v. 
 
Columbia tUntoersitp 
 intljeCitpofllciugark 
 
 THE LIBRARIES 
 
A Life Story. 
 
THE REV. NATHANIEL GUNNISON 
 
AN AUTOBIOGRAPHY 
 
 OF THE 
 
 Rev. Nathaniel Gunnison 
 
 WITH EXTRACTS FROM HIS DIARIES, SCRAP BOOKS 
 
 AND PUBLIC PRINTS, WITH A SKETCH 
 
 OF HIS WIFE 
 
 ANN LOUISA FOSTER 
 
 PREPARED FOR PRIVATE CIRCULATION AMONG THEIR CHILDREN 
 AND GRANDCHILDREN 
 
 Edited by Foster N Gunnison and Herbert Foster Gunnison, 
 and Published by Herbert Foster Gunnison 
 
 Second Edition 
 
 Brooklyn-New York 
 1910 
 

 
 .9/ ' 
 
 
THE edition of this book has been limited to one hundred copies. They 
 have been published for circulation only among members of the family 
 and intimate friends. My father left a manuscript, carefully written, which 
 told the story of his early life, and this was supplemented by diaries, written 
 to the year of his death. It has seemed to me that his children and grand- 
 children ought to read this story of a busy life which he prepared with so 
 much pains for them, and which is so intensely interesting. As the Autobiog- 
 raphy is in my possession, the duty of printing it naturally devolved upon me. 
 My brother, Foster N. Gunnison, has carefully read the diaries and has made 
 such extracts as he thought should be appreciated by members of the family. 
 
 We have been most fortunate in our parents, and it is believed that 
 this brief record of their lives will be read with justifiable pride and profit 
 by every one of their descendants into whose hands it may fall. 
 
 1901. Herbert F. Gunnison. 
 
 Brooklyn, 1910, a second edition of two hundred copies was printed. The 
 new matter was prepared by Miss Anna L. Gunnison and Miss Alice Gunnison. 
 
 Herbert F. Gunnison. 
 
No. 
 
 H. 
 
 PRESENTED TO 
 
 J* 7\ ^MA^/<\ 
 
Zhe 
 Hutobiograpb^ of IRatbaniel (Bunnison 
 
 Perhaps, after I am dead, my children 
 may be interested in knowing something 
 of the early history of their father, and 
 it is for their information that I now 
 record so much of my introduction into 
 this world, and my pilgrimage through 
 it as has been handed down to me from 
 my ancestors, and written in my own 
 book of memory. 
 
 Let it be understood then, that I, 
 Nathaniel Gunnison, was born in the 
 Town of Goshen, N. H., on the 14th day 
 of February, 1811. I have no recollec- 
 tion of anything that transpired on that 
 day, but have been informed that it was 
 one of the coldest days of the season 
 and that the roads were completely 
 blocked up with snow, so that the whole 
 neighborhood was called out with their 
 oxen and sleds to break the roads so that 
 the select few who were to welcome my 
 advent could be present to take me by 
 the hand. 
 
 My father was one of four brothers 
 who shouldered their axes and marched 
 into the woods, and selected each a farm 
 and settled down for life. My father's 
 name was Nathaniel, his twin brother 
 was named Ephraim, and the two others 
 were Samuel and Daniel. Three of them, 
 Daniel, Ephraim and Nathaniel, settled 
 in the town of Goshen. Ephraim's and 
 Nathaniel's farms adjoined. Samuel set- 
 tled nearby in the town of Fishersfield, 
 afterward changed to Newburg. 
 
 Their farms all lay at the foot of Sun- 
 apee Mountain and extended nearly to 
 the top of the western ridge. The land 
 was heavily timbered, rocky and of a 
 cold clayey soil, good for grass and most 
 kinds of grain, yet uninviting on account 
 
 of the long winters and deep snows. 
 However, these four brothers lived in 
 peace, acquired each a competency and 
 reared large families of children. 
 
 My father married Hannah Batchelder, 
 by whom was born unto him eleven 
 children, the names of whom, so far as 
 I can remember, were: Sally, who mar- 
 ried Caleb Gage; Polly, who married 
 Parker Richardson; John, who married, 
 for his first wife, Sally Willey; Levi B., 
 who married Rhoda Hurd; Hannah, who 
 maiTied William Smith; Lemira, who 
 married Homer Chase, and Nathaniel, 
 who married Sarah A. Richardson for his 
 first wife, and is now living with his sec- 
 ond wife, who is the mother of four of 
 bis five children. 
 
 These seven children were all that were 
 living when my father and mother died. 
 The other four died in infancy or before 
 1 can remember. Nor do I know what 
 their names were if they had any. 
 
 Samuel and Daniel died before I was 
 old enough to have any definite knowl- 
 edge of them, yet my impressions are 
 that I was about 12 or 13 years old when 
 they died. Ephraim, the twin brother 
 to my father, lived to a good old age, 
 nearly 85, and died with cancer on his 
 lip. He died in 1852 or 1853, and his 
 wife a few months later with the same 
 disease. 
 
 My father and mother died in the 
 spring of the year 1813, when I was 
 but 2 years old the February before. 
 Their disease was the spotted fever; yet 
 they died scientifically at the hands of 
 a doctor, and within one hour of each 
 other. Fourteen others, heads of fam- 
 ilies, died in the same way and about 
 
the same time, and under the same treat- 
 ment. All died scientifically. Yet the 
 doctor so reproached himself for his mis- 
 management as to be stupid all the rest 
 of his days. 
 
 My father and mother were of the same 
 age, born in the same hour and died the 
 same hour and were buried in one grave, 
 side by side. Their gravestone may be 
 seen now, after a lapse of forty-two 
 years in the North Burying ground in 
 Goshen. Time had effaced the inscrip- 
 tion and in 1855 the three remaining 
 brothers caused "Old Mortality" to exer- 
 cise his art upon the stones and repro- 
 duce the record so that the old grave 
 wears somewhat the appearance of the 
 present age. 
 
 At 2 years of age, and with a weak and 
 puny organization, I commenced my pil- 
 grimage alone, and could I call to mind 
 all the crooked and rough paths over 
 which I have been compelled to walk, 
 you, my children, would hardly credit my 
 story, for the hardships and deprivations 
 of my boyhood days are not often ex- 
 perienced by children. 
 
 I have no recollections of my father 
 or mother, I never have known the warm 
 caress of parents since my remembrance. 
 How they looked or how they acted 
 toward me I have no remembrance. 
 
 There is a vague, undefinable recol- 
 lection of the funeral and of the dead 
 bodies and coffins, and that is all the 
 impression that I have of my parents. 
 No doubt they loved me, as parents 
 all love their children, but their ca- 
 resses were upon an infant and made 
 no distinct impression upon my memory. 
 I have learned from my brothers and sis- 
 ters that they were very good, moral 
 and Christian people, yet not very pious, 
 after the fashion of their popular church. 
 
 My father was a very industrious man 
 and also a very smart man. It is to this 
 day reported of him that he could do 
 the work of two ordinary men. He could 
 cut down all the trees that stood upon 
 an acre of ground in a day, and make a 
 pair of shoes in the evening. 
 
 It will be understood that he settled 
 
 in the wilderness, and hence felling trees 
 was the first business to be attended to. 
 No doubt he was a very smart man 
 physically and imparted a good degree 
 of his physical energy to his children. 
 
 He died in the prime of life, yet he had 
 cleared up land enough for a large farm, 
 built comfortable buildings, and reared 
 orchards and surrounded himself with all 
 the conveniences and luxuries of life. 
 
 As before recorded, at the age of 2 
 years and 2 months I was left without 
 father or mother to care for me, sur- 
 rounded, to be sure, with brothers and 
 sisters, some of them old enough to take 
 care of me, and with disposition to pro- 
 vide for my wants. 
 
 The estate of my father was settled 
 how or by whom I know not yet. I have 
 heard it hinted that one of my sisters 
 who was married before my father's 
 death and had received her portion of 
 the estate, came in and took rather more 
 than an equal share, so that the minor 
 children, and especially myself, came off 
 with the "Indian's share," nothing but 
 the goose, while she took the turkey. 
 
 However, we received about $500 
 apiece, which was put upon interest, and 
 we were all put under guardians for the 
 remainder of our minorities. 
 
 Uncle Daniel was appointed guardian 
 for my youngest sistei', Lemira, and my- 
 self. How he guarded us I know not, 
 or whether he guarded us at all. My sis- 
 ter, Lemira, found with him a good home, 
 I doubt not, but I was transferred to my 
 sister Sally, who married, about the time 
 of the death of my parents, Caleb Gage 
 of Wendell. 
 
 My recollections of this sister are all 
 pleasant. She was a mother to me, in- 
 deed, but her husband was passionate 
 and at times severe even to cruelty. 
 
 Soon after the death of my parents I 
 went to live with my sister (above re- 
 ferred to) in the town of Wendell. When 
 old enough I attended school in an old 
 schoolhouse, painted red, and located on 
 the side of a hill, and pretty much sur- 
 rounded by woods. 
 Here I learned my letters and, no doubt, 
 
many other little lessons which have 
 been of great service to me in after 
 years. 
 
 My brother-in-law— Gage— was at times 
 very profane, but he allowed no one else 
 connected with his family to use pro- 
 fane language at all. 
 
 I recollect that when I was about 6 
 years old I let slip some words which 
 none was allowed to use but himself. 
 I was immediately called to an account. 
 1 could not deny the charge, but pleaded 
 guilty and attempted to justify myself 
 upon the ground of having learned to 
 swear from him. But my justification 
 was not received and I had to receive the 
 sentence of twenty lashes, well laid on. 
 I was taken to the cider mill, tied up and 
 flogged to the tune of "Damn you, you 
 little devil you, will you swear again?" 
 My reply was: "No; you damned fool, 
 you." "Stop, O stop, you ugly devil you, 
 or I will knock your cursed brains out." 
 And so he swore and whipped and I 
 swore and took it, till my poor sister 
 came out and begged him not to kill me, 
 justifying me all the while for using just 
 the words that I had learned from him. 
 
 This was the most severe flogging that 
 I ever received, but it by no means cured 
 me of the habit of swearing. I was stub- 
 born only because I considered it unjust 
 to chastise me for doing what my master 
 was in the daily habit of doing in my 
 hearing. 
 
 When about 7 years old my master 
 sold his farm and in company with some 
 four or five other families moved to the 
 then far West. 
 
 I remember all the particulars of that 
 event, and what followed. There were 
 no canals nor railroads then and a jour- 
 ney of four hundred miles was a great 
 undertaking, not to be thought of but 
 by the enterprising and courageous. 
 
 My sister's husband had been out West 
 as far as Ontario County, N. Y., and pur- 
 chased an eighty-acre lot, on which was 
 a rough log house, and a few acres of 
 cleared land. 
 
 Having disposed of his farm in Wen- 
 dell and settled up his affairs, he packed 
 up and started for his new home. 
 
 There were in the company some six 
 or eight heavy ox teams, with the farm- 
 ing tools, furniture, provisions, etc. 
 
 These teams started nearly a week be- 
 fore the families set out with horse 
 teams, expecting to overtake thera be- 
 fore they reached the Eldorado. My 
 brother, Bartlett, went with the ox teams. 
 In crossing the Connecticut River at 
 Charleston, he was knocked overboard 
 by one of the oxen and came near being 
 drowned. 
 
 In about one week the families fol- 
 lowed in covered wagons, drawn by two 
 horses each. We lived on board for four 
 or five days till our cooked provision 
 was all gone, and then we put up nights 
 at the public houses and cooked provis- 
 ion enough to last till next night. We 
 were about twenty days performing this 
 journey. 
 
 The country was new, roads bad and 
 traveling tedious. I remember at one 
 place I attempted to walk across the 
 road, but became fast in the mud. I 
 could not raise a foot, and there I stood, 
 fast in the slough, the perfect personifi- 
 cation of despair, and doubtless should 
 have remained there till this time had not 
 some one come to my rescue. 
 
 We passed through Oneida where there 
 lived a powerful tribe of Indians. I had 
 never seen an Indian before and was, of 
 course, much amused as well as a little 
 frightened at them. It was Sunday 
 when we passed through their settlement 
 and many of them were assembled 
 around a few tents kept by the whites, 
 who lived by selling poor whisky to the 
 Indians. Many of them were drunk and 
 some of them very quarrelsome. Some 
 were well dressed, but the most part 
 were covered only by a blanket. One 
 incident that happened I shall never for- 
 get. Not many days after we passed 
 the Indian settlement we put up for the 
 night at a poor old shabby tavern. My 
 sister's husband had a small trunk in 
 which he kept all his money and valu- 
 able papers. He was a shrewd man and 
 could read the character of a man or a 
 house upon first sight. He soon became 
 satisfied that the character of this house 
 
was bad, and that before morning he 
 might be visited in a way not very agree- 
 able to him. 
 
 Accordingly he decided to have all the 
 family sleep in one room together, and 
 with his small trunk under his own 
 head. He prepared the room, arranged 
 everything to his own taste and told us 
 all to go to sleep. 
 
 He was prepared with a good solid club 
 to act on the defensive, if occasion re- 
 quired. He heard the plan all arianged 
 for his own murder, the knives ground 
 and the grave dug, but he waited pa- 
 tiently for the visit to his room, and past 
 midnight two men with long knives stole 
 into our room, but they met with a warm 
 reception and were glad to beat a retreat. 
 We were all frightened except my 
 brother-in-law. He was not alarmed for 
 he felt that he could defend himself 
 against a dozen ruffians who live by pil- 
 fering and murder. He was a giant in 
 strength and laid all his plans in a mo- 
 ment and executed with the excitement 
 of the moment. I verily believe in those, 
 his palmy days, he could whip any six 
 ordinary men. The murderers of the 
 tavern were glad to escape out of his 
 iron clutches. 
 
 This was the only attempt to get his 
 rnoaey during the journey, yet he never 
 trusted it beyond his reach. 
 
 After a long and tiresome journey of 
 twenty days we reached the place of our 
 destination late in the fall, and imme- 
 diately moved into our rude log house, 
 which I will try to describe. 
 
 It was constructed of round logs, 
 chinked and made tight with clay, of 
 which there was an abundance in the 
 vicinity of the house. In rear and in 
 front were doors which served for in- 
 gress and egress, light, air, etc., as there 
 were no windows. The roof was covered 
 with bark and the floor had a few boards, 
 but generally the hard earth constituted 
 the floor. There was an upper room in 
 which we children slept, after ascending 
 a rough ladder. The timbers of this up- 
 per sleeping apartment were rough split 
 and near each other so that a small child 
 could not fall between them and yet far 
 enough apart to admit the light. 
 
 At one end of this rude hut was a large 
 fireplace, without jambs or hearth. The 
 chimney was perhaps twelve feet square 
 and constructed of sticks and clay. Into 
 this huge fireplace was placed, by the 
 help of oxen, at least half a cord of wood 
 every night, which kept a blazing fire all 
 night. Wood was all around the hut and 
 the more that could be burned the better. 
 
 In this rude hut we lived for one year 
 or more, while a new frame house was 
 being constructed and surely I do not 
 think the family was unhappy. The for- 
 ests surrounded our abode and furnished 
 us with venison, etc. It was not long, 
 however, before the tall trees lay low 
 and a field of wheat and corn and po- 
 tatoes appeared to repay the hardy 
 farmer for his labors. 
 
 We moved into the new frame house 
 as soon as one room was finished and 
 commenced a new era in our wilderness 
 home. My brother-in-law soon cleared 
 up his land, raised wheat and began to 
 thrive and gather around him all the 
 comforts of wealth and society. 
 
 The first school I attended in this new 
 country was kept by a young lady in an 
 old log schoolhouse, which would com- 
 pare very well with the majority of log 
 houses in the settlement. 
 
 I remember well that a few of the 
 large boys (from 7 to 12 years of age) 
 became rebellious and refused to obey 
 the rules of our teacher. Complaint was 
 made to my guardian and of course my 
 back had to pay the penalty, and then I 
 was taken home and put at hard labor 
 for the rest of the term. 
 
 Winter came and with it a two fisted 
 master for the log schoolhouse. All the 
 young men and women in the settlement 
 attended the winter school and no doubt 
 made good progress in their reading, 
 writing and arithmetic, which constituted 
 the round of studies for these times. I 
 remember that I made some improve- 
 ment during this long winter, was whip- 
 ped a few times, and graduated in the 
 spring with the high honors of promo- 
 tion from the spelling book to the Eng- 
 lish reader. 
 
 10 
 
But, in a few years, the old log school- 
 bouse was demolished and a new frame 
 building put up in its stead, to which we 
 urchins repaired with hearts beating 
 quick, not knowing what things might 
 befall us there. 
 
 And thus time passed with me till 1 was 
 14 years of age. There were times when 
 my path was exceedingly rough and up- 
 hill. I recollect that during one entire 
 winter I had no shoes to my feet and 
 yet with old stocking feet and rags such 
 as I could pick up and sew together, I 
 attended school without losing a single 
 day. My bare feet became accustomed 
 to the snow and I suffered but little with 
 the cold. 
 
 It was during this winter that 1 was 
 selected as the best scholar in the school 
 as a delegate to a public exhibition at the 
 village of Canandaigua. Some friends of 
 education had called a convention and 
 invited every school in the county to 
 send two of their best scholars, to whom 
 prizes were awarded according to their 
 advancement, etc. 
 
 But here was a difficulty. I had no 
 clothes nor shoes. My sister felt a de- 
 gree of pride at the election of her rag- 
 ged little brother and set her wits to 
 work to see what could be done in the 
 way of a fit out for so important a mat- 
 ter. 
 
 There was no cloth in the house from 
 which she could construct a pair of 
 trousers. As to shoes, I could wear hers 
 and she could get along with my old 
 stocking feet for one day. 
 
 She finally concluded to take off her 
 own red petticoat and make a pair of 
 pants out of that. 
 
 The day arrived and I set out to meet 
 a thousand people and scholars of all 
 ages and grades, with my red pants, 
 which on account of the scantiness of the 
 petticoat, reached from my waist to the 
 tops of my stockings. But what cared 
 I so long as I stood in my sister's calf 
 shoes and no rags upon my feet. 
 
 In due season I arrived at the place 
 of meeting and was conducted by my 
 very kind teacher to the seat assigned to 
 me. 
 
 It is true, when I heard the village 
 boys sneer at my red pants, and heard 
 them say "there goes red breeches," that 
 a strange feeling came over me. I felt 
 oppressed and mortified, but when I 
 stood up to read and received the kind 
 words of encouragement and praise 
 from the committee, I felt that my scanty 
 garments, red and faded, did not lessen 
 me in their estimation. 
 
 And from that day to the present I 
 have never allowed a poor boy to feel 
 embarrassed in my presence on account 
 of his rags, nor have I ever failed to 
 take the part of such when better clad 
 boys have sneered at their appearance. 
 This was the lesson taught me at that 
 time which has ruled me thus far and 
 ever will. 
 
