decided by a private letter on public affairs. f 5 FAMILY RECORDS. It is to be remembered and regretted, that this is a subject almost wholly neglected in our day. Every student of history knows it is easier to discover the records of families whose members have been dead a hundred years, than of those born within the last fifty. He has also found that many men, of average intelligence, do not know the names of their own grandfathers ; anil many who have (his surprising amount of genealogical information, know nothing * They were discovered stowed away in a band-box, in the attic of an ancient house in Amherst, by Edward D. Boybton, Editor of the Farmers' Cabinet, to whom they were readily given up, and who has since had them in charge. The publication of a portion of them, by the State Historian < ; l'rov. Papers. 447 ), lias placed so much of their contents beyond the possibility of loss. [dreSfl of Hon. Lucius E. Chittenden before the Yt. 11- torical Society, at Ticonderoga, N. V., is June. 1872, published in the Proceedings of that year. ORIGINAL SOURCES OF HISTORY. 23 further about their ancestry, except their descent from one of the " three brothers who came over." Judged by his utter neglect to make any family record, private or public ; his general reluctance to lurnish any such information when requested — un- less stimulated by a suspicion that it squints toward unclaimed estates in England, popularly supposed to be lying waste and disconsolate for want of Ameri- can heirs to claim them — and the utter oblivion which possesses his intellect as to any ancestry whose ex- istence he cannot recollect ; would lead to the con- clusion that the average American cared little, either for his ancestors or his posterity. Of the records of towns, of courts of probate and of law, of the military and the registry of deeds, all of which are required to be kept by law — all most important sources of historical knowledge — I shall say nothing. But of another class, closely allied to town records, and sometimes as important for his- torical purposes, and of which there is great neglect and waste, I desire to say something : namely, 6. THE RECORDS OF CHURCHES, PARISHES, PRECINCTS, VOLUNTARY ASSOCIATIONS, LITERARY AND OTHER SOCIETIES, INSTITUTIONS OF LEARNING, BE- NEVOLENT ORDERS, FINANCIAL AND COM- MERCIAL CORPORATIONS. Churches are important factors in determining the character of the local community. Their records often go back to the first settlement of the town, and contain items of information nowhere else to be found. These churches, by the subsequent shifting of population, become in many cases extinct. The records remain in private hands. Eventually they 24 ORIGINAL SOURCES OF HISTORY. are lost, unless recovered and preserved l>y respon- sible persons or societies. From our institutions of learning have emanated potent influences, that have greatly modified, not only the character of the com- munities where they were located, but have contrib- uted to raise the average of culture in the state. — Many of these, once famous and prosperous, have become inoperative or extinct. Their records com- monly remain in the hands of the last man who acts as clerk of the corporation. They would throw gleams of light on the history of many towns and lives, distinguished for usefulness and power. Undoubted- ly many other sources of historical knowledge could be named, but these observations were intended to be suggestive rather than exhaustive. What then can be done, more than is being done, to preserve the things which remain that are ready to perish ? Doubtless many plans might be suggested in an- swer to this question. I take the liberty therefore to set forth certain things which appear to me reasona- ble and practicable, if undertaken by a sufficient number, of the right kind of men, and pursued with systematic, co-operative endeavor. i. I would like to see a periodical, after the style of Farmer and Moore l s Collections, or theA^I land Historical a)id Genealogical Register, established and supported in every State ; devoted mainly to the history and biography of that state, or whatever throws light upon it ; to include monthly lists of mar- riagesand deaths ; and obituaries of prominent na- tives and residents of the state. Such a periodical, if published under the auspices of a responsible ciety, or conducted by a judicious and trusted man. would deserve to be sustained. ORIGINAL SOURCES OF HISTORY. 25 2. A systematic and continued endeavor, by His- torical and Antiquarian Societies, to collect, classify label, index, and render as available as possible, all such records and manuscripts as I have referred to and others of equal value. To have all the most important carefully copied into volumes, and mem- oranda of the contents of all others of sufficient im- portance to be preserved legibly engrossed therein ; and the names of places and persons alphabetically indexed. The same to be a part of the stated work of the Society. That such documents as were discover- ed worthy of the labor, the permanent possession of which could not be obtained, including papers owned by other states or societies (relating to the state in which the particular society is located), be copied in the same manner where permission could be obtain- ed, and so much as possible of this matter, floating about in private hands and every year running to waste, be saved and rendered available for the his- torian's use.* * To show that this plan is not altogether chimerical I will say, that it was made a part of the permanent work of the New Hamp- shire Antiquarian Society at the time of its organization in 1873, and has thus far been systemati -ally pursued. The Manuscripts a;e copied into Demy-Fo'io volumes, of the size commonly used in Registers' offices, by a Historical Committee of seven appointed each year, and one volume, thoroughly and completely indexed, commonly constitutes the work of this committee for one year. The IXth is now (1879) in preparation. Their contents, consist- ing wholly of original matter, would fill twelve volumes of 500 pages each the size of this. After the completion of the IVth volume they were examined carefully for the greater part of two days by the State Historian, the late Rev. Nathaniel Bouton, D.D., who, in an address to the Annual Meeting in 1877 spoke of the ac- curacy and thoroughness of the work in terms mDre emphatic than I feel at liberty to quote, and declared this part of the Society's W> ORIGINA L SOURCES <>J HISTORY. 