 Sometime (I do not recollect the date) 
 before I was 14 years of age, my sister, 
 who had been to me the only mother I 
 ever knew, was taken sick and in a few 
 days closed her eyes in death. 
 
 I remember very distinctly all the cir- 
 cumstances of her sickness, death and 
 burial. Her funeral sermon was preached 
 by an old man, who gave the mourners 
 all the consolation his partial creed would 
 allow. 
 
 After this sad experience my brother- 
 in-law, Gage, and my own brother, Bart- 
 Iett, concluded to make a visit to New 
 Hampshire and take me with them. We 
 set out with a span of smart horses, and 
 in an open buggy wagon I performed the 
 journey in about eight days, more or 
 less. This was late in November. We 
 reached the land of my nativity and 
 were welcomed by our numerous friends 
 and relatives. 
 
 In a few days I was taken down with 
 a fever and confined to the house for a 
 number of weeks. The M. D. was sent 
 for and friends gathered around my bed 
 to attend upon my wants. The powders 
 and pills were dealt out, blisters applied 
 and every arrangement made for me to 
 die scientifically. The medicine was 
 taken into my mouth and then spit be- 
 hind the bed. It worked to a charm, and 
 the fame of the physician spread far and 
 
 11 
 
wide and his practice increased day by 
 day. 
 
 After my recovery so far as to be able 
 to sit up a part of the day I directed my 
 kind friends and the doctor to look be- 
 hind the bed, when, to their astonish- 
 ment, stacks of pills and powders burst 
 upon their wondering vision. I have no 
 doubts that I owe my life to my stub- 
 born will against medicine on this oc- 
 casion, for Dr. W. was a young practi- 
 tioner of the old Colonial school, and had 
 I taken his poison my friends would 
 have been put to the disagreeable task 
 of conveying my poisoned body to the 
 churchyard. 
 
 The time came for my brothers to re- 
 turn to their Western home, but I was 
 not able to return with them and so I 
 remained with my brother John and for 
 two years worked with him on the farm. 
 
 This brother was full of life and activ- 
 ity, up early and late and upon a drive 
 from morning till night, fractious and 
 hasty, yet kind and generous. His farm 
 was rough and rocky and a weakly boy 
 like me found it very difficult to please so 
 strong a man as my brother. 
 
 I was called lazy, and slow, and, in fact, 
 unprofitable, when indeed I was in- 
 capable of performing the duties imposed 
 upon me. I never possessed a strong 
 constitution till I was 17 years of age. 
 Up to that time I was weak and pind- 
 ling. 
 
 My guardian had failed and I had ar- 
 rived at the lawful age to choose for 
 myself. I selected my brother-in-law, 
 Parker Richardson, a kind-hearted and 
 prudent man, yet uneducated and a wor- 
 shiper of mammon. 
 
 After living with my brother awhile 
 it was thought best for me to be put to 
 a trade. I chose the cabinet and paint- 
 ers' trade and went to work with Will- 
 iam Lowell of Newport. At this busi- 
 ness I continued perhaps six or eight 
 months, did not like it and left. Next I 
 tried the clothiers' trade with a relative 
 of mine, and did not like this any better 
 and left. 
 
 About this time my brother Bartlett, 
 from the West, came to town after the 
 
 girl he had courted for a wife, Miss 
 Rhoda Hurd. They were married and 
 about to return to their Western home. 
 I felt a desire to go with them. They 
 consented, and we set out with a one- 
 horse wagon, full of boxes, crockery, 
 etc. 
 
 After about ten days' travel we reached 
 the place of our destination, just before 
 harvest. I lived with them about one 
 year and worked on the farm for my 
 board and pretty poor clothing. 
 
 Late in the fall, after I was 16 years of 
 age a cousin from the noi'th part of New 
 Hampshire come along from a town 
 further west and invited me to go home 
 with him. I accepted the invitation and 
 packed up the few duds I possessed and 
 we started in an open wagon, with two 
 horses, and with about $8 in my pocket. 
 
 At Albany we put up our team, took a 
 boat and visited the city of New York. 
 Here we spent two or three days seeing 
 sights and staring at the wonders of a 
 great city. We returned to Albany and 
 resumed our journey eastward and ar- 
 rived at Coventry, among the Moose- 
 hillock Mountains, early in the winter. 
 In the Town of Corinth, Vt., we tarried 
 a few weeks, and, being destitute of 
 money, I worked a few days at my old 
 Irade of painting and cutting cordwood, 
 purchased an old pair of boots and then 
 visited my uncle, Daniel Batchelder, in 
 Coventry, N. H., as before mentioned. 
 
 This uncle on my mother's side was a 
 clergyman of the Baptist order, and it 
 was said his wife was the better preacher 
 of the two, and would frequently follow 
 her husband to his appointments and 
 take the wind out of his sails by rising 
 in her place, taking his text and giving 
 the substance of his sermon. She was 
 a real torment and continued so as long 
 as the old man lived. 
 
 With this family I tarried a few 
 months, working my board and wearing 
 out my clothes. In February I started 
 on foot for Goshen, my native town, a 
 distance of seventy miles. The weather 
 was freezing cold, my clothes were well 
 worn and scant and I suffered much from 
 the cold. One night, after walking all 
 
 12 
 
day without a mouthful of food, and 
 nearly exhausted, I called at a shabby 
 looking old farmhouse and asked per- 
 mission to tarry over night. My feet 
 were badly frozen, ears also and fingers, 
 and my whole system chilled so that 1 
 fainted upon coming to the fire. 
 
 This family took me in, chafed my 
 temples and did everything for me that 
 affection and kindness could prompt. 
 They made warm tea and provided a 
 warm supper and dressed my frozen 
 limbs and put me into a nice warm bed, 
 after having listened to my story of or- 
 phanism and hardship. 
 
 The next morning I arose, much re- 
 freshed, yet lame and sore from head to 
 foot. The good woman of the house 
 made me put on a new pair of socks 
 which she had knit for her own son, and 
 a new pair of mittens and other gar- 
 ments suitable to the climate and season, 
 wondering how a rich old Baptist minis- 
 ter could suffer a boy to set out on such 
 a journey with such poor clothes, in- 
 sufficient to keep him from perishing on 
 the road. 
 
 My money was reduced to a single 
 quarter, and this I offered to the good 
 woman for her trouble, which she 
 promptly refused, and, seeing my scanty 
 means, she filled my pockets with pro- 
 visions to last at least one whole day. 
 
 I left this hospitable family with emo- 
 tions of gratitude, although by their con- 
 versation I learned that in religion they 
 were heretics, that is, believers in God 
 as the one Father and heaven as the 
 one home, which I had been taught to 
 believe were very bad sentiments, that 
 none but very wicked people could en- 
 tertain. 
 
 However, I left them with a heart 
 swelling with emotions of gratitude and 
 firmly convinced that those were good 
 people, notwithstanding they held such 
 awful sentiments, and from that day I 
 began to feel an undefinable sympathy 
 and attraction toward the people called 
 Universalists. 
 
 It was the first time in my life that I 
 had seen or known anything like disin- 
 
 terested benevolence. My heart was 
 touched and although my religious sense 
 was shocked by the announcement that 
 they were Universalists, yet from that 
 moment I felt a veneration for that name, 
 and ever after felt a desire to be near 
 this class of people, considering them 
 better than others, notwithstanding their 
 wicked unbelief. Not knowing anything 
 of their faith, their goodness of heart 
 came near driving me into infidelity, 
 which I shall explain in due time. 
 
 The kind treatment I received of this 
 family caused me to realize as I was 
 pursuing my lonely way that when I 
 came to be a man and had a home of 
 my own, no poor boy or man should ever 
 be turned from my door without relief, 
 which resolution I have kept to this day, 
 nearly thirty years. My door has been 
 ever open and no poor traveler has been 
 turned away when he asked relief. 
 
 It is an old saying that troubles do not 
 come singly, but in pairs and often in 
 flocks. So we may say of blessings. It 
 was so with me. Toward evening on 
 the day above named I called at a shoe- 
 maker's shop to inquire the way. The 
 cordwainer was very communicative, 
 talked incessantly, asked me many ques- 
 tions as to my name, whereabouts, etc., 
 etc., when, to the astonishment of both 
 of us, we found that ten years before we 
 lived with the same man and hence felt 
 acquainted at once. He insisted upon my 
 tarrying with him over night and the 
 next day, indeed, a number of days, till 
 there should be a change in the weather. 
 
 And, again, to my astonishment, I 
 found a family of Universalists, kind, 
 generous, and so far as I could dis- 
 tinguish, not worse than other people 
 generally, but on the score of humanity 
 far before them. 
 
 In a few days I arrived in Goshen at 
 the house of my guardian, at which place 
 I felt at home. The school was in ses- 
 sion and I immediately commenced at- 
 tending. 
 
 In the spring I let myself for six 
 months, at $8 per month, with Homer 
 Chase of Unity, who had married my 
 youngest sister, Lemira. I worked my 
 
 13 
 
time out, went to school the next winter, 
 and then worked out by the month till 
 the fall of 1830. 
 
 A number of my mates were goiDg to 
 Hopkintown, N. H. x to school to prepare 
 for teaching. I wished to go with them, 
 but had no money nor clothes, and my 
 guardian opposed my going. It would 
 cost money and I ought to save my 
 money and add to it and go to work, etc. 
 
 However, I wanted an education I 
 cared not for money. So I determined 
 to go at all hazards. My capital con- 
 sisted of $4.33. One dollar I gave to 
 my nephew, A.R., to carry me forty miles 
 to school. We went in the night to save 
 our tolls, arrived in Hopkintown at sun- 
 rise, ate our bread and cheese, found a 
 boarding place at $1.25 per week and 
 commenced in earnest my education. 
 
 My clothes were coarse and poor, to 
 say nothing of the style, which often 
 subjected me to the scoff and ridicule of 
 the young men with whom I associated, 
 but as I was considered a right down 
 good fellow, and always ready for fun 
 and frolic, I soon occupied a good position 
 with the students and the preceptor spoke 
 kindly to me. 
 
 My money all went the first week for 
 my books and so I went through the 
 term penniless, with no means to pay 
 my board and other incidental expenses. 
 I felt disconsolate and discouraged and 
 ready to give up in despair, when the 
 kind preceptor sent for me one day to 
 call upon him. 
 
 I obeyed the summons. He questioned 
 me upon my future prospects, intentions, 
 etc. I made my case known to him and 
 my wish to attend school, etc. He en- 
 tered into ray feelings, proposed to ob- 
 tain a school for me and help me to help 
 myself. I considered myself incompetent 
 and unqualified, but he urged me to the 
 effort, inspired me with confidence, gave 
 me a letter of introduction and recom- 
 mendation, and with my books and a 
 bundle of clothes, I set out on a voyage 
 of adventure, found a school in the town 
 of Boscowen and engaged for $12 a month 
 for three months, entered the old, rickety 
 schoolhouse and found about thirty 
 
 young men and women, beside a fair 
 complement of young children. 
 
 Here I reigned with good success three 
 whole months, received my $36 and re- 
 turned to Hopkintown, paid off my bills 
 and started on foot forty miles for home, 
 having $7 in my pocket. 
 
 Of course I felt pretty well, having 
 kept school and not having been turned 
 out. But the spring term was to com- 
 mence in a few weeks, and I must be 
 there on the first day. Seven dollars was 
 the extent of my means and my clothes 
 were in a wretched condition, and what 
 could be done? 
 
 I resolved to go to work at once and 
 get me some clothes, so I took a job of 
 wood cutting for $7 and my board. This 
 occupied about three weeks of my time, 
 during which time I had my wardrobe 
 overhauled and improved, all of which 
 used up my money within $5. 
 
 With this small capital and the dignity 
 of a successful teacher I returned to 
 Hopkintown at the commencement of the 
 spring term, and again ran in debt for 
 books and board, which I paid by work- 
 ing out six weeks in haying time. 
 
 And thus I continued to attend school, 
 spring and autumn for four years, pay- 
 ing for my fall term by teaching in the 
 winter, and for my spring term by work- 
 ing out in haying, having all the time not 
 one suit of clothes fit to wear to meeting 
 and never a spax*e dollar in my pocket. 
 
 These were trying times to a poor boy, 
 without a friend to assist or even advise 
 with him. Yet I persevered and con- 
 quered, leaving the school with honors 
 and the best recommendation of my 
 preceptor. 
 
 My success as a teacher had given me 
 currency, so that the best schools were 
 at my command, and I arose above pen- 
 ury into comparative ease, and, indeed, 
 closed one of my schools with a sufficient 
 sum in my pocket to purchase a new suit 
 of clothes throughout, hat and boots. 
 And this new suit was the first suit of 
 broadcloth ever seen around and worn 
 by a citizen of Goshen. It produced 
 quite a sensation and all my mates, far 
 and near, came to examine and see for 
 
 14 
 
themselves a broadcloth coat, made, too, 
 by a man tailor. 
 
 Up to this time all, young and old, had 
 worn homemade cloth, and women made 
 garments. The young schoolmaster was 
 the first to introduce a new style of 
 dress. 
 
 Of course, such an innovation was not 
 allowed to pass without some severe re- 
 marks from old and young. For weeks 
 I was the observed of all observers, and 
 the subject of many criticisms. 
 
 About this time I became acquainted 
 with a young lady of good education and 
 other good qualities which attracted me 
 toward her, and after many months of 
 intimacy and mutual attentions, I pro- 
 posed a correspondence, which was ac- 
 cepted and finally, after two years, 
 ripened into a union of hearts and hands. 
 
 This marriage took place in February, 
 1834, in the Town of Goshen, N. H., at 
 the house of her father, David Richard- 
 son, Rev. W. S. Balch, then of Clare- 
 mont, N. H., officiating. My wife's name 
 was Sarah Ann Richardson, and a more 
 lovely woman was never led to the bridal 
 altar. 
 
 1834— Married and Buys a Farm. Sells 
 
 and Purchases Again and Enters 
 
 Into Contract to Support 
 
 Parents, etc. 
 
 A few days after the marriage I pur- 
 chased a farm in Goshen for $1,000 (sixty 
 acres), and carried it on one year, when 
 I sold for a small advance and pur- 
 chased the farm stock, tools, produce and 
 everything belonging to the parents of 
 my wife and entered into agreement to 
 support them during their lives for 
 the paltry sum of $800, assuming debts 
 to the amount of $2,700 and holding 
 property from the estate to cover the 
 same. 
 
 We moved into the house with the 
 old people, and lived as one family. And 
 here I must describe the venerable pair 
 that we had obligated ourselves to live 
 with and support. 
 
 Father Richardson was a venerable 
 gentleman of about 60 years, industrious, 
 
 mild and honest. Everybody said he was 
 a good man and would never make 
 trouble for any one. His daughter, my 
 wife, was his idol. He almost worshiped 
 her and was never weary in laboring for 
 her. With him we found all pleasant 
 and kind. 
 
 But the old lady, I suppose I ought to 
 say Mother Richardson, was in every 
 point of character the extreme opposite 
 of the old gentleman. She was nearly 
 twenty years younger, high spirited, 
 proud, selfish, intemperate, and in gen- 
 eral language supremely ugly. She had 
 been accustomed to rule indoors and out, 
 to make all the bargains, to handle all 
 the money and, in fact, wear under- 
 neath a dirty set of petticoats a pair of 
 leather or cast iron breeches. 
 
 I had not fairly got acquainted with the 
 premises before she commenced her 
 tyranny upon me, but it was a mercy to 
 her that she did not get her old fiery head 
 smashed. I threatened one day after 
 much provocation to make an end of her 
 if she did not make herself scarce in a 
 very few minutes. She was, for the 
 first time in her life, frightened, and 
 shut up. 
 
 For six or eight months I endured her 
 anger and ugliness, when I came to the 
 conclusion that I could stand it no longer 
 and proposed to be relinquished from my 
 obligations. 
 
 Asa, the only son, had lost his wife 
 and was willing to take my obligation 
 and release me from my bonds. All 
 parties being willing we dissolved our 
 connection with one of the most disagree- 
 able concerns that ever tormented a poor 
 son-in-law. 
 
 This dissolution of partnership took 
 place on the 25th of September, 1835. 
 
 During the following winter, about the 
 first of January, 1836, I purchased an- 
 other farm of about eighty acres, known 
 as the Allen Farm, in Newport, paying 
 about $1,200, to which I added about a 
 hundred acres more. 
 
 Here I lived one year, carried on the 
 farm and taught school during the win- 
 ter months at wages varying from $14 
 to $20 per month. 
 
 * 
 
 15 
 
On the 28th of April, a daughter was 
 born unto us, Maxilla A. Of course we 
 hailed the event as one of rejoicing. 
 
 During the winter my beloved wife was 
 taken suddenly sick. I hastened for a 
 physician and brought him without de- 
 lay, but the symptoms were alarming 
 and he gave me no encouragement. I 
 hastened for a consultation of physicians, 
 but all to no purpose. She rapidly de- 
 clined and in less than one week was no 
 more on earth. 
 
 Troubled waters rolled around me 
 then. It was my first severe trial. She 
 died as she had lived, full of faith, not 
 fearing the dark valley she was enter- 
 ing. 
 
 She called me to her bedside and gave 
 me such counsel as a loving and devoted 
 wife only could give, committing to my 
 chai'ge her infant babe, and commend- 
 ing it and me to the care of our Father 
 in heaven. 
 
 I had for years professed a cold, specu- 
 lative belief in the doctrine of universal 
 salvation and attended upon its ministry 
 with some degree of liberality, but never 
 till now did I feel the power of true faith. 
 The religion I had loosely held to for 
 years now seemed to be indeed a balm 
 for my wounded heart and a cordial for 
 all my fears. It gave me peace and as- 
 surance that my lost one had gone to 
 her father and my father and that ulti- 
 mately we should meet again no more to 
 part. 
 
 I felt reconciled and happy although 
 my house was left unto me desolate. 
 
 The day of burial came. It was a 
 severely cold day. Brother A. L. Balch 
 of Newport officiated and preached an 
 admirable sermon in the orthodox meet- 
 ing house at Goshen Corner, Mr. Rogers, 
 the orthodox clergyman, making the 
 prayer. After the services at the grave 
 I returned to my desolate home and re- 
 mained one night only in the lonely 
 dwelling. 
 
 On that lonely night, while contem- 
 plnting my situation and receiving 
 heavenly peace from my faith in heaven 
 as the one common home, I resolved to 
 give up my prospects of wealth and go 
 
 out as a preacher of the gospel of the 
 grace of God, not doubting in the least 
 but that I could convert the world in a 
 very short time. The evidences of the 
 truth of the doctrine of Universalism 
 were so abundant and clear to my own 
 heart that I doubted not that I could 
 bring over to the same glorious faith all 
 my friends and acquaintances. 
 
 I finished my school and in April, 1837, 
 commenced study for the ministry with 
 Rev. A. L. Balch of Newport, N. H. 
 
 Thus the whole current of my life was 
 changed by this one affliction. Had not 
 God visited me with a severe trial I 
 doubtless should have continued a tiller 
 of the soil and become a worshiper of 
 dollars. But God had another work for 
 me to do and He appointed the means to 
 turn my attention tow r ard it. Afflictions 
 do not come by chance. They are of 
 God's appointing. By affliction I was 
 made a minister of the Word of Truth. 
 
 I entered upon the work with my 
 whole soul. I had but one object in view: 
 the good of my race, by liberating their 
 minds from the fetters of a partial creed 
 and bringing them to the enjoyment of 
 a full faith in God as the Universal 
 Father, and heaven as a universal home. 
 
 The idea of an easy life or of wealth 
 never entered my mind. I felt willing to 
 spend and be spent in the cause of Christ 
 and humanity. No other idea possessed 
 my mind. I was willing to preach any- 
 where and at all times without compen- 
 sation. Only give me an audience and I 
 was ready to preach with all my might. 
 
 With this single motive I entered upon 
 the work of preparation for the min- 
 istry, and although my previous educa- 
 tion had been neglected, yet I possessed 
 perhaps as good an education as the ma- 
 jority of our ministers at that time. 
 
 I understood the common English 
 branches, had studied Latin one year, 
 and was, indeed, competent to teach any 
 of the common schools in the state, had 
 written a few lectures and spoken fre- 
 quently in the Lyceum. My general 
 reading was limited, yet I had a very 
 ready command of language and could 
 
 16 
 
NATHANIEL GUNNISON 
 (From a painting now in posession of Foster N Gunnison) 
 
manage a debate with some degree of 
 success. 
 
 My reading commenced under the di- 
 rection of Balch, with Smith on Divine 
 Government, then Paley's Natural The- 
 ology, Evidences of Christianity, and so 
 on. 
 
 The reading was accompanied by ser- 
 mon writing. In a very few weeks I 
 finished a sermon upon the text: "And 
 thou shalt call His name Jesus, for He 
 shall save His people from their sins," 
 which sermon I never preached. 
 
 My second sermon was from the text: 
 "Prove all things." My third was from 
 the text: "The way of the transgressor is 
 hard." When these two sermons were 
 finished I commenced preaching. My first 
 sermon was delivered in the South Meet- 
 ing House in Wendell to a large congre- 
 gation. 
 
 My friends from Goshen, Wendell and 
 Newport all flocked to hear me make 
 my debut. Even the stage from Newport 
 came loaded clown with my early asso- 
 ciates to hear me. I felt, of course, very 
 much embarrassed, especially so when I 
 saw in the crowd my tutor, Rev. Mr. 
 Balch. But the God that had called me 
 to the work nerved me to its perform- 
 ance. I arose and with a distinct voice 
 read the Scriptures and a hymn, which 
 was sung, and then came the prayer, 
 which was nearly extemporaneous. I 
 had never formed in my mind even 
 the form of a prayer, but always de- 
 pended upon the inspiration of the mo- 
 ment to dictate the form and the words. 
 I have never departed from that course. 
 My prayers have always been spontan- 
 eous and hence sometimes very appropri- 
 ate, and then again at times cold and 
 undevotional, always corresponding with 
 my own feelings. 
 
 On this occasion of my first sermon I 
 prayed in the spirit and felt no trembling 
 afterward. I read the second hymn and 
 then delivered my sermon to an attentive 
 audience, from the words, "Prove all 
 things," etc. 
 
 My work now was fairly begun. I re- 
 turned home rejoicing in spirit that I 
 was a laborer in the great vineyard of 
 
 the Master, and felt more than confident 
 that I could meet the enemies of truth 
 and put them all to flight. I felt almost 
 inspired and anxious to be at work as 
 soon as possible. During the months of 
 August, September and October I 
 preached in Wendell, Walpole, Acworth 
 and Rockingham, Vt., nearly every Sab- 
 bath and in November went to Massa- 
 chusetts in search of a settlement. 
 
 I spent the first Sunday in Quincy, and 
 preached to a very large and attentive 
 congregation. 
 
 The committee spoke very flatteringly 
 to me and wished to engage me to be- 
 come their pastor, but I felt my want 
 of preparation and lack of ability to feed 
 so large a congregation, and so I passed 
 on toward Cape Cod. 
 
 I arrived in Brewster early in the week 
 and called upon Brother George Hig- 
 gins, who received me kindly and cir- 
 culated a notice for me to preach on the 
 next Sunday in Brewster and on the fol- 
 lowing Sunday in North Dennis. 
 
 I preached, of course, as a candidate. 
 My services were acceptable and 1 re- 
 ceived the entire vote of the society to 
 become the pastor of the three societies 
 of Brewster, North Dennis and South 
 Dennis. 
 
 The invitation was at once accepted 
 and I returned to Newport to settle up 
 affairs and repair to my field of future 
 labors. 
 
 It was late in the fall of 1837 when I 
 returned to Brewster and commeuced 
 my labors as the pastor of the three so- 
 cieties before named. 
 
 The people were very friendly and in- 
 dulgent. I was inexperienced and poorly 
 prepared for the duties before me. My 
 whole stock of sermons consisted of just 
 six manuscripts. 
 
 My first Sunday in Brewster as a can- 
 didate was the first Sunday in October, 
 1837. 
 
 I was ordained on the 15th of Novem- 
 ber, 1837. Sermon by J. M. Spear, E. 
 Vose, J. N. Parker and George Hastings 
 taking part in the services. 
 
 The occasion was one of hope to both 
 minister and people. The congregation 
 
 17 
 
was large and the services solemn and 
 interesting. The ordaining council dined 
 with our father in Israel, General Elijah 
 Cobb, with whom I boarded, one of the 
 best men that ever lived. His heart was 
 as big as the universe. He lived and 
 died a Universalist. 
 
 I continued preaching one-half of the 
 time in Brewster and one-quarter in each 
 of the Dennises for one year and six 
 months. 
 
 Early in my pastorate I married one 
 of the fair members of my congregation 
 in Brewster, feeling that it was not good 
 to be alone. 
 
 After due deliberation and earnest seek- 
 ing for Divine direction I addressed a 
 note to Miss Ann Louisa Foster, who, I 
 thought, might perhaps respond favor- 
 ably to my proposition. 
 
 In this I was not disappointed and after 
 all the preliminaries were settled and the 
 usual amount of billing and cooing, we 
 were united in solemn wedlock by Rev. 
 George Hastings on the 12th of August, 
 1S38. 
 
 P^or a few weeks we boarded with 
 General Cobb, made our bridal tour to 
 New Hampshire, visited our friends and 
 returned to our field of labor and com- 
 menced keeping house in an old shat- 
 tered tenement with three cold rooms in 
 it and situated far back from the road, 
 where for six mortal months we en- 
 dured cold and privation such as few 
 poor ministers ever endured before. Yet 
 we complained not, for we felt ourselves 
 the servants of Him who had not where 
 to lay His head. 
 
 Here we stayed, not lived, till spring. 
 We burned green wood and dined upon 
 cold potatoes and smoked herring. 
 
 I knew during these cold months all 
 that the poorest know of privation and 
 cold, and had it not been for our devo- 
 tion to the cause in which we were en- 
 gaged we should have fainted many 
 times, but the Lord sustained us and 
 by severe trial prepared us to sympathize 
 with the poor and feel for suffering hu- 
 manity. 
 
 In the spring of 1838 we moved into 
 another and more convenient tenement 
 
 and were in fair prospects for a com- 
 fortable living when I received a call 
 from Provincetown to become teacher in 
 the Academy and preach one-quarter of 
 the time at a salary of $450, $50 more 
 than I was receiving at Brewster. 
 
 After due deliberation and consultation 
 with my friends, I accepted the call and 
 prepared to move to the new place of 
 labor. 
 
 Brother J. B. Dodds was the pastor at 
 Provincetown. He had a large and 
 wealthy congregation and upon his hands 
 a very flourishing school. 
 
 To this congregation I was to preach 
 thirteen Sabbaths and of this large school 
 1 was to become the principal during 
 the summer and assistant during the 
 winter, for the sum of $450. The other 
 thirty-nine Sundays belonged to me and 
 I was at liberty to go to Truro and Wel- 
 fleet, or where else I pleased to preach. 
 
 It was in the spring of 1839 that we 
 moved to Provincetown and I was imme- 
 diately installed as principal of the Union 
 Academy. 
 
 I remained in Provincetown one year 
 and in many respects it was a very pleas- 
 ant year. My Sabbaths, many of them, 
 were spent in Truro and Welfleet. Our 
 school was a flourishing one and the 
 people fully sustained us in our arduous 
 labors. 
 
 The Methodists were insolent and abu- 
 sive and did all in their power to bring 
 us into disrepute and break up our school, 
 but their efforts only resulted in build- 
 ing up a large congregation of Uuiver- 
 salists. 
 
 It was during this year that the Univer- 
 salists of the Cape held a public confer- 
 ence in the Town of Eastham, during the 
 week on which the Methodists held their 
 annual camp meeting and very near their 
 grounds. 
 
 For years the Methodists had abused 
 and insulted the Universalists and tra- 
 duced their characters most wickedly, and 
 to put a stop to this wholesale abuse 
 the i)i i nist ers resolved to meet the Meth- 
 odists and challenge them to a discussion 
 of the doctrines upon which the two 
 bodies differed. 
 
 18 
 
Accordingly we met, organized and 
 challenged the hosts of partialism to 
 select from their ranks a chieftain to 
 meet one that we should choose and let 
 the two discuss the subject and let the 
 people decide the question as to the rela- 
 tive truth of Methodism and Universal- 
 ism. 
 
 But they accepted not the challenge and 
 for six days we continued our meetings 
 and hundreds for the first time in their 
 lives heard the glad tidings of universal 
 redemption preached. 
 
 The Methodists made no converts this 
 year and before the meeting closed they 
 sued for peace, promising us that if we 
 would not repeat our meetings another 
 year they would no more traduce and 
 insult Universalists, which promise I be- 
 lieve they kept faithfully for many 
 years. 
 
 In March of this year, 1840, I received 
 an invitation to visit the new City of 
 Manchester, N. H. I accepted the invi- 
 tation and preached in their new church 
 the first Sunday after it was dedicated. 
 The people seemed pleased with my serv- 
 ices and extended to me an invitation to 
 become their pastor, at a salary of $700, 
 which was accepted and hither I moved 
 my family and commenced the work to 
 which I had been called. 
 
 This society Avas at this time composed 
 of a confused mass of material. The vil- 
 lage had sprung up in a year, and 
 strangers had gathered together from all 
 parts of New England. A spacious 
 church was built by a joint stock com- 
 pany aud the pews were rented by public 
 auction, and all creeds and no creed 
 came in and made up a congregation. 
 
 Over this strange mass of antagonistic 
 principles I was installed pastor and for 
 a time everything seemed to progress 
 harmoniously. A Sunday school, Bible 
 class, Institute, sewing circle and church 
 were organized and seemed to flourish. 
 But one member of the committee was 
 by birth and education an aristocrat. 
 He wished to shut out the factory and 
 servant girls from the social gatherings 
 of the society and became very mucn op- 
 posed to me because I would not second 
 
 his efforts to exclude this class of the 
 congregation. He got the willing ear of 
 the treasurer of the society and made a 
 tool of him to accomplish his wicked pur- 
 pose of driving me from the society. 
 
 He wrote me a letter preferring charges 
 against me, first, for receiving two young 
 men into my study, as candidates for the 
 ministry; second, for introducing two 
 other students into the pulpit to preach 
 for me, etc. 
 
 These were the sins I had committed 
 and for these imprudences he proposed 
 that I leave the society. 
 
 I called a meeting of the society. A 
 large meeting assembled, and with with- 
 ering rebukes denounced the action of 
 the chairman of their committee and al- 
 most unanimously voted for me to con- 
 tinue in the office of pastor. 
 
 For three months I continued, but the 
 opposition of my three enemies was so 
 determined and insiduous that I finally 
 resigned the office of pastor and closed 
 my labors with a society that was almost 
 unanimous in my favor. The leader of 
 this opposition was Stephen Gilman, a 
 proud, self-sufficient man, and as poor 
 as poverty itself. He soon sunk out of 
 sight and in ten years not so much as 
 his abiding place could be discovered. 
 He evaporated so far as society is con- 
 cerned. His tool and accomplice Avas 
 Isa Ballow, a man of some little property, 
 but an ignorant, proud man, and his 
 wife of great consequence in her own 
 estimation. She came from a low stock 
 and a little position in society destroyed 
 her. This ignorant family made trouble 
 for my successor, Rev. G. W. Gage. 
 
 Ballow finally became so very unpopu- 
 lar in Manchester that he was obliged to 
 leave the place. He returned to Boston, 
 where he now resides. He has had 
 much trouble and affliction from the per- 
 verse conduct of his children. 
 
 A few years after this Ballow visited 
 me, acknowledged his errors in persecut- 
 ing me, threw all the blame upon the 
 back of his accomplice, Gilman, wished 
 me to forgive him, etc., etc. 
 
 On the 4th of April of this year, our 
 eldest son, N, was born in Province- 
 
 19 
 
town, Mass., while I was preaching 
 in Manchester and boarding with this 
 same Ira Ballow. 
 
 My congregations in Manchester were 
 uniformly large and had it not been for 
 this proud, vain man, Gilman, I might 
 have remained there many years. 
 
 The society wished me installed as pas- 
 tor of the society and church, and on 
 the 28th of May this service was per- 
 formed. 
 
 Father Ballou preached the sermon 
 and gave the charge and Scriptures; in- 
 stalling prayer by N. R. Wright; Right 
 Hand of Fellowship, L. C. Brown; ad- 
 dress to the society, J. P. Atkinson. 
 
 The Merrimack River Association met 
 at the same time and place. 
 
 In March, 1841 ; I sold off my furniture 
 in Manchester and started out to look 
 up another location. Wife bid adieu to 
 her friends and we started early in the 
 morning in a sleigh for Medford, Mass., 
 where her brother David resided. 
 
 Then I left her with my two children, 
 Marilla and N, to pay a visit and 
 then go to the Cape and spend a few 
 weeks, while I hunted up another loca- 
 tion. I returned to Manchester, remained 
 a few days and then started in a sleigh 
 for Hallowed, Me. 
 
 The first Sunday in March I spent in 
 Denmark, Me., and preached half a day 
 for Brother Tenney. 
 
 The second Sunday I spent in Hallo- 
 well. The society in the place was small 
 and worshiped in the Town Hall. I 
 found Brother Collins here, teaching 
 school and preaching on Sundays, and 
 expecting to continue and become pastor 
 of the society. He preached in the morn- 
 ing and invited me to occupy the desk 
 in the afternoon. I accepted and gave 
 an extemporaneous sermon from the 
 text, Job xxii:22: "Acquaint now thyself 
 with Him and be at peace." 
 
 I remained in Hallowed a few Sundays 
 and found most excellent friends in 
 Brother Joseph Metcalf, Isaiah McLinch, 
 Austin Blake and others. 
 
 Brother Collins concluded not to settle 
 with them and the invitation was extend- 
 ed to me at a salary of $400, which I ac- 
 
 cepted and returned to the State of New 
 Hampshire to meet a few appointments 
 there and then return to my new charge. 
 During the preceding winter, from 
 December to March, I had traveled ex- 
 tensively through the north part of the 
 state in company with Brother J. P. At- 
 kinson and preached and sold books and 
 obtained subscribers to the Star of Beth- 
 lehem, a paper published in Lowell by 
 A. G. Bagley. We met with good suc- 
 cess and became extensively acquainted 
 with the scattered Universalists all over 
 the north part of the state. 
 
 I returned to Hallowed and commenced 
 my ministry there on the 28th of March, 
 1841. 
 
 Here I labored with all my might, 
 preaching every Sunday to this people, 
 and to eke out a poor living, I lectured 
 in all the surrounding country. There 
 was scarcely a neighborhood within 
 twenty miles that I did not visit and 
 preach and by this extra effort I made 
 a decent living. 
 
 The first year of my residence in Hal- 
 lowed I boarded with Mr. Jacob Leavit 
 at $4 per week, just one-half my salary. 
 During the spring of 1842 there was a 
 great revival in the City of Gardiner. 
 The Methodists held a protracted meet- 
 ing of many weeks and finally, to clinch 
 their converts, sent for William Miller, 
 the end of the world prophet. He could 
 not respond to the call in person and 
 therefore sent one Spaulding to frighten 
 the poor converts into the church. I at- 
 tended his lectures and replied to them 
 in the Town Hall. Much excitement was 
 the result. Everybody was anxious to 
 hear my reviews and much good was 
 done by them. 
 
 After the lectures we held a meeting 
 for fourteen evenings in succession, and 
 about forty renounced partialism and 
 came over to our side of the question. 
 A plan was put in operation for a meet- 
 ing house in Gardiner, the money raised 
 and the house built, and a large society 
 was formed and continues to this day. 
 
 I preached here at first Sunday even- 
 ings only and then one-half of the Sun- 
 
 20 
 
days and finally all the Sundays till some 
 time after the house was dedicated. Rev. 
 J. P. Weston was finally settled as pas- 
 tor. 
 
 At the same time I kept the pulpit at 
 Hallowell supplied every Sunday and a 
 church was going up. Brother J. L. 
 Straus studied with me one year and by 
 exchanges through him I managed to 
 keep both pulpits supplied. 
 
 The houses at Gardiner and Hallowell 
 were both dedicated during the spring 
 of 1844. I had labored in Hallowell 
 nearly four years wheu the church was 
 completed and I was installed as pastor. 
 Brother Calvin Gardiner preached the 
 sermon of installation. The dedicatory 
 sermon I preached myself. 
 
 These were years of hard toil and much 
 sacrifice. We worked hard and lived, 
 or rather stayed. My salary was not 
 enough to give us a decent support, and, 
 beside, we were full of company nearly 
 all the time, frequently all our beds full. 
 Hallowell being the head of steamboat 
 navigation and my acquaintance with 
 Universalists being extensive, we could 
 not avoid a press of company, for min- 
 isters and laymen from the country must 
 necessarily pass through Hallowell on 
 their way to Boston, and my house was 
 a convenient stopping place for them. 
 We were always glad to see them and 
 happy to entertain them, but so much 
 company kept us poor and in debt all 
 the time. 
 
 Had it not been for the kind consider- 
 ation of our friends in giving us occas- 
 ionally a donation visit we must have 
 been very poor indeed. While we re- 
 sided in Hallowell we had three of these 
 parties, leaving with us from $50 to $194, 
 which, with my small salary, kept us 
 above actual poverty. 
 