3. To sec the Legislature of each state provide 1a law for the collection, classification and preservation of public records; either (1) in accordance with a re- commendation of Gov. Prescott, to the legislature of New Hampshire in 1877 ; * or, (2) by the erec- tion of a State Department of History, or of Public Records, providing suitable accommodations, the same as it now provides for the archives of the State, in which should be gathered either copies or originals of the ancient records of towns, the records of the proprietors of towns previous to their incorporation, many o, which are still in private hands, and all other records and documents of historical value that could be secured. In connection with this, the creation of a permanent office of State Historian, or Keeper of Public Records, with suitable assistance, whose duty it should be to look after, and endeavor to secure for the state, such various documents as 1 have herein- before named, or some of them, and to place all such n cords and documents, as fast as collected, in the labor, if pursued in the manner in which it had been commenced, li an invaluable service to history." For full account of the man ner of conducting this labor, sec Granite Monthly, I. 154. * I recommend the passage of an act making the register of deeds in each K>unty the custodian of the papers not required for the im- mediate use of the town. With slight expense, under the direc tion of the count) commissioners, alcove- could Deconstructed in the fee proof vaults in the register's office, equal to the number of towns in the county. The town clerks, under the direction of the selectmen, should be required to deposit such papers in these vaults. properly folded, filed, and labelled. The advantage to the public from such a change would be incalculable. All ancient mv\ ira portanl papers would then be .is sacredh preserved is the title deeds to real estate in the same towns. — (,',<;■ /'> SCOtt to tki Islature < Hampshire ORIGINAL SOURCES OF HISTORY. 27 in the best possible condition for consultation, and furnish copies when desired for a fixed fee. That means should be provided by law for making this the depository of all municipal records (either by copies or originals) up to some given date, say 1825, with provision for their augmentation to within fifty years, every quarter of a century. I cannot help be- lieving that such an arrangement would be found more convenient, and more acceptable to those who would have most frequent occasion to use them, either for purposes of history or law, than any which divided and dispersed them in smaller collections ; and much more so than their present scattered, dis- ordered and dilapidated condition. This latter is only an outline of something that seems desirable. Of course I know the general constitution of the legislative body, and hence how Utopian any such scheme would seem to be. But it is safe to assume in the light of experience, that whatever shall be thought desirable by the " wise men " of any given state, for the better keeping and more facile use of the local and general public records, the people of that state can be educated to demand and the legis- lature to grant. It is true I" have a zeal " on this subject ; but I trust it is somewhat "according to knowledge." Long experience in searching the fields of local history has taught me how important sometimes are papers regarded as worthless by their possessors ; how easily dates and circumstances need- ed to complete the history of a life or place are neglected and lost ; in what a confused, deplorable and perishing condition are the proprietary and early records of towns, and particularly the loose and un- recorded town papers. The various Historical and 28 ORIGINAL SOUBCBS OF HISTOli Y. Antiquarian Societies have rendered invaluable ser- vice, of the kinds and in the directions indicated above, however little their work is appreciated by the masses. Nevertheless, there are some lines of re- search and some fields of enterprise not yet very thoroughly explored, much less are they occupied and cultivated, which promise rich returns and abund- ant harvests to the industrious antiquary ; and it has appeared to me that so favorable a time will never re- cur for the successful gathering-up of the fragments which remain, for securing and preserving many relics and records of an obsolete past — a phase of New England life which can have no repetition in the centuries to come — as does occur to us of this gen- eration. And if to the endeavors of those gentlemen who, appreciating the value and importance of such sources of historical knowledge, have acquired facili- ty and skill in their arrangement and use, the State would supply the sanction of law and the sinews of war for a thorough and systematic campaign, and for the future care of the spoils, it would perform an act for the promotion of the public honor and the public good, for which after generations, benefitted by her provivlent foresight, would rise up and call her bit Note. — Since the foregoing pages were printed, I have been gratified to learn that the New Hampshire Historical Society hail appointed a committee of eminent gentlemen to devise and recommend means for the better preservation of municipal rec- ords and papers. Deacidifted using the Bookkeeper process. Neutralizing agent Magnesium Oxide Treatment Date Feb 2010 PreservationTechnologies * WORLD LEADER IN C01 LECTIONS PRE SERVATION Ml Thomson Par* Dm* Cnnbtn) ~ *■-■ ■■ PAieoea