 And yet those were happy years to us. 
 We worked hard, had good friends and 
 tried to be faithful in our calling. Our 
 congregations were always respectable 
 and our position a good one. We had 
 good neighbors and lived in a good neigh- 
 borhood with our surrounding brethren. 
 After about four years of hard labor 
 with this society, finding it almost im- 
 
 possible to live upon the stipulated sal- 
 ary, poorly paid, I resigned the pastorate 
 of the society and resolved to travel and 
 preach as a self-appointed missionary. 
 Accordingly in the spring of 1845 I sent 
 in my letter of resignation to take effect 
 immediately. I had become worn out 
 and needed rest. For the past two years 
 I had taught a large school four months 
 each winter, preached every Sunday and 
 traveled much to lecture, attend funerals, 
 etc. 
 
 As soon as it was announced that I 
 had resigned and was ready to go where 
 called, I received any number of calls 
 to preach in the vicinity round about. 
 I soon engaged to preach in Sidney, West 
 Waterville, East Vasselboro, Readfield, 
 Winthrop, and for five years I pursued 
 this course of life, frequently having six 
 or eight pulpits to supply once or twice 
 a month. In fact, I became the general 
 agent for nearly all the country societies 
 and not infrequently did I have appoint- 
 ments for every evening in the week, 
 such was the call for my services. 
 
 In addition to this laborious travel as 
 a preacher, I lectured on temperance, Odd 
 Fellowship, and traveled as far east as 
 New Brunswick, lecturing every even- 
 ing for six weeks before the divisions of 
 the Sons of Temperance. 
 
 During the five years of my missionary 
 labor in Maine, I preached in more than 
 one hundred different places and uni- 
 formly found good friends and attentive 
 audiences. 
 
 Finally I became tired of this kind of 
 labor and resolved to seek a settlement 
 as pastor of one society. And early in 
 the spring of 1850 I signified my wish 
 to Brother George W. Quinby of Taunton, 
 Mass., who at once secured appointments 
 for me to preach two Sundays in Abing- 
 ton and two in Fall River, as a candi- 
 date. 
 
 I met the appointments and received 
 a call from each place at a salary of $600 
 from Abington and $700 from Fall River. 
 I preferred Fall River, but committed 
 myself at Abington in case they would 
 raise $600, which they did, and notified 
 me accordingly. 
 
 21 
 
This was a trying time to me. I wished 
 to go to one place and was committed to 
 another, and when I returned to Hallo- 
 well for my family I met with auother 
 difficulty. The friends there gathered 
 around me and with tears in their eyes 
 besought me to remain with them, and 
 had it not been for the decision of my 
 wife I should have remained with them 
 on such a poor pittance as they could 
 afford to pay. But the good councils of 
 my wife prevailed and we left the beau- 
 tiful shores of the Kennebec, where we 
 had spent so many happy yet laborious 
 years. 
 
 In addition to preaching and lecturing 
 I taught school four months per year 
 for three years, posted books and did a 
 little of almost everything to support my 
 family. That this hard labor impaired 
 my usefulness as a preacher I know full 
 well. I could not give my attention to 
 study as I desired to, and hence I have 
 always been at the foot of the hill toiling 
 to rise to its summit of usefulness. What 
 little I have accomplished as a preacher 
 has been done by dint of effort under the 
 most discouraging prospects. I feel to 
 thank God and take courage. He has 
 kept my soul honest and not yet allowed 
 me to deviate a hair from the principles 
 of strict honesty. I have been able to 
 pay my debts and have a few hundred 
 dollars to spare, but have always prac- 
 ticed the most rigid economy. 
 
 It has always been a trial to me to be 
 in debt. I have always feared to owe 
 any man a dollar. It has always given 
 me a great deal of unhappiness to be in 
 debt. I am not afraid of poverty, but 
 I am afraid of debts. I think I should 
 starve rather than to owe a man for a 
 crust of bread, knowing that I had not 
 the means of paying him. While I know 
 I have the means of paying all my debts 
 I am not so particular about a few debts 
 and am often found with a bill against 
 
 me. But never do I ask a credit unless 
 I know where the pay is coming from. 
 
 I feel that I have thus far been just as 
 honest in my preaching as I have been 
 in my pecuniary matters. I never 
 preached a word that I did not believe 
 to be the truth. I can say with Henry 
 Beecher that I never preached an in- 
 sincere word in my life. This I know 
 is saying a great deal, but I say it know- 
 ing that it is true. 
 
 And I may add another word for my 
 children to read when I am no more 
 with them. I have always been honest 
 with respect to engagements w r ith so- 
 cieties. I have always fulfilled my ob- 
 ligations to the very letter. Many have 
 been the times when I could have im- 
 proved my condition by leaving societies 
 before my engagements were up, also in 
 settling, often have I had opportunities 
 to find an apology for an implied prom- 
 ise, and listen to a louder call, but I 
 have not done so, although, by not doing 
 so, I have impoverished myself and fam- 
 ily. 
 
 These things I mention not boastingly. 
 for the Lord knows I have nothing to 
 boast of; for while I have been honest 
 in all my doings, I have sinned perhaps 
 widely in other directions. But dishon- 
 esty is not my besetting sin. I never 
 wronged a person knowingly out of one 
 farthing. I say this before high Heaven! 
 
 Well, to return to my narrative. In 
 the month of April, 1850, we bid adieu 
 to our friends in Maine and came to 
 Boston and soon settled down in the 
 pleasant Town of Abington, Mass., at 
 a salary of $600. 
 
 For our history in this place I will re- 
 fer my children to my scrapbook, which 
 contains sundry letters from myself and 
 Brother Drew; also to my yearly diaries, 
 etc. 
 
 (Note — The scrapbook referred to was 
 lost soon after father died.— H. F. G.) 
 
 22 
 
Extracts from the Diaries of IRatbanlel (Bunnieon 
 
 Bbtngton, /IDass., 1852. 
 
 January 1— This has been a busy day to 
 me and its labors are an indication of 
 the labors which are to follow through 
 the year. My desire is that I may be 
 faithful to all my duties. 
 
 January 5— Read speeches of Kossuth 
 in Philadelphia and Baltimore. I find 
 myself deeply interested in this man and 
 in the cause of humanity which he rep- 
 resents. 
 
 February 14— This is my birthday. Can 
 it be that I am so old? Why, I used to 
 think that forty years carried a man a 
 long way toward old age. And yet I 
 am 40 and do not feel old yet. My 
 prayer to God is that I may spend the 
 remaining years of my life to some good 
 account, so that when the sands of my 
 life are all run out, my children may 
 have occasion to speak reverently of me 
 and my neighbors say one to another, 
 "A good man is gone from us." The 
 hope of the Gospel are strong in my 
 soul. My faith grows brighter as years 
 roll away. 
 
 March 5— Boys have gone out ou a 
 speculation, selling lozenges. Boys re- 
 turned. N sold 10 cents worth, Almon 
 22. N went no further than I gave him 
 liberty to. Almon did. One minded; 
 the other did not. Obedience is better 
 than speculation. 
 
 May 5— This morniug at 3 o'clock we 
 were presented with a fine little fellow, 
 and our third son. (Walter Balfour.) 
 
 (Note— Walter has always regarded his 
 birthday at May 2. The family Bible 
 gives the date as May 2.) 
 
 May 19— Worked all day hard in our 
 
 garden and about the premises. I am 
 about tired of filling up for others. I 
 shall just get things fairly under way, so 
 as to look attractive, and then move 
 away and leave it all. I am not well 
 pleased with the instability of the min- 
 ister. Yet I love to preach; could not get 
 along without preaching; must preach. 
 The world needs the Gospel and must 
 have it and why should not I be willing 
 to bear my portion of the burden and 
 heat of the day. 
 
 CHAPLAIN TO THE ARTILLERY. 
 
 August 25— Attended the general mus- 
 ter as chaplain to the artillery. Officiated 
 in the morning on the field and at the 
 table at noon. My opinion is not changed 
 as to such gatherings. I believe they are 
 injurious. Yet under the present siate 
 of things, perhaps, are necessary. I have 
 learned that the world is not to be con- 
 verted at once. Society is progressive 
 and it will take time to do away with 
 the occasions for war. 
 
 August 26— On the field of military 
 drill again to-day. Did not officiate on 
 the field; at the table only. Dined with 
 the officers and returned home at the 
 earliest convenience. Thus for three 
 years I have officiated as chaplain. I 
 have some misgivings about it, but have 
 come to the conclusion that to reform 
 society we must go down into it and see 
 what it is made of; we must be acquaint- 
 ed with man as he is. 
 
 August 29— Mr. Nash gave me quite a 
 lecture for doing military duty as chap- 
 lain. I defended myself as well as I 
 could, yet I must acknowledge that it is 
 
 23 
 
a little inconsistent for a peace man to 
 countenance military tactics. I think 
 I will resign. 
 
 SUMMARY OF THE YEAR. 
 
 Preached 120 sermons, attended 2 state 
 conventions and one association, presided 
 at one convention and one association, 
 lectured before four lyceums, attended 
 eighteen funerals and nine weddings and 
 one installation and one ordination. I 
 have performed the services of secretary 
 and treasurer of the Mount Vernon Ceme- 
 tery, which has occupied much of my 
 lime, and for which I have received $50. 
 
 Our little Walter, who has come to 
 live with us during the past year, is a 
 treasure of comfort and promises much 
 for the future. May his life be spared 
 and his health preserved with us that his 
 years may be many and useful. 
 
 Hbinaton, /IDass., 1853. 
 
 The society in Abington, of which I 
 have been the pastor, was very unfor- 
 tunate in the choice of its committee in 
 appointing men who were inefficient and 
 let the society neglect to pay their pas- 
 tor. In August notice was given that 
 the meeting house would be closed a 
 few weeks for repairs. After waiting 
 some few weeks and not seeing the re- 
 pairs going on nor receiving my pay for 
 the last six months, I came to the con- 
 clusion that upon the whole I had better 
 send in my resignation and seek a settle- 
 ment in some other place, and accord- 
 ingly on the 21st of September sent in 
 my request for a discharge from the 
 society, giving as the only reason "A 
 want of promptness on the part of the 
 society in meeting its pecuniary obliga- 
 tions." It required much effort on my 
 part to take this stand. I am opposed 
 to frequent removals. It is injurious to 
 both minister and people and the ties 
 ought not to be broken for trifling causes. 
 But with a large and expensive family on 
 my hands, what could I do, depending en- 
 tirely on my salary and not receiving 
 one cent of it. So I was compelled to 
 seek employment somewhere else. Some 
 
 of the society blamed me for my course, 
 but acknowledged my provocation. After 
 waiting some six or eight weeks the com- 
 mittee called a meeting to consider my 
 resignation and appointed a committee 
 to wait upon me and see if I would not 
 consent to preach till spring, when my 
 salary should be put upon a firm basis. I 
 took the subject into consideration and 
 gave answer that I did not feel it best 
 to accept their proposition, neither for 
 the society nor for myself, and recom- 
 mended them to engage a young man for 
 a small compensation. They agreed to 
 this and engaged Brother Silloway. I 
 new felt relieved from the society and 
 entered the field as general missionary, 
 to preach when and where a door seemed 
 open. 
 
 Methuen being destitute of a pastor I 
 made arrangements to preach for twelve 
 Sabbaths for $100, paying my own ex- 
 penses and board. 
 
 In the spring of this year I spent four 
 Sabbaths in North Attleboro, Mass., and 
 received a call to settle with the society 
 at $800, but my society in Abington 
 seemed unwilling for me to leave them 
 and so I was prevailed upon to refuse so 
 good an offer, which I have had good 
 reasons to regret since. I now feel that 
 1 ought to have accepted and put my 
 family in a more comfortable situation. 
 I now find depending upon me for sup- 
 port, a wife in delicate health and five 
 children, and a salary of $600, even when 
 promptly paid, insufficient for their sup- 
 port and education, and yet I have lis- 
 tened to the petitions of friends and re- 
 fused a larger salary for their accommo 
 dation. 
 
 N, my eldest son, for the first time in 
 his life left home for a few weeks to at- 
 tend the school of Brother Weston, in 
 Westbrook, Me. He is 13 years old. N 
 and all my children are thus far a com- 
 fort to me and willingly do I labor for 
 them that they may be prepared and 
 inclined to honor their parents when age 
 shall whiten their locks and palsy their 
 limbs. 
 
 Among other duties, I have, during the 
 past year, superintended the sales, im- 
 
 24 
 
proveraents, etc., upon Mount Vernon 
 Cemetery, and served as secretary and 
 treasurer, a most arduous and respon- 
 sible work. This cemetery may be con- 
 sidered as the result of my own individ- 
 ual efforts. It comprises forty acres, 
 most beautifully situated and bids fair 
 to be one of the most beautiful cemeteries 
 in our state. It has occupied much of 
 my time for the past year. I own I feel 
 proud of my labors in this direction and 
 trust that here in this creation of my 
 own labors my dust may at last repose. 
 
 Bbington anfc Hnntsquam, 
 /IDass., 1854 
 
 During the year past I have preached 
 in three places as pastor, pro tern. I 
 closed an engagement of thi*ee months at 
 Methuen on the 19th of February. Then 
 I re-engaged in Abington for a few 
 weeks; commenced February 26 and 
 closed April 9. At their annual meeting 
 I received the unanimous vote of the 
 society to renew the engagement per- 
 manently, but on account of the increas- 
 ing expenses of my family I felt it my 
 duty to leave them for a more retired 
 location, where, with an increase of sal- 
 ary, I might be able to send my children 
 to school Hence I declined the very 
 pressing invitation to remain in Abing- 
 ton. While in Boston seeking an ap- 
 pointment for a few Sabbaths, I received 
 word that a preacher was wanted for a 
 Sabbath at Annisquam. I accepted the 
 offer and visited this rock-bound coast 
 for the first time in the second Sabbath 
 in April. To my surprise this society I 
 found to be one of the largest in our de- 
 nomination and very desirous to settle 
 a minister. I was called upon by Mr. 
 Gustavus Griffin to see if I would con- 
 sent to preach as a candidate. Con- 
 sidering the matter a few moments 1 
 answered in the affirmative, on condition 
 that they raise me a living salary and 
 pay promptly. This they readily agreed 
 to, and on the 16th of April I preached 
 again and received the invitation to be- 
 come the pastor of this ancient church. 
 I did not feel at liberty to accept until 
 
 my friends in Abington nad an oppor- 
 tunity to look about and see what 
 they could do. On the 23d of April 
 I preached in Canton, Mass., as a candi- 
 date. It was a rainy day and the con- 
 gregation small. The committee, how- 
 ever, extended to me an invitation to 
 preach again as a candidate at a salary 
 of $700, which I declined. The Abington 
 society failing to comply with my con- 
 ditions, lost all claim upon my services, 
 and on the 23d of May I packed my 
 goods and on the 24th started with my 
 family for our new home on Cape Ann. 
 
 This parish numbers about 200 fam- 
 ilies; the entire population, with two or 
 three exceptions, are Universalists. The 
 parish was organized orthodox, hut near- 
 ly forty years ago their minister, Rev. 
 Ezra Leonard, became converted to the 
 truth of the doctrine of universal salva- 
 tion, and brought over nearly the whole 
 parish with him. It is now a good, sub- 
 stantial society and bids fair to live and 
 exert its influence upon the surround- 
 ing darkness. One great inducement 
 with me was to get near the salt water 
 and here we are surrounded by the ocean, 
 and all the family are in the enjoyment 
 of good health. 
 
 This year I have attended, as usual, 
 our denominational associations and was 
 elected to preach the occasional sermon 
 before the convention in 1855. 
 
 During the month of August we opened 
 our house to such of our city friends as 
 wished to visit us. Our house was full 
 for about eight weeks. Brother A. G. 
 Laurie and family, Brother Pebeeles of 
 New York and Cousin Oliver and daugh- 
 ter spent the month with us, and all 
 seemed to enjoy the sea bathing very 
 much. Among my visitors were Rev. E. 
 H. Chapin, Thomas Starr King and Dr. 
 Nye. 
 
 Hnnfsquam, /IDass., 1855 
 
 July 13— Started this day for Cape Cod 
 with my whole family. At Boston Uncle 
 David and family joined us. We went 
 on in company and arrived at Brewster 
 about 8 o'clock and met all the family at 
 
 25 
 
Uncle Tully's, except Phoebe and her 
 family. 
 
 July 14— This morning we commenced 
 spreading the table outdoors under au 
 awning. At 1 o'clock we sat down to 
 the number of forty-two. We partook 
 of the dinner, after which speeches were 
 made by Brothers Bradley and Gunni- 
 son. 
 
 August 11— We now have thirteen 
 boarders paying us $40 per week. 
 
 I have preached this year in all seventy- 
 nine sermons. I have attended our as- 
 sociation and our state convention, be- 
 fore which I preached the occasional ser- 
 mon. I have, during the year, attended 
 five weddings and eleven funerals and 
 lectured before our lyceum. I have also 
 served on the school committee and at- 
 tended to all the duties devolving upon 
 me in said office. 
 
 Bnntsquam, ZlDass., 1856 
 
 Have preached during the year eighty- 
 six sermons in fourteen different pulpits 
 and three states. Preached as a candi- 
 date at Middletown, but did not receive a 
 call, because they thought I favored the 
 election of Fremont to rebuke the admin- 
 istration. I slightly advocated temper- 
 ance and freedom, which did not please 
 the old Hunkers of that Hunker city and 
 hence I was allowed to go home in peace. 
 
 Spent two Sundays in Chicopee and re- 
 ceived a call to settle with them. Put 
 my terms at $S()0. My friends made an 
 effort to raise the money and failed, rais- 
 ing only $700, which I did not feel free 
 to accept. Also received a call to go to 
 Halifax, Nova Scotia, which call I am, 
 on this last day of December, considering. 
 Halifax is an important location and I 
 feel greatly inclined to make a visit to 
 see for myself what kind of a place for 
 labor it is. The condition of the society 
 in this place was never better, so far as 
 union and attendance upon meetings are 
 concerned, but the people are poor and 
 feel that they are not able to pay so large 
 a salary as they are paying me. I have, 
 therefore, concluded to seek another loca- 
 
 tion. I feel bad to leave so good a peo- 
 ple. Many families are very kind and 
 affectionate and we feel much attached 
 to them. I have served on the school 
 committee, officiating as chairman, and 
 taken much interest in the cause of edu- 
 cation. 
 
 The presidential election came off this 
 year with much excitement and noise. 
 The North for once united for freedom, 
 and, with the exception of Pennsylvania 
 and Illinois, cast a large vote for Fre- 
 mont and freedom. During the year there 
 has been great evils and wrongs com- 
 mitted in Kansas and the pro-slavery 
 states, but these wrongs have united the 
 North and called for the Christian sym- 
 pathy in substantial acts of charity and 
 relief. 
 
 •ttmltfax, 1R. 5., 1857 
 
 My labors this year have been less di- 
 versified than any previous year for a 
 long time. I have not attended an asso- 
 ciation or convention or any other public 
 meeting of our denomination, and have 
 not heard a single sermon by one of our 
 ministers. 
 
 I have preached every Sunday but two 
 and was prevented those two by severe 
 storms. 
 
 I preached in all 105 sermons, attended 
 only four funerals and two weddings, 
 baptized three adults and christened 
 three children and made more than two 
 hundred parish calls. 
 
 The society in Halifax, N. S., being 
 without a pastor and wishing me to visit 
 them and spend a few weeks and preach 
 to them the word of the Kingdom, I took 
 the subject into consideration and con- 
 cluded to make the visit. Accordingly 
 on the 11th of February, I left Boston 
 in the English steamer Arabia for Hali- 
 fax, and, after a very pleasant passage 
 of forty-eight hours, arrived in the City 
 of Halifax, N. S. Was met on the wharf 
 by S. Harvie. William P. West and others 
 and conducted to Brother Harvie's as my 
 home while in the city. I remained in 
 the city eight weeks, preaching two ser- 
 mons per week, and then returned home. 
 
 26 
 
The society in Halifax gave me a unani- 
 mous call to become their pastor at a sal- 
 ary of $S00, allowing me four weeks' va- 
 cation. In addition to this sum as salary 
 the society agreed to pay my expenses in 
 getting here and the expenses of my fam- 
 ily, and also pay the annual premium on 
 my life policy for $2,000, amounting to 
 $37, more or less. This was considered 
 a very good salary for this place, it being 
 generally supposed that it costs less to 
 live here than it does in the states. I 
 settled up my affairs in Annisquam, sold 
 most of my heavy furniture at auction 
 and packed up the remainder, and on the 
 27th of April bid goodby to my friends, 
 and, after spending two days in Boston 
 and vicinity, went on board the steamer 
 Eastern State, and on Wednesday morn- 
 ing. April 29, left the shores of New 
 England and set our faces toward the ris- 
 ing sun. 
 
 N, our eldest son, went on board the 
 boat with us and remained over night 
 and left us the next morning for Abing- 
 ton, to visit our friends there and then 
 return to his business in Gloucester. 
 
 Sunday, April 26, at 1 o'clock, married 
 my eldest daughter, Marilla A., to Wil- 
 lard P. Griffin. After the marriage we 
 walked to the church, where I had spent 
 three years of my life very pleasantly. 
 
 N and Ellen Foster stood up with the 
 bride and groom. A few friends were 
 present beside the families of the parties. 
 After the meeting returned and dined 
 with the parents of the bridegroom. 
 
 The people of Annisquam seemed very 
 unreconciled to our leaving them, al- 
 though they had expressed to us their 
 inability to pay the salary and hence 
 could not blame us for our decision. After 
 I had left home on my visit to Halifax 
 the people began to look about to 
 see what they could do toward 
 raising my salary and to their aston- 
 ishment they raised nearly $1,000 for 
 me to remain with them another year, 
 but this came too late. I had engaged 
 to go to Nova Scotia. On the next Sun- 
 day after my return from Halifax the 
 Sunday school surprised me by a present 
 of a heavy gold pencil. It was pre- 
 
 sented in the church, before the Sunda.v 
 school, by Elizabeth Locke, a very bright 
 little miss of 12 years of age. On the 
 next Wednesday evening at the sewing 
 circle at our house, the ladies presented 
 to my wife a set of teaspoons, two large 
 tablespoons and a butter knife, and each 
 of the children a napkin ring. 
 
 Our connection with this society had 
 been very pleasant and profitable and it 
 was like tearing the flesh asunder to 
 leave them. We never expect to feel so 
 attached to a people and they seemed 
 equally attached to us. The people in 
 Squam are generally poor, but gen- 
 erous and kind hearted. We have left 
 one of our family there and shall be 
 willing at some future day to return and 
 take up our abode with them. 
 
 We commenced our labors as pastor of 
 the society in this city (Halifax) on the 
 first Sunday in May and have now been 
 here with my family just eight months, 
 and during this time have become pretty 
 well acquainted with the people, their 
 manners and customs, religion and poli- 
 tics. 
 
 In theology the clergy are about fifty 
 years behind the clergy of New England. 
 The English church is the state church; 
 that is, all the officers are appointed by 
 the Queen and must swear to support 
 this church. The bishop and clergy are 
 very bigoted and sectarian. Their theme 
 upon almost all occasions is the Trinity, 
 which they prove not from the Scrip- 
 tures, but from the ritual and church 
 decrees. The people are completely sub- 
 ject to their priests and dare not exer- 
 cise their judgment. Such priestly ser- 
 vility I have never witnessed before. 
 The Catholics are also numerous here 
 and are under their priests as they are 
 everywhere. The Methodists, Baptists 
 and Presbyterians are also numerous and 
 wealthy in this city and hold their peo- 
 ple in complete subjection. Liberal sen- 
 timents cannot make much progress in 
 this old city. The people generally are 
 not educated, and those who might be 
 supposed to break away from the old 
 creed are kept in subjection by social 
 and priestly influences. I have general- 
 
 27 
 
ly attended some one of the partialists' 
 meetings in the afternoon of each Sab- 
 bath, and I must in truth bear witness 
 to the generally abused doctrines put 
 forth. The Trinity, vicarious atonement 
 and endless punishment are the themes 
 usually dwelt upon and the people sit 
 and sleep soundly under such heathenish 
 sentiments. When will the day come 
 that a better creed will prevail. O Lord, 
 hasten the time. Let false doctrines 
 come to an end. Let the truth be mag- 
 nified and error be banished from the 
 world. 
 
 During the past year I have written 
 more than usual for the papers, espe- 
 cially for the Freeman and Trumpet and 
 New Covenant. At least ten long letters 
 have appeared from my pen and, I trust, 
 have been read with some degree of profit 
 by many in our Zion. The year has been 
 one of continued blessings to me and my 
 family. Sickness has not to an alarm- 
 ing extent entered our home. 
 
 On the first of September, in company 
 with Brother Elliot of Dartmouth, I 
 made a visit into the country one hun- 
 dred miles to preach the word to those 
 who had never heard it proclaimed. Dur- 
 ing the week I preached to four different 
 congregations, in all seven sermons. The 
 people flocked to hear me and seemed to 
 hear with all readiness of mind. Judg- 
 ing from all appearances, I think the 
 people in the country are ready to hear a 
 better theology than they have heard 
 hitherto. 
 
 Our eldest son, N, followed us from the 
 states and arrived on the 25th of July 
 and on the 14th of September commenced 
 as clerk in the store of G. D. Martin for 
 one year for $160. Almon commenced at- 
 tending the Dalahousie College on the 
 29th of September and continued till De- 
 cember 20, devoting his time to French, 
 arithmetic, geography and history, gram- 
 mar and writing. Anna commenced a 
 small private school in one of our rooms 
 on the 17th of August and closed her 
 term the day before Christmas. This 
 was the first money she had earned and 
 she bought with it a new cloak and put 
 the balance into a set of furs. 
 
 In September there was a crisis in the 
 business world which closed up thou- 
 sands of shops and turned tens of thou- 
 sands out of employment, not only in the 
 states, but in the provinces and through- 
 out Great Britain. 
 
 I have corresponded with the children 
 of my Sunday school at Squam. Have 
 written at least 200 letters, some of them 
 covering many pages. 
 
 Ibaltfaj, 1R. 5., 1858. 
 
 I commenced the new year $44 in ar- 
 rears, or, rather, have drawn this sum 
 from presents made to me, which ought 
 to have been added to my little fund in 
 reserve for old age. Upon the whole, re- 
 ceipts of the past year for services, per- 
 quisites, presents, etc., we have gained 
 in finances about $36, as a surplus to 
 commence the new year with, beside a 
 fair stock of fuel and provisions on hand. 
 
 This record is made on the last day of 
 the expiring year, 1858, and may be con- 
 sidered as made in view of past ex- 
 travagances and in a firm resolution for 
 the future. It is a sin for a family to 
 live beyond its means, extraordinary cir- 
 cumstances excepted. 
 
 On the third Sunday in January, in 
 company with my friend, G. D. Martin, 
 I left home for Falmouth, about fifty 
 miles in the country, to preach. I found 
 ample accommodations with Benjamin 
 Church. Sunday morning repaired to 
 the church, where I found a good con- 
 gregation, to which I preached three 
 times during the day and evening, and 
 seldom have I addressed a congregation 
 which manifested so much interest and 
 so great a desire to listen. They seemed 
 to drink at a refreshing fountain. Many 
 old men seemed to rejoice in hope and 
 I can but think that some good was done 
 by this day's labor. 
 
 About 3 o'clock on Monday morning 
 I was aroused from my quiet slumbers 
 by a severe pain in my abdomen, which 
 increased till 4 o'clock to such inten- 
 sity that 1 could not bear it without 
 groaning, which aroused the inmates of 
 the house and they came to my relief. 
 Everything that kindness could do was 
 
 28 
 
done but without effect. The physician 
 was sent for, who, after a few hours of 
 attention, succeeded in relieving the pain 
 and removing the danger. I call this a 
 sad experience and yet there was much 
 connected with it of a pleasant char- 
 acter. First, the kind attention of friends 
 in Falmouth, especially the family with 
 whom I tarried. Second, the anxiety of 
 the society in Halifax and Dartmouth. 
 Two of them came to see me, and others 
 were ready to start at the least un- 
 favorable notice. Third, the cheering 
 views of my religion. The pain was so 
 severe that from the first I did not ex- 
 pect to recover. It seemed to me that I 
 had preached my last sermon and that in 
 a few hours I should experience the 
 pangs of death, and yet my mind was 
 perfectly clear and death never appeared 
 so beautiful. I wished to be at home 
 with my family and have them around 
 me, but the fact of dying was not un- 
 pleasant to me. I felt that I would like 
 to live for them, and to preach the Gos- 
 pel, that the errors and superstitions of 
 the people might be removed, but if it 
 was God's will for me to lay off the armor 
 then, I felt perfectly willing to go. Hav- 
 ing recovered from this violent attack 
 (brought on by over exertion and sudden 
 cold), I felt now more zealous than ever 
 in the cause of Christ and shall, so long 
 as God shall continue me in the field, 
 labor with more euergy in the Gospel 
 vineyard. 
 
 After a few days of quiet I preached 
 on Sunday and on the Wednesday fol- 
 lowing went to Truro as representative 
 to the Grand Division of Sons of Tem- 
 perance, and on Thursday was taken with 
 severe pains in my bowels, which were 
 followed with diarrhoea, returned home 
 on Friday and on Saturday called in a 
 physician, who attended me for nearly 
 two weeks. For two Sundays I did not 
 preach or leave the house. During these 
 two weeks of sickness I reviewed my 
 past life, my present faith and duties 
 and find nothing in my faith to change, 
 and arose from the examination with the 
 conviction that Universalisin is just the 
 truth of God, and ought to be preached 
 with power. 
 
 The congregation held a meeting on the 
 31st of January and passed resolutions, 
 first, approving my course and labors 
 since I came among them and, second, 
 inviting me to re-engage for two years 
 longer. These resolutions I duly con- 
 sidered and finally concluded to remain 
 till my place could be supplied by a min- 
 ister who would carry forward the work 
 which is now in progress. 
 
 I here record that the society in this 
 city has performed all its pecuniary ob- 
 ligations to me faithfully and by many 
 tokens of esteem and friendship endeared 
 themselves to our hearts. After two 
 years of very intimate acquaintance, we 
 feel that our lines have fallen to us in 
 pleasant places. 
 
 On the 28th of June a little boy, after- 
 ward christened Herbert Foster Gunni- 
 son, came to us and has proved himself 
 a dear little comfort. 
 
 DOCTRINAL LECTURES. 
 
 On the first Sunday in November I ad- 
 vertised a course of doctrinal lectures 
 for Sunday evenings. At once my house 
 was filled with attentive hearers. After 
 I had given nine discourses, the Rev. J. 
 Hunter, the most popular clergyman of 
 this city, came out with three sermons 
 in opposition to Universalism and in re- 
 view of my sermons on "The Coming of 
 Christ," "End of the World" and "Ever- 
 lasting Punishment." As soon as Mr. 
 Hunter closed his review the Lord Bishop 
 of Nova Scotia commenced a series upon 
 the same subjects and continued for five 
 Sunday evenings. I commenced a re- 
 view of Rev. Mr. Hunter's arguments 
 on the last Sunday of February and con- 
 tinued till the first of April, five even- 
 ings. There has been much discussion 
 in the streets and throughout the city 
 and I doubt not some little good has 
 been accomplished. Our little church 
 was crowded to its utmost capacity and 
 not a few became enlightened upon the 
 teachings of the Bible. 
 
 On the first Sunday of April I com- 
 menced a review of the Lord Bishop's 
 arguments and continued it till the first 
 Sunday of June, on which eve I con- 
 
 29 
 
eluded the series, having spoken nine 
 consecutive evenings to large houses. I 
 devoted one evening to a review of his 
 sermon and one to an exposition of the 
 text upon which he preached, thus not 
 only demolishing his argument, but ex- 
 plaining the text. 
 
 This course of reviews has done much 
 toward enlightening the minds of this 
 city. There are not a few who acknowl- 
 edge their conversion to the doctrine of 
 Universalism and there are now hun- 
 dreds who are free to doubt the 
 faith of partialism. The clergy are 
 as vindictive as their creeds are 
 cruel. They say all manner of things 
 of us, and give our doctrine a blow when- 
 ever they can get a chance to do so, but 
 our sentiments are continually gaining 
 a foothold and eliminating from hundreds 
 of hearts the old leaven of the Pharisees. 
 
 My lectures have created much talk 
 and no little excitement, not only in this 
 city, but throughout the province. Let- 
 ters are frequently coming to me from 
 the country urging me to visit the coun- 
 try and preach the Gospel to famishing 
 souls, assuring me that the clergy are 
 alarmed at the reports of my silencing 
 the Lord Bishop! Oh, that I could go 
 and preach to those poor and bound 
 souls, who are panting for freedom and 
 famishing for the bread of life. 
 
 May the Lord send forth more laborers 
 into His vineyard. O that Universalists 
 would manifest as much zeal in propa- 
 gating their truths as the Methodists do 
 in spreading their abominable lie. Then 
 should we see this moral wilderness bud 
 and blossom as the rose. May the Lord 
 hasten it in his time. 
 
 One word now in reference to my 
 friends, the Rev. Mr. Hunter and his 
 Lordship the Bishop of Nova Scotia, who 
 undertook to strike a blow at Uni- 
 versalism. The Rev. Mr. Hunter is a 
 Scotchman by birth and pastor of the 
 Chalmers Church in this city, a man of 
 fair talents, a good speaker and con- 
 sidered by his own people as a popular 
 orator, but, like his school, severe, aris- 
 tocratic and bitterly sectarian. He is 
 somewhat a controversalist, but evident- 
 
 ly not acquainted with the system of doc- 
 trine which he attempted to put down. 
 The Bishop is a sprig of Oxford divinity 
 and depends upon his dignity as Lord 
 Bishop for the force of his arguments. 
 He is not a theologian and is as ignorant 
 of the arguments of Universalists as a 
 little child, and has studied his church 
 ritual to the neglect of his Bible. As to 
 cleverness, he is not a match for his yoke- 
 fellow, Hunter, and, were it not for his 
 position, his attacks upon Universalism 
 would not have been worthy the atten- 
 tion I have paid them. His positions and 
 arguments are weak, puerile, contradic- 
 tory and absurd, but have served as an 
 occasion to show how weak and unsound 
 are the arguments of our opposers. 
 
 Rev. Mr. Hunter left the city soon after 
 I closed my review of his sermons. His 
 Lordship is still in the city, but is silent 
 upon the subject of Universalism. It is 
 presumed that he will be cautious in 
 future how he attacks his neighbors. 
 
 After I closed my review of the Bishop 
 and had preached two discourses in 
 direct proof of Universalism our pews 
 were all taken up and more called for. 
 The congregation was called together 
 and after due consultation it was voted 
 unanimously to enlarge and beautify the 
 church. Accordingly a committee was 
 chosen and operations commenced at 
 once and the church was closed for a 
 little season. 
 
 On the 15th of June the society, through 
 Mrs. Rachel West and Sarah Martin, pre- 
 sented me with a gold watch, chain and 
 key, which cost $104, as a testimonial of 
 their "appreciation of my labors, and es- 
 teem for my many virtues," and at the 
 same time they presented my wife with 
 a set of silver forks, costing $27. We are 
 happy to know that our efforts are so 
 highly appreciated and feel that we have 
 every reason to renew our energies and 
 labor more zealously for the upbuilding 
 of the cause in this city. May the Lord 
 bless those generous donors, and build 
 them up into a beautiful spiritual temple, 
 in which shall dwell all the virtues of the 
 spiritual body. 
 
 30 
 
MISSIONARY WORK. 
 
 On the 27th of July I started on a mis- 
 sionary tour of three weeks, taking my 
 son Walter with me for his health and 
 to keep me company. We drove on 
 through Shubernacadie, Truro, Onslow, 
 Londonderry, Amherst, and arrived at my 
 friend's, Amos Seaman, in Minudie, on 
 the eve of Saturday, the 30th of July, 
 where we found a cordial welcome. 
 
 Sunday I preached, morning and even- 
 ing, in Mr. Seaman's schoolhouse to a 
 large and attentive congregation. I spoke 
 extemporaneously for one and a half 
 hours each service. I preached in the 
 same place again on Monday evening and 
 again in a fortnight on my return. 
 
 I feel that much good seed was sown in 
 this place. The people all listened with 
 devout attention. I remained here till 
 Wednesday, when Mr. Seaman took his 
 team and carried me to Amherst. Here 
 I found a few friends, who urged me to 
 make an appointment for my return. I 
 consented to do so and gave out notice 
 accordingly, and passed on my way to 
 Sackville, N. B. I had a letter of intro- 
 duction to Mr. Easterbrook, keeper of the 
 public house, who entertained me free 
 of expense, and interested himself in 
 getting up a meeting for me. In this 
 place Methodism has a strong hold. Their 
 schools are situated here, which I visited 
 and was courteously entertained by the 
 principals, Rev. Mr. Allison and Pickard, 
 who showed me every part of the estab- 
 lishment and gave me all the desired in- 
 formation. This is a good institution, 
 well managed, and Were I a Methodist I 
 should feel proud of it. I preached in 
 this place (Sackville) on Friday evening, 
 August 5. to a large and very attentive 
 congregation and gave out notice that I 
 would preach again in one week. Ap- 
 plication was made to the Baptists for 
 their church, but in vain, so I was obliged 
 to occupy the temperance hall. The con- 
 gregations on both occasions were large 
 and attentive. On Saturday, 6th, Mr. 
 Joseph Ayer, an old Universalist. con- 
 veyed me to Dorchester, ten miles dis- 
 tant, where I had an appointment for 
 Sunday. Put up with Mr. Hickman, 
 
 keeper of the public house, had a large 
 meeting on Sunday in the court house, 
 and excellent attention. 
 
 I preached in this place again on 
 Wednesday evening to a large and deep- 
 ly attentive congregation. There is much 
 inquiry in this place, and I can but hope 
 that some inquiring minds were ushered 
 into the light of truth. 
 
 Monday I went on in the stage to Monc- 
 ton, twenty-two miles. Here I found but 
 few Universalists, and they had united 
 themselves with the Baptists. I made 
 arrangements for a meeting and passed 
 on to Shediac, by railroad. Here I 
 found no Universalists, applied for the 
 Methodist church and could not obtain 
 it. Secured the temperance hall and put 
 up my notice and made all arrangements 
 myself and at my own expense. Congre- 
 gation large and good attention. Spoke 
 one hour and a half upon the reason of 
 our hope. After I got through a Metho- 
 dist brother arose and undertook to re- 
 ply, but made bad work of it. A few 
 remarks closed his mouth, after which 
 a ridiculous scene was acted. A score of 
 men pushed to the desk to confound me 
 with their questions and texts, which 
 were not in the Bible. I answered them 
 in such a way as to silence them com- 
 pletely. 
 
 On Wednesday morning I paid my bill 
 at the tavern and returned to Moncton, 
 and put up with Mr. Flynn, whose wife 
 is the only lady Universalist in the place. 
 Mr. Record procured a place for me to 
 preach in the old Baptist church, which 
 was filled to its utmost capacity. I 
 preached one and a half hours upon the 
 reasons of our faith. Two Baptist min- 
 isters were present and many of their 
 congregations, but not one word was 
 said in review. Next morning left my 
 friends in Moncton and proceeded to Dor- 
 chester to fulfill my second appointment 
 in that place. Next day came to Sack- 
 ville and on Saturday proceeded to Am- 
 herst, N. S., to preach Sunday morning. 
 Sunday morning upon repairing to the 
 court house to meet my appointment I 
 found the people without and the house 
 locked. This was an act of illiberality 
 
 31 
 
which I had not met with in all my tour. 
 However, at 12 o'clock the house was 
 opened and I entered and delivered my 
 message. At 6 o'clock I preached again. 
 The house was full, but no lights nor 
 any other convenience. This place, Am- 
 herst, is a shabby place and under the 
 rule of ministers. The only courtesy I 
 received in this village was from Cath- 
 olics. I shall long remember this place 
 as a mean and aristocratic place and but 
 little advanced from a state of heathen- 
 ism. 
 
 Monday morning I took the stage for 
 Minudie, crossed the ferry and was at 
 friend Seaman's in season for dinner. I 
 preached in this place on this Monday 
 evening to a large and attentive congre- 
 gation and on the next day, Tuesday, 
 went over the Boar's Back, as it is called, 
 to Parrsboro, where, on the next morning, 
 I embarked on a steamer for Windsor, 
 and by cars reached home Weduesday 
 evening, having been absent three weeks 
 and one day and traveled 400 miles and 
 preached twelve sermons in six different 
 places. This closed my first tour into 
 New Brunswick, and I can but feel that 
 I have scattered good seed and that some 
 of it will vegetate and bring forth fruit. 
 I have met with many Universal ists and 
 conversed with hundreds who have out- 
 grown the creeds of their fathers and are 
 sighing for something better than partial- 
 ism. The Lord will bless the efforts of 
 His faithful servants and in due time 
 crown all the labors with success. 
 
 On the 25th of August I went to Fal- 
 mouth to get up a meeting for the fol- 
 lowing Sunday. Every effort was made 
 by the partialists to keep me out of the 
 church, but the people did not second 
 the efforts of their priests, and so I 
 was allowed to bear my testimony. I 
 preached in the morning on the "Great 
 Salvation." .Tude iii, and in the even- 
 ing continued the subject, and gave the 
 nature and extent of salvation. I found 
 in this place that my labors of last win- 
 ter were not in vain. The seed then 
 sown has taken root and was already 
 producing fruit, and this last visit I am 
 satisfied wil not be lost upon the people. 
 
 On the 1st of September I went to 
 Yarmouth, N. S., and spent one week 
 and preached five long discourses. Here 
 the priest of partialism spared no pains 
 to prevent my lectures, but all their ef- 
 forts only tended to give me a good au- 
 dience. The Rev. Mr. Smith, Methodist, 
 came out last winter with a series of 
 discourses upon Universalism, and it was 
 to answer those discourses that I ap- 
 peared in Yarmouth. I published my 
 visit in the papers and invited all the 
 clergymen in the place to come forward 
 and meet me in public debate, but not 
 one came. They all stood back and 
 growled like whipped dogs. The people 
 heard the word gladly, while their 
 priests admonished. I preached upon the 
 great salvation, the Scripture proofs 
 of salvation, the moral argument; argu- 
 ment based upon the character of God, 
 and finally upon the comparative moral 
 influence of Partialism and Universal- 
 ism, and many hearers came forward 
 and declared themselves satisfied. Great 
 inducements were held out for me to 
 remain another week, but I thought they 
 had about as much as they could well 
 digest. After I left the place the Rev. 
 Mr. Angel and Harris came out 
 against the doctrine I had advocated, 
 and contended earnestly for the faith 
 of endless punishment. 
 
 What heroes; they are worthy of all 
 honor for their bravery. While the en- 
 emy was present not one of these 
 dared to move his blade, but as soon 
 as there was no danger, lo, and behold! 
 they make a great flourish of trumpets. 
 They will live to fight another day. 
 
 On the last Sunday in September we 
 resumed services in our improved 
 church. It had been closed for enlarge- 
 ment and improvement for eight weeks, 
 during which time the people had at- 
 tended other meetings and listened to 
 the preaching of terror and torment, and 
 were glad to get back again into their 
 own quarters. 
 
 On the first Sunday in October I com- 
 menced a series of sermons to the young, 
 which were continued through seven 
 weeks and called out good audiences. 
 
 32 
 
i 
 
 ANN L. GUNNISON 
 
 ANN L. GUNNISON 
 
 NATHANIEL GUNNISON 
 
Quite a number of additional pews were 
 let, and the people seemed disposed to 
 work together in building up the cause 
 in this benighted region. 
 
 Iballfaj, IB. 5., 1859. 
 
 During the year 1859 I have 
 preached 101 sermons in nine different 
 places. In addition to these sermons I 
 have spoken on temperance and other 
 subjects at festivals and on public oc- 
 casions. I have written more than 30 
 articles and letters for different period- 
 icals, principally for the Trumpet and 
 Freeman and Maine Farmer. At the 
 commencement of the year I resolved to 
 live within my legitimate salary, $800, if 
 health continued to me and my fam- 
 ily. By balancing the books I find that 
 we have lived within our salary and 
 have $18.53 surplus. In addition to 
 this I have $26.42 received for mission- 
 ary labors, making $44.95. This is a 
 small sum to lay by for old age, but it 
 is better than I have done before for 
 many years, and for this increase of 
 means I feel truly thankful. In addi- 
 tion to this sum we have our perqui- 
 sites and presents, amounting to some- 
 thing over $150 in valuable articles, 
 which we prize very much. 
 
 The year just drawing to a close has 
 been one of much labor and toil to each 
 one of us. N, since April, has been in 
 a grocery store at the small salary of 
 $4 per week. Almon has been in the 
 same business at $3 per week. Anna 
 spent the summer months in visiting her 
 friends in the States. Walter has at- 
 tended to his education, and little Her- 
 bert has been the pet of the household, 
 and the plague of his father's study. 
 The year is closing upon us and this jour- 
 nal of 1859 must be closed and laid aside 
 with those of years gone by. We are 
 thus reminded of the fleetness of time 
 and that we are filling up the measure of 
 our days and will soon be laid aside that 
 others may fill our places, with the faith 
 warm and fresh in our hearts. There is 
 nothing terrible in all this. We are trav- 
 eling on toward our true home and to 
 the dear friends that have gone be- 
 fore. We shall meet them all again in 
 
 the brighter and better world. May our 
 Father prepare us to meet with resig- 
 nation the events whether joyous or 
 otherwise the year on which we are soon 
 to enter. 
 
 tmltfaj, 1R. 5., I860. 
 
 January 22— Our dear boy Almon bid 
 us good bye this morning and took pas- 
 sage in brig America for Boston. 
 
 February 9— Walter enters the Aca- 
 dian School. 
 
 April 5 — Received a letter from Al- 
 mon announcing his resolve to become 
 a minister of the Gospel. Amen. 
 
 May 3— Bought a coat for Almon, $0. 
 Mother gives the pants, N the vest. 
 Wrote him a letter congratulating him 
 upon his success, etc. 
 
 June 2 — Attended the Minchon Mu- 
 seum with children. Fii"st appearance 
 of Herbert in public. 
 
 December 28— News of secession of 
 South Carolina came this evening and so 
 the Union is dissolved. Well, let her 
 slide. Better dissolve than sink, as it 
 must unless slavery is abolished. 
 
 I have preached during this year past 
 78 sermons in Halifax, and in all 106. 
 
 On the 18th of July I left on a tour of 
 15 weeks. Visited my friends in Boston, 
 New York, Michigan, Illinois, Wisconsin. 
 Vermont and New Hampshire. Spent in 
 all these places 15 weeks and returned 
 home on the 22d day of October. Dur- 
 ing my absence Brother A. G. Laurie 
 preached during August and Brother 
 Walter during September. 
 
 I received many flattering invitations 
 to settle in the West, but did not feel free 
 to leave this hard field of labor. On the 
 22d of January Almon left home for one 
 year to attend school in the States, and 
 on the 28th of February entered the 
 Green Mountain Liberal Institute as a 
 student, where he yet remains. During 
 the year the usual good health of my- 
 self and family has been preserved, for 
 which, I trust, we all feel thankful. 
 
 The society held a bazaar and realized 
 over $800. Paid off all debts and thor- 
 oughly fitted up the church, so that now 
 we have as neat and comfortable a place 
 of worship as any in the city. Peace and 
 
 33 
 
prosperity has attended us and our cause 
 has gradually advanced. It is very evi- 
 dent that truth is gaining its way even 
 in this benighted region of superstition 
 and ignorance. I have written more or 
 less for the papers, and published one 
 sermon on the subject of the Sabbath. 
 This sermon was drawn out by a dis- 
 cussion upon the subject between the 
 Pharisees and the Gentiles. The Phari- 
 see claimed the old Jewish Sabbath for 
 Christians. The Gentiles abolished all 
 Sabbaths; hence the sermon referred to. 
 On the last Sunday of the year I re- 
 ceived a tract put forth by the Rev. 
 Dr. Cramp, President of the Baptist Col- 
 lege in this Province upon the question, 
 "What Will Become of the Wicked?" 
 To hear this review great multitudes 
 attended, and our little church was 
 crowded to its utmost capacity, thus 
 evincing a more liberal spirit than for- 
 merly shown in this place. I shall try 
 hard to keep up this excitement, and put 
 a little truth into the minds of the peo- 
 ple. The Pharisees are greatly disturbed. 
 They know not what to do. If they at- 
 tempt to answer me, it will only provoke 
 their people to hear my replies. 
 
 We shall hold on and take courage. The 
 year just passed has been one of sweet 
 labor, but of great peace to us all. Our 
 friends have been preserved to us, for 
 no deaths have taken place either in our 
 family or religious circle, and we have 
 been kindly cared for by the members of 
 the Society. Many times have they re- 
 membered us with valuable presents and 
 spoke to us many words of good cheer. 
 Better friends we have never found, and 
 it will be a hard struggle for us to leave 
 them for those we know not. 
 
 On account of our expensive tours we 
 have fallen behind in financial matters, 
 but by good management and good 
 health we will try and bring up the bal- 
 ance during the coming year. Upon the 
 whole we have much to be thankful for 
 and will bid adieu to the old year and 
 buckle on anew the armor for the new. 
 
 Ibaltfaj, 1R. 5., 1861 
 
 The saddest experience of my life was 
 on the 21st of June of this year. Anna, 
 
 my angel daughter, left me for her 
 Father in Heaven at 3 o'clock in the 
 morning, and the nature of the disease 
 was such that we had to bury her at 
 10 o'clock same day. N and my wife 
 had the disease, smallpox, and got over 
 it, but Anna could not wrestle with 
 the destroyer successfully and had to 
 yield. She suffered much and, oh, how 
 much did we all suffer for her. She is 
 not to die again, thank God. Her spirit 
 is no»v with the angels. But, oh, how 
 we suffer on account of her absence. 
 On Sunday, 23d, Brother Knapen 
 preached a funeral sermon, and our lit- 
 tle church was filled to its utmost capac- 
 ity. Everybody loved Anna and 
 mourned her early departure. She was 
 an idol. We loved her because she was 
 good. Everybody loved her for the same 
 reason. She has gone on to prepare a 
 place for us. God be thanked for so 
 good a daughter. We will not mourn 
 for she is in heaven. Goodby, daughter— 
 we will meet again. 
 
 (Note — The following are extracts from a letter 
 to Mrs. Norwood of Annisquam, written by Na- 
 thaniel Gunnison on September 25, 1861.) 
 
 We have met with a severe loss in the de- 
 parture of Anna. She was a good girl, always 
 obedient, respectful, cheerful and happy. I do 
 not think I ever knew so artless and natural a 
 girl. There was no put-on to her. She was as 
 mild as love itself and as bold as a lion. She 
 dared to do what she considered right no mat- 
 ter who opposed. All our memories of her are 
 sweet. We cannot call up a single instance in 
 her whole character that we would wish changed. 
 Her life was a perfect life. Any change would 
 have marred it. She was as natural as the birds. 
 She ran, romped, sung, played, laughed and 
 talked because she could not help doing so. Her 
 nature was overflowing with goodness. She loved 
 everybody and I do not think she ever formed an 
 acquaintance that did not love her. In this city, 
 where she developed from girlhood into woman- 
 hood, everybody seemed to be on intimate terms 
 with her. She had friends, personal and fast, 
 in all the societies in the city. I thank the Lord 
 for so good a daughter. She developed young and 
 marked out her mission faithfully. She has gone 
 to a higher circle and we are left to mourn her 
 departure. We cannot wish to call her back to 
 earth although our house is truly desolate with- 
 out her. Marilla will tell you all about the cir- 
 cumstances of her sudden departure and how ter- 
 ribly afflicting they were. 
 
 Almon came home from Woodstock, 
 Vt., where he had been at school for 18 
 months, on July 21. Remained at home 
 till July 27, when I accompanied him 
 to Minudie, N. S., to engage in teach- 
 ing. Arrived at Mr. Seaman's at 2 
 o'clock on Sunday morning, and Almon 
 commenced his school on Tuesday fol- 
 
 34 
 
lowing, and continued it through the re- 
 mainder of the year. This was his first 
 attempt at teaching, and I am happy to 
 record that he succeeded admirably. N 
 remained with Mr. Tully through the 
 year, and still continues with him. In 
 April the society put an organ into the 
 church, at a cost of $525. And our dear 
 daughter Anna was instrumental in this 
 work, and after it was put up she lived 
 at the instrument. It was her joy and 
 delight to practice. She lived but five 
 or six weeks to enjoy it. 
 
 Our congregations have increased, and 
 the year closes with the society free from 
 debt, and $200 in funds belonging to 
 Sunday School and Sewing Circle. The 
 Grand Division S. of T., in annual ses- 
 sion convened, elected me to the office 
 of W. A. and the P. W. P., and in consid- 
 eration of the services I had rendered 
 the cause of temperance, presented me 
 with a National Division Regalia and an 
 address flattering to my pride, and I 
 trust, appreciated by my sense of justice. 
 
 During the year I have kept up my 
 relations with the Masons, Odd Fellows 
 and Sons of Temperance, and so far as 
 circumstances would allow have at- 
 tended the regular meetings of these 
 bodies. During the past year liberal 
 Christianity has made great advances. 
 Some of the best minds in Europe and 
 America have put forth protests against 
 the old sacrificial theology. 
 
 The Rebellion in the States broke out 
 this year. The flag that has protected 
 us for 70 years was wantonly trampled 
 in the dust by a portion of its subjects, 
 and at the close of the year our beloved 
 country is in the midst of a mighty rev- 
 olution. Sixty thousand men are in the 
 field on the side of the Union, and as 
 many against it, and the combat deepens. 
 
 The year of 1861 has been an event- 
 ful year. History has been made very 
 fast. Some of the brightest and some 
 of the darkest pages have been written. 
 Provisions during the year were abund- 
 ant and cheap. The war in the States 
 had a tendency to throw a great many 
 out of employment, and hence there was 
 more or less suffering. I have done what 
 
 I could to assist the poor by my own con- 
 tributions and by soliciting aid of 
 others. The Lord be praised for His 
 goodness to me and mine during the 
 year just past, although He has made 
 us drink of the bitter cup of affliction. 
 Yet He has been gracious to us, and 
 given us abundant occasion for thank- 
 fulness even amidst our sharpest griefs. 
 
 ■foalffas, 1R. 5., 1862 
 
 My son N left home in April for Sher 
 bi-ooke to try his fortune in trade with 
 the miners. Almon returned to Vermont 
 in February to finish up his prepara- 
 tions for college. My family at the close 
 of the year consists of four of us, with 
 the addition of the little girl, Rebecca 
 Moffat, whom I have taken as my ward 
 to bring up and educate. She is 12 years 
 old, and the daughter of one of the 
 old members of my church. 
 
 My relations with the society continue 
 uninterrupted. Our congregations are 
 as large as at any previous time, and 
 perhaps larger. Our Sunday School was 
 never in so good a condition as now. 
 The church has increased during the 
 past year. Quite a number of the young 
 have joined us. This has been a year 
 of great anxiety on account of the war 
 in my own native land. 
 
 tmlffas, 1R. 5., 1863 
 
 During the year I have preached 88 
 sermons. During the months of Septem- 
 ber and October I was not able to preach 
 being confined to the house and under 
 charge of two doctors, with a carbuncle. 
 My friends were very kind to me. Early 
 in the spring N left for the States for 
 employment, and in June I made a visit 
 to the States and left Almon to keep 
 the pulpit supplied by reading sermons. 
 Almon entered Tufts College in August. 
 
 THE CHESAPEAKE AFFAIR. 
 By special request of the American 
 Consul, Judge Jackson, I received the 
 appointment and performed the duties 
 of the ofBce for five weeks in April and 
 May. In September the Consul again 
 left home and the office fell into my 
 
 35 
 
hands. In. December the Chesapeake 
 was taken by pirates and retaken by the 
 United States gunboat Ella and Annie 
 and brought into Halifax. It devolved 
 upon me to correspond with the gov- 
 ernment of Nova Scotia in reference to 
 this unpleasant affair, which, in conse- 
 quence of a feeling of sympathy with 
 the pirates, rendered duties very un- 
 pleasant, and tended to lower my dignity 
 as a Christian minister. My friends felt 
 afflicted. They knew that I was in a 
 false position, and the "Countrepart" took 
 occasion to make remarks prejudicial 
 to me. Still my friends did not turn 
 against me. 
 
 December 9— Dispatch came in refer- 
 ence to the Chesapeake taken by pirates. 
 
 December 10— Spent all day in sending 
 dispatches and official letters. Called 
 upon Dr. Tupper to see about the arrest 
 of the pirates. Addressed him officially. 
 
 December 11— Dispatches to-day pretty 
 plenty. Learned all about the Chesa- 
 peake. She is at St. Marys. 
 
 December 12— Called upon Mr. Johnson 
 to see about the Chesapeake. He wants 
 proof, which I have promised him. 
 
 December 14— Officially applied to the 
 Government to seize Chesapeake. Gov- 
 ernment considered the matter and re- 
 fused to interfere. This was owing prob- 
 ably to secession proclivities. 
 
 December 15 — The Ella and Annie 
 came into the harbor. Met Lieutenant 
 Nichols and arranged for coal, pilot, etc. 
 Met Nichols and Dr. Davis of Liverpool, 
 N. S., whom I sent for to identify the 
 pirates at my house. Went to Cunards 
 and settled bills by giving order on the 
 United States. 
 
 December 16— Dr. Davis made out affi- 
 davit against pirate Braine-Heard of 
 Chesapeake at Sambro. Telegraphed to 
 Lieutenant Nichols to proceed to Sambro 
 and take possession of vessel. 
 
 December 17— To-day the United States 
 gunboat Dacotah and war steamer Ella 
 and Annie came into port with the prize 
 Chesapeake. Worked at office till 12 
 o'clock at night. Diplomacy has now 
 commenced. We shall see what we 
 shall see. 
 
 December 18— At office early and com- 
 menced diplomacy. Borrowed on the 
 faith of Government $100 of Mr. Cunard. 
 Telegraphed for Jackson to come home 
 by next steamer. 
 
 December 19— Received a dispatch from 
 Washington approving our course with 
 the Chesapeake. Delivered up the pris- 
 oner at half-past 1 o'clock, according to 
 arrangement between the two govern- 
 ments, when the citizens hustled him 
 away by force. 
 
 Sunday, December 20— My people ter- 
 ribly tried by my being Consul and hav- 
 ing all these troubles come upon me. 
 
 December 21— All day in the Consul's 
 Office preparing papers for report of 
 correspondence in reference to the Chesa- 
 peake. Much excitement about town. 
 All sorts of reports afloat. My people 
 feel bad about my being mixed up with 
 it. 
 
 December 22— At Consulate to-day. 
 Arranged report and sent it to Wash- 
 ington. Received telegram from Seward. 
 Wrote Dr. Tupper a letter informing him 
 that 1,000 rifles were on their way from 
 New York. 
 
 December 23— Put myself in communi- 
 cation with the Government. Stated to 
 them the fact that 1,000 rifles were On 
 their way from New York to Halifax, 
 and I greatly feared for the safety of 
 the Chesapeake. 
 
 December 24— To-day closes my offi- 
 cial career at the Consulate, making 51 
 working days, for w T hich I have taken 
 $51. 
 
 The war has dragged its slow length 
 along. The Unionists have steadily 
 gained ground and the Rebels have held 
 on with desperation. We have been sit- 
 uated amid rebel sympathizers and have 
 found our position in this respect very 
 unpleasant. The press has done its ut- 
 most to keep the people deceived in 
 reference to the state, of the war, its 
 origin and progress. A terrible retribu- 
 tion awaits this city of Halifax for its 
 complicity in treason and piracy. 
 
 During the past year we have been 
 especially afflicted in the removal from 
 earth to heaven of our dear sister So- 
 
phia, the youngest of the family of ten, 
 and peculiarly near us, having been a 
 member of our family for nearly a dozen 
 years. She died fully in the faith of 
 meeting her husband and child in the 
 better world. 
 
 Ibaltfaj, W. S M 1864. 
 
 January 11— At Consul's Office settling 
 up Chesapeake affair. Old fogyism got 
 a tumble down. Johnson had to suc- 
 cumb. 
 
 February 16— Spent the evening at Mr. 
 Jackson's in company with the Chesa- 
 peake crew. An oyster supper in honor 
 of the triumph over the secesh govern- 
 ment. 
 
 March 18— The Chesapeake sailed for 
 Portland. 
 
 August 23— Arrived at Portland and 
 went at once to Westbrook with the 
 boys. 
 
 October 2— Preached at Tufts College 
 in morning and School Street in after- 
 noon. 
 
 Summary— Preached 82 sermons. Was 
 absent from home nine weeks — two in 
 Minudie and seven in the States. At- 
 tended the convention in Concord, N. H., 
 visited friends in Massachusetts and 
 looked about the country for a final set- 
 tlement. In May I called the society to- 
 gether and proposed to them to release 
 me at the end of fifteen months, and call 
 Mr. Kent to fill my place. Mr. Kent is 
 a young man and a native of this prov- 
 ince, of much promise. The society 
 raised for him $100 as a loan, and voted 
 to invite him to fill my place at the 
 close of his preparatory course at Can- 
 ton, N. Y. This arrangement was con- 
 sidered a good one, and, so far as I 
 have heard, satisfactory all around. 
 So I find that I shall be permitted to 
 return to my native land at the time 
 mentioned. 
 
 Some of our valued friends have been 
 called to the higher life. Father Sea- 
 man, the patriarch of Minudie, whose 
 plantation I had visited annually for 
 seven years, was called home in Septem- 
 ber, while I was away from the Prov- 
 
 inces, and could not, therefore, heed the 
 summons to attend his funeral. 
 
 The terrible Rebellion in my own dear 
 country still continues. Oh, the suffer- 
 ing of that dear land. Thousands die 
 upon the battlefield, other thousands are 
 starved to death by the rebels in their 
 prisons, and the most inhuman treat- 
 ment toward our soldiers is practised by 
 the demons in the South. How long 
 this fiendish spirit is to prevail the Lord 
 only knows. Our country must have 
 sinned fearfully to merit such terrible 
 punishment. 
 
 Ibaltfaj ant) IRorwap, 1865. 
 
 During the year I preached 100 ser- 
 mons and made more than 500 parish 
 calls. In the month of March I called 
 a meeting of the pewholders in my 
 church to consider the subject of releas- 
 ing me from pastoral duties after the 
 1st of May, and fulfilling their agree- 
 ment with Brother Kent made more than 
 a year before. I was informed by this 
 meeting that a few persons had been 
 in league with A. G. L. for him to follow 
 me, notwithstanding the agreement with 
 Brother Kent. The meeting, therefore, 
 was not so harmonious as it ought to 
 be. By this development of feeling I 
 felt it my duty to resign at once. A meet- 
 ing was called to act upon my resig- 
 nation. The result was a unanimous 
 vote to request me to remain with them, 
 and granting me a leave of absence of 
 6 months. After due consideration of 
 the request I returned an answer that 
 I would remain with them and fully de- 
 termined to do so, solely for the good of 
 the society. Soon after the President 
 was assassinated, which produced a feel- 
 ing with the Provincials generally which 
 made my stay very unpleasant. I re- 
 mained until the 1st of June, and then 
 left on my six months' vacation, Brother 
 Kent supplying my place. Just before 
 I left I wrote a private note to the editor 
 of the Universalist, in which I spoke of 
 the Provincials in reference to their con- 
 duct on the occasion of the assassination 
 of the President. This note the editor 
 incautiously published, which enraged 
 
 37 
 
the Halifax editors to such a degree 
 as to make them vindictive and abusive. 
 
 This alone decided me not to return 
 to Halifax at all. I deemed my mission 
 then ended, and requested the society to 
 release me from all engagements. My 
 friends, who are numerous, felt that it 
 was no more than just to me to be re- 
 leased. Accordingly, on the first day of 
 November, my connection with the so- 
 ciety closed, having lasted nearly nine 
 years. I must record that I never spent 
 a term of pastoral labor more pleasant- 
 ly than I did this term. I went to the 
 society when it was weak and built it up 
 so that it was a strong society, owning 
 a beautiful church and having all the 
 fixings of a city church. I have not a 
 word of fault to find with the society 
 as a society. There are noble men and 
 glorious women not a few. 
 
 While supplying Halifax by Brother 
 Kent, I was preaching at Paris Hill and 
 Norway, Me., and after supplying for 
 three months, I engaged to become their 
 pastor for five years at a salary of 
 $1,000, $600 of which was to be paid by 
 the Norway people and $400 by Paris 
 Hill. I commenced my term on the 5th 
 of September. There being no suitable 
 place for a minister to reside I advised 
 the building of a parsonage. 
 
 IRorwap, /IDC, 1866. 
 
 I bave preached 159 sermons, mar- 
 ried 16 couples and made 200 parish 
 calls. In addition to my labors as pas- 
 tor of two societies I have had charge 
 of all the schools, and visited them 
 twice a term. My children have all 
 visited us, and a daughter has been 
 added to our family in the wife of our 
 eldest son. During my year and a half 
 residence in Norway the society has 
 built a parsonage with $1,600 and raised 
 the church and put a hall under it and a 
 steeple on the church and other improve- 
 ments at an expense of $3,000. This 
 outlay has required the united efforts 
 of the people and constant attention of 
 the pastor. The pews are all taken and 
 the revenue is sufficient to cover ex- 
 penses. 
 
 I have now under my care the two 
 societies of Paris Hill and Norway, also 
 West Paris, where I preach once in four 
 weeks, on Sunday evening; Locke's Mills, 
 where I lecture on a week day evening; 
 Sumner, where I lecture on Saturday 
 evening as often as the weather will al- 
 low; North Norway once a week day 
 evening once a month, and supply the 
 pulpit at Bridgton all the time. Thus 
 my time is all taken up, and more, too. 
 I am working very hard; the state of the 
 cause demands it. There never was a 
 time when the people were as earnest 
 for the truth as now. 
 
 I feel that my time is short and that 
 I must work with all my might. The 
 harvest is great and the laborers are 
 few. 
 
 IRorwaE, ADe., 1867. 
 
 The year past has been one of mingled 
 joy and sorrow, rest and labor, success 
 and failure, just like those years that 
 preceded it. I have not lost a single 
 day by sickness, and every Sunday I 
 have preached one or more sermons. I 
 have preacbed during the past year 110 
 sermons and lectures, attended 35 fu- 
 nerals, at most of which I preached a 
 sermon or made an address equal to a 
 sermon, and married 12 couples and 
 made more than 150 parochial calls. 
 Served on School Committee and at- 
 tended to bank business and other duties 
 civic, political, moral and religious. 
 
 It is the habit of the society in Nor- 
 way to put all the labor possible onto 
 the shoulders of their minister. They 
 want him to do all the work and take 
 all the responsibilities of letting the pews 
 and raising the money, etc. 
 
 The society at Paris Hill do their own 
 work. All they require of the minister 
 is a large amount of visiting and good 
 preaching. I have preached regularly 
 on the Hill Sunday mornings and in 
 Norway in the afternons, and occasion- 
 ally a third service at North Norway 
 and West Paris. 
 
 During the year a society and Sunday 
 school was organized in West Paris, 
 which was brought about by my efforts 
 
 38 
 
at Sumner. A new church was built and 
 dedicated during the year as the result 
 of my efforts there during a course of 
 lectures given on week day evenings. 
 The house was dedicated November 20, 
 I preaching the sermon. The pews were 
 all sold and the house paid for. I have 
 attended four conferences, one associa- 
 tion and one State Convention, preached 
 an occasional and one dedicatory sermon. 
 Almon spent his vacation with us. Min- 
 isters are the poorest paid of any class 
 of men. Faith constitutes the largest 
 part of their living. Were it not for 
 their sense of duty and responsibility 
 together with a conscious regard for 
 the good of their fellow men, not one 
 in ten would remain in the ministry six 
 months. 
 
 Worwai? anfc H>ejter, 1868. 
 
 Preached 114 sermons and attended 
 20 funerals. Closed my engagement at 
 Norway and Paris. Left Norway be- 
 cause of an inadequacy of salary. Came 
 to Dexter on an increase of 40 per cent. 
 Came for 6 months to try the experi- 
 ment of reviving this dead society. Pros- 
 pects pretty good. My experience in 
 Norway was pleasant for 3 years and 3 
 months. I found them in a demoral- 
 ized state. I redeemed the society and 
 put everything in first rate order, so 
 that no society in the State had better 
 accommodations, and then, because I 
 thought the society ought to pay the 
 minister more than $000, a few of the 
 leaders were made for a time my ene- 
 mies. 
 
 While in Norway I got up a Savings 
 Bank and engineered it through, and 
 sustained its reputation till it became a 
 power in the village. 
 
 I served on the School Committee and 
 did a great deal of hard work in the 
 interests of the schools, as all do admit. 
 I here record it as my experience that 
 Norway is, upon the whole, a good so- 
 ciety. My salary was always be- 
 hind, and few favors were shown us 
 while there. There are a great many 
 very kind and good friends in Norway 
 whom I shall always love. 
 
 Paris Hill had its attractions. There 
 are good friends there. They did what 
 they could, but they are few, and the pay 
 came hard. 
 
 In June went to Canton, N. Y. Was 
 present at Almon's graduation and mar- 
 riage. Preached at Malone. 
 
 Bejter, /Be., 1869. 
 
 During the past year we have enjoyed 
 a great many comforts. We have had no 
 sicknesses. I have preached every 
 Sunday, 108 sermons, attended 13 fu- 
 nerals and married 4 couples, and made 
 over 100 parish calls. Served on the 
 School Committee and attended to my 
 duties promptly. In April the society 
 in Dexter commenced on their church 
 and continued till December 22, when 
 it was dedicated by appropriate services. 
 A great success has attended my min- 
 istry in Dexter. The society was dead 
 and in one year and three months it has 
 been raised to a living, working, active 
 body. A church worth $12,000 has been 
 built, and the congregations have in- 
 creased greatly. I preached in Guilford 
 14 Sundays. The congregations have 
 been good and the people manifested lib- 
 erality truly encouraging. On Christmas 
 they presented me with a valuable gift. 
 
 I have preached also in Sangerville. 
 Dover, St. Albans and Newport. I have 
 exchanged but twice during the year, 
 once with my son and once with Brother 
 Quinby. 
 
 We have worked hard, but not in vain. 
 We have had but few annoyances. One 
 infidel lifted up his heel because his 
 infidelity was rebuked, and tried to ex- 
 cite a feeling against me, but did not 
 succeed. The people were too well 
 grounded in Christian faith to be moved 
 by him. 
 
 Infidelity is no part of the Univer- 
 salist's creed, and the fewer infidels we 
 have in the ranks the better for us. The 
 older I grow the more firm do I become 
 in the faith of the religion of Christ. 
 Universalism is what this wicked world 
 needs before it can be saved from the 
 practice of iniquity. My family is all 
 
 39 
 
spared to me save one, and she went 
 to the spirit home a long time ago. 
 
 My boys are each pursuing their life's 
 work and for the past year they have 
 been blessed. 
 
 H)eyter t /IDe. f 1870. 
 
 January 16— Sick to-day. First Sunday 
 I have not preached for a number of 
 year's. 
 
 September 12— Went to Westbrook and 
 spent the night with Walter. 
 
 September 13— Went to Brewster. 
 Stopped with Father Foster. Had much 
 trouble with my leg. 
 
 September 19— Went to Squam. Cars 
 full of delegates to the Centenary Con- 
 vention in Gloucester. 
 
 September 20— My leg painful. 
 
 September 21— Attended meetings. Es- 
 timated 10,000 persons were on the 
 grounds to-day. Great success. 
 
 September 22 and 23 — Remained iu 
 doors on account of my leg. 
 
 September 24 — Almon left for home 
 quite sick. 
 
 September 28— Left for home. 
 
 September 29— Spent night with Almon 
 in Bath, Me. 
 
 September 30— Reached home. Not 
 allowed to go out on account of my leg. 
 
 November 12— (Walter writes.) Had a 
 shock of paralysis at Waterville. Tele- 
 graphed to Almon to come and help me 
 home. My right side wholly helpless. 
 
 November 24— Came down stairs for 
 the first time. 
 
 December 25—1 have preached one dis- 
 course in Dexter after being disabled by 
 paralysis five Sundays. 
 
 December 11— Visited Walter's school 
 in Ripley and made a speech. The little 
 boys had a New Year's party at Dustin's. 
 Mother and Herbert attended and a live- 
 ly time they had. 
 
 (No summary of the year appears.) 
 
 Better a^ West Matervtlle, 
 1871. 
 
 (This was the last diary. But little 
 is written in it.) 
 
 Preached in Dexter. I am still under 
 
 the spell of paralysis and have to write 
 with my left hand, and yet I am thank- 
 ful to begin the new year so hopefully. 
 I am improving, thank God. 
 
 January 4 — Herbert sick with cold. 
 Almon sick in Bath. 
 
 January 6— Herbert sick and all chores 
 come on me. Harnessed my horse alone 
 to-day. 
 
 January 7— Almon came to-night with 
 Ella and Freddie. 
 
 January 8 — Almon preached for me. 
 
 March 21 — Almon Gage come to sup- 
 ply my pulpit. 
 
 April 16— Preached for Almon in Bath. 
 
 (Father had a second shock of paraly- 
 sis and felt obliged to resign the Dexter 
 pulpit and accept an offer at a smaller 
 salary to preach at West Waterville, 
 Me.) 
 
 May 10— Gave up my house in Dexter. 
 
 May 12— Last night in Dexter. Stopped 
 at Mr. Bassett's. 
 
 June 13— Came to my new settlement, 
 West Waterville. Put up with A. Wins- 
 low. 
 
 August 4— Sent Herbert $175 to put in 
 Dexter Bank. 
 
 (Mother writes in the diary from this 
 time.) 
 
 August 18— Arrived at Manila's. 
 
 August 19 — Spent the day in getting 
 ready for Rebecca's wedding. 
 
 August 20— Rebecca Moffat was mar- 
 ried. 
 
 August 24 — Started for home this 
 morning. Arrived at 5 P. M.; found all 
 glad to see me. Husband complained 
 of a pain in his stomach. Retired as 
 usual. At 3 o'clock he awoke us, in 
 terrible pain, and at 4 o'clock his spirit 
 took its flight to the better land, where 
 for nine months past he had wished to 
 go. Funeral at West Waterville Au- 
 gust 25. 
 
 August 26— Arrived in Abington this 
 morning with Walter, and at 2 P. M. 
 committed to earth all that was mortal 
 of my dear husband. Marilla, Almon, 
 Willard come just in time to have a last 
 look on their father's face. 
 
 August 27— Spent the day at Maiden. 
 
 40 
 
Brother David and sister so kind to me 
 and mine. 
 
 August 28— Took the cars for my lonely 
 home. Found my tea prepared, washing 
 done. Very, very tired. 
 
 August 29— This morning I so much 
 missed the dear face and the clear head 
 to tell me what was best to be done. 
 Walter and Herbert took up carpets. N 
 and Almon came this evening. 
 
 August 30— To-day has been a sad one 
 to me, and never to be forgotten. The 
 boys tried to settle thiugs, but found 
 we had to go through some form of law. 
 
 August 31— The boys began to pack 
 up my things. My poor heart is so sad. 
 The way looks dark. 
 
 September 2 — The boys packed this 
 morning, and this afternoon went and 
 had their pictures taken. 
 
 September 3— Almon preached to-day. 
 We all went to meeting. A sad day for 
 me, but the thought was pleasant that 
 the dear one was where he could not 
 tire nor be weary any more. 
 
 September 4 — The boys took an early 
 start for Augusta. Walter packed the 
 organ. I had a new girl and we did a 
 hard day's work getting things ready 
 for the auction. 
 
 August 5— This morning the appraiser 
 came and took an inventory of all my 
 goods, and I took the oath to administer 
 faithfully upon the estate of my hus- 
 band. Sold all the things this after- 
 noon. Took tea and spent the night 
 with Mrs. Winslow. 
 
 August 6— This morning, in company 
 with N, Almon and Herbert, I bid adieu 
 to West Waterville. How sad was my 
 heart to leave the friends that had been 
 so kind to me and mine. I felt that the 
 good Father would bless them for all 
 the sacrifices they had made for us. 
 
 August 7— This morning arrived at 
 Manila's. Wearied, worn and sad. The 
 future is dark, and yet I know that a 
 kind Providence will shield me and mine. 
 
 August 8— N and Almon left me this 
 morning. I have experienced very great 
 loss to-day. My dear boys I kuow will 
 always comfort me, and for this I will 
 labor. 
 
 October 5 — This morning Mrs. Board- 
 man, Herbert and myself went to visit 
 the grave of the loved one in Abington. 
 It was a day long to be remembered. 
 
 October 6— Started this evening for 
 Canton, N. Y. 
 
 October 14 — Arrived safely in Canton. 
 I found Ella and Freddie all well. Think 
 I shall like my new home. 
 
 October 10— Fitted up Walter's room. 
 Think we shall make it seem like home. 
 
 October 22— Went to church and liked 
 much. I look forward to much pleasure 
 in my new home. 
 
 October 23 — This morning while wash- 
 ing I met with an accident, which near- 
 ly deprived me of my life. A sprain of 
 my back. Called a doctor. 
 
 October 24— Very sick, Cannot move 
 myself. 
 
 October 25— Still sick. 
 
 (And this ends all that is written in 
 the diaries.— F. N. G.) 
 
 Ube preacber's IRewarfc. 
 
 In the back of the book in which 
 Nathaniel Gunnison wrote the story of 
 his early life is a summary of the in- 
 come he received during his ministerial 
 career. In 1S38 he received $420; 1839, 
 $580; 1840, $740; 1841, $500. The salary 
 averaged about $500 a year until 1850, 
 when it reached $700, and 1854 to $900. 
 While in Halifax his income was about 
 $1,000 a year. While in Norway it was 
 between $1,300 and $1,400, and in Dex- 
 ter it reached, in 1869, $1,623.65, the 
 largest income he ever had in one year. 
 
 The total income for thirty-three and 
 one-half years was $29,767.06, an average 
 of $S78 a year. 
 
 41 
 
IDeatb of tbe IRev. 1R. Gunnison 
 
 The Rev. Dr. Quinby, editor of the 
 Gospel Banner, wrote the following: 
 
 "It is with deep sorrow that we write 
 the above heading. On Friday morning, 
 August 25, between the hours of 3 and 4 
 o'clock, at his home in West Waterville, 
 Brother Gunnison breathed his last, and 
 passed on to the higher and diviner life, 
 in the existence of which he so strongly 
 believed, and the beauties and blessed- 
 ness of which he had so often and so 
 eloquently portrayed in the presence of 
 others. 
 
 "Some ten months ago, as many of our 
 readers are aware, Brother Gunnison had 
 a shock of paralysis, which confined him 
 to his home and bed for a while. It af- 
 fected his entire right side, physically, 
 but left his mind untouched. He soon got 
 so as to walk and go out and engage 
 again to some extent in the work of the 
 ministry; but not feeling adequate to 
 the task of doing all that the condition 
 of the large parish in Dexter demanded 
 of a pastor and preacher, he wisely de- 
 cided to surrender his charge there and 
 labor in some other field calling for less 
 exertion. On hearing of his intentions, 
 his old friends in West Waterville gave 
 him a very urgent invitation to move at 
 once among them and take charge of 
 their affairs. The village is a quiet, 
 rural, beautiful place, the society reliable, 
 and he immediately accepted the call, 
 removed his family and commenced his 
 work as preacher and pastor. He has 
 always been a man of indomitable en- 
 ergy. Large as he was in person, he 
 managed to use his paralyzed limb in 
 walking, and though his right arm and 
 hand were useless, he employed his left 
 in writing, and soon became expert in the 
 use of it for this purpose. Apparently he 
 
 was just as earnestly engaged in his 
 work as a minister and pastor as ever, 
 and as faithful to all the interests of his 
 profession. He visited Portland several 
 times to be treated by a physician there 
 for his paralysis. He conceived at first 
 that this man was substantially benefit- 
 ing him. Six weeks ago he wrote us to 
 this effect. Four weeks since he said in 
 a letter written for another purpose, that 
 he was getting along finely, and had 
 concluded to preach in Sidney— six miles 
 distant— in the afternoons. But, ten days 
 ago the tone of his communications was 
 changed. He said he was poorly— spoke 
 of a nice little homestead that would 
 come within his means which he had of- 
 fered him in Buxton, near the railroad 
 station, and asked us if there was any 
 opportunity in the vicinity for him to 
 form a preaching circuit, if he should 
 conclude to purchase this place. 
 
 "Last week, on Wednesday and Thurs- 
 day, we were in Springfield. Vt, in at- 
 tendance on the meeting of the state 
 convention there. We wei'e strongly 
 urged by many friends to remain till the 
 next day, but though we had nothing 
 special or pressing to call us home, we 
 felt we must come. Leaving at 1 o'clock 
 P. M., we arrived in Boston at 7, and, 
 taking the night express, we reached 
 home at 4 Friday morning, and not long 
 after received a dispatch to the effect 
 that Brother Gunnison had passed away 
 — that he would be buried in Abington, 
 Mass.— that his funeral service would be 
 at the church in West Waterville at 5 
 o'clock that afternoon, and we were de- 
 sired to be pi'esent to officiate. This 
 was the first word we had received of 
 his being worse. On going to West 
 Waterville we learned from his afflicted 
 
 42 
 
family that he had been complaining 
 only a few days. The Sunday previous 
 he preached at home in the forenoon, 
 stopped at the Sunday school as usual, 
 but iu the afternoon, when making ready 
 to go to Sidney, he said he was not so 
 well. His son Walter, who was at home 
 at the time, urged him not to go, but he 
 said he always tilled his appointments— 
 this was his rule— and he went, his 
 younger son going with him to drive. 
 He preached with his usual freedom, 
 made a call or two, took supper and re- 
 turned home, feeling better than when 
 he left. The next day, Monday, he rode 
 to Waterville, four miles. A day or two 
 after, he had a slight attack of cholera 
 morbus, but got over it. On Thursday 
 he felt worse, and complained more than 
 he had done for some time. The after- 
 noon train from the west brought his 
 wife, who had been absent in Massachu- 
 setts a few days mainly to attend to 
 some business, at her husband's special 
 request. She finished her business, and, 
 though strongly urged to remain a few 
 days and make a more extended visit, 
 she felt strongly impelled to return. When 
 she unexpectedly came into the room, he 
 seemed exceedingly pleased to see her, 
 and told her he was glad she had come, 
 as he did not feel as well as usual; com- 
 plained of distress in his stomach and 
 chest. This distress continued to in- 
 crease and a physician was called in the 
 night, but he said it was "of no use," he 
 knew "his condition," he was "going." 
 He talked to his children, but two of 
 whom were present, as rationally as ever 
 to the last, and died suddenly at the time 
 mentioned above. 
 
 "A large number of friends were pres- 
 ent at the church on the occasion of his 
 funeral, to sympathize with the bereaved 
 and testify by the presence the respect 
 in which they held the departed. The 
 following was the order of the service on 
 the sad occasion: 
 
 "Reading of appropriate Scriptures, by 
 the writer. Reading of a hymn by Rev. 
 J. O. Skinner, which was sung by the 
 choir. Prayer by the writer. Reading of 
 a hymn by the Free Baptist minister of 
 
 West Waterville. Address by the writer. 
 Closing prayer by Rev. J. O. Skinner. 
 Closing voluntary, touchiugly sung by 
 the choir. 
 
 "Many were the tears shed on the oc- 
 casion. The large congregation had op- 
 portunity to view the corpse, after which 
 the family accompanied it to West Water- 
 ville and thence to Boston on the night 
 express. Rev. Dr. Miner, of Boston, was 
 telegraphed to be present at Abington, 
 at 11 o'clock on Saturday, to perform ap- 
 propriate religious service there. 
 
 "Rev. Nathaniel Gunnison was born in 
 the town of Goshen, N. H., February 4, 
 1811, and hence was rising GO years of 
 age. His father and mother both died 
 before his remembrance, and his strug- 
 gles against ill-health and poverty were 
 hard in early life. In 1834 he married 
 Sarah Ann Richardson, of Goshen, daugh- 
 ter of David Richardson. In 1836 his 
 wife died, leaving an infant daughter, 
 an event which brought him much sor- 
 row and a train of thought which re- 
 sulted in his resolving to give his life to 
 the dissemination of a faith which had 
 sustained and comforted him in the hour 
 of his deepest affliction. Rev. A. L. Balch 
 attended the funeral of his wife, and 
 in April, 1837, Mr. Gunnison com- 
 menced to study for the ministry under 
 his direction. His first settlement was 
 over three societies, Brewster, North 
 Dennis and South Dennis, on Cape Cod, 
 Mass., where he commenced his labors 
 in the fall of 1837. He was ordained on 
 the 15th of November that year, the Rev. 
 J. M. Spear preaching his ordination 
 sermon. On the 12th of August, 1838, he 
 was married to Miss A. L. Foster of 
 Brewster, who proved a most faithful 
 companion in all the relations of a pas- 
 tor's wife to the hour of his death. The 
 following spring he accepted a call to be- 
 come teacher in the Academy in Prov- 
 incetown, where he was also to preach 
 half of the time. In March, 1840, he was 
 invited to take charge of the parish in 
 Manchester, N. H. The following year 
 he visited Hallowed, Me., and having 
 a pressing invitation to remain as pas- 
 tor, and not liking in Manchester, he did 
 
 43 
 
so. Here he continued as pastor four 
 years, and afterward for five years he 
 preached in Sidney, West Waterville, 
 East Vassalboro', "Winthrop, and other 
 towns in the vicinity, still residing in 
 Hallowell. 
 
 "In April, 1850, he removed to Alding- 
 ton and took charge of the society there, 
 where he remained several years, doing 
 an excellent work for Universalism, not 
 only in Abington, but in all that sec- 
 tion. He then received and accepted a 
 call to take the pastoral charge of the 
 society in Halifax, N. S., where he re- 
 mained, if we mistake not, nine years, 
 much beloved, and where during the war 
 with the South, he acted for a time as 
 agent for our Government, filling the 
 place of American Consul. 
 
 "From the above it Avill be seen that 
 Bro. G. worked thirty-four years in the 
 vineyard of his Master; and nobly and 
 faithfully did he toil. For more than 
 thirty years were we personally ac- 
 quainted with him. Being pastor of the 
 church in Taunton, Mass., from 1846 to 
 1862, we were instrumental in his re- 
 moval to the neighboring towns of Ab- 
 ington, and well do we remember with 
 what earnestness he worked in that sec- 
 tion for the furtherance of every good 
 cause and Christian enterprise. He was 
 not only highly respected but much be- 
 loved by all who knew him. Among 
 other things, he got the people to go 
 forward in laying out and beautifying a 
 public cemetery. In these grounds he se- 
 cured a lot, which together with the fact 
 that dear relatives and friends are resi- 
 dents of the place, accounts for the cir- 
 cumstance of his burial there. 
 
 "We are making this notice very much 
 longer than we designed and yet it is no 
 more protracted than the love we felt 
 for our Brother would dictate, or his de- 
 voted labors in behalf of our holy faith, 
 demand. He and the editor of the 
 Banner entered the Gospel field as fellow 
 laborers the same year; we have ever 
 known him to be a true and uncompro- 
 mising friend of Universalism. He has 
 ever manifested a cheerful willingness 
 to labor to the extent of his ability— and 
 
 but few men are more able — for the pro- 
 motion of this holy faith. In its de- 
 fence he lived; and for its furtherance 
 he gave all his strength and at last life 
 itself, for we believe that the arduous- 
 ness of his labors and anxiety growing 
 out of difficulties arising from faith- 
 fulness to our denominational interests, 
 hastened the physical condition which re- 
 sulted in death. With the Apostle he 
 might have exclaimed in all truth: "I 
 have fought a good fight, I have finished 
 my course, I have kept the faith, Hence- 
 forth there is laid up for me a crown 
 of righteousness which the Lord shall 
 give me." 
 
 (From the "Universalist." ) 
 
 "He was a man of decided character 
 and indomitable energy— a great worker 
 and successful organizer. He was a per- 
 son of fine social qualities and owed 
 much of his success to the facility with 
 which he drew people around him and 
 attracted them to him personally. As 
 a preacher, he was noted as an expounder 
 of the doctrines which were so dear to his 
 heart, and left his mark behind him, in 
 the convictions of the people who came 
 under his teachings." 
 
 (From the "Gloucester Advertiser." ' ) 
 
 "Mr. Gunnison was in Halifax during 
 the War of the Rebellion and his voice 
 was ever for the right in that hot-bed 
 of secession sentiment. The value of 
 his services to the North during that 
 period can hardly be overestimated." 
 
 Uribute of a Son. 
 
 Almon Gunnison in an article in the 
 Christian Leader on the work of the 
 minister thus referred to Nathaniel Gun- 
 nison: 
 
 "At the age of 57, the pastor of whom 
 we speak was paralyzed. Upon the early 
 morning of the Sabbath the secret blow 
 fell upon him, but yet he went to his 
 work and with half his body dead went 
 through with his Sabbath service. Then 
 
 44 
 
came the weary months of battling with 
 death. Disease was stayed by the vigor 
 of an unconquerable will, and dragging 
 his heavy limb, with right arm lifeless 
 at his side, he took up again the burden 
 
 of his work The other day in 
 
 the lumber of a storage room, we found 
 the old trunk which contained the ser- 
 mons of this veteran preacher, and there 
 upon the top a package of huge MSS., 
 written in rude fashion, unlike the sin- 
 gularly clear penmanship of the remain- 
 ing mass. These were the sermons writ- 
 ten after the full shock came to him, 
 for at 58 years of age, finding that never 
 again could the accustomed hand hold 
 the pen, the old man had, with his left 
 hand, learned to write, and until the last, 
 week by week, the fresh sermon came 
 quick and vital from a brain which 
 would not cease to work." 
 
 flDount Demon Cemetery, 
 Bbfnston, Bb&se, 
 
 The Abington Journal, 1872, contains 
 an article on the history of Mount Ver- 
 non Cemetery, in which appears: 
 
 "By the record books, we find on June 
 22, 1852, a petition was presented to John 
 King, a lawyer and justice of the peace, 
 containing the wants of 100 citizens, and 
 asking him to issue a warrant for a pub- 
 lic meeting, to take some action upon 
 the matter. The petition was cumulated 
 and most of the preliminary work was 
 done by Rev. N. Gunnison, who was then 
 pastor of the Universalist church, and 
 whose death took place last fall, his re- 
 mains being interred in Mount Vernon 
 Cemetery. Indeed it may be truly said that 
 it was through his efforts that this work 
 was carried to a successful issue, for he 
 worked early and late, and his influence 
 gained many citizens to favor the pro- 
 ject." 
 
 45 
 
Enn Xouisa jfoster. 
 
 Nathaniel Gunnison's second wife, Ann 
 Louisa Foster, was the daughter of Cap- 
 tain Freeman Foster of Brewster, Mass., 
 who was born in 17S2 and died in 1S70. 
 He was six feet tall and weighed at one 
 time 250 pounds. He was a shipmaster, 
 sailing to New Orleans, West Indies, 
 Liverpool and Russia. He was set and 
 stern; his word was law to all under or 
 near him. He was known to all as a 
 strong, reliable, straightforward man. 
 He was one of the early converts to 
 Universalism under John Murray and 
 was one of the founders of the church in 
 Brewster. He married Mehitable Low, 
 daughter of a Revolutionary soldier. 
 
 Ann Louisa Foster was the seventh 
 generation from Thomas Foster, who 
 was in Weymouth, Mass., before 1640, 
 and afterward settled in Billerica, Mass. 
 She was the ninth generation from Elder 
 William Brewster of the Mayflower. She 
 was the eighth generation from Gover- 
 nor Thomas Prince, many years governor 
 of Plymouth Colony. She was the eighth 
 generation from Edmund Freeman, who 
 settled in Sandwich, Mass., in 1635, and 
 who was one of the most prominent men 
 in the colony. It is said that her grand- 
 father, David Foster, served under Wash- 
 ington at Dorchester Heights in the early 
 Revolutionary days. 
 
 The children of Freeman and Mehitable 
 Foster were: 
 
 Freeman, born 1807, died 1900. 
 
 Mehitable L., born 1808, died 1894. 
 
 David, born 1810, died 1897. 
 
 Phebe F., born 1812. 
 
 Sarah H., born 1814, died 1893. 
 
 Martha, born 1817, died 1899. 
 
 Ann Louisa, born April 15, 1819; died 
 October 22, 1S88. 
 
 Lucretia, born 1821. 
 
 William Low, born 1822, died 1876. 
 
 Sophia, born 1825, died 1863. 
 
 It will be seen that this was a family 
 of sturdy constitutions. They nearly all 
 lived to a ripe old age. There are now 
 (1901) but two living. The members of 
 the family were devoted to each other. 
 The closest and most tender relations 
 existed between the husband and children 
 of Ann Louisa and her brothers and 
 sisters. The story of the life of the de- 
 voted wife of Nathaniel Gunnison is told 
 in the story of his life, for it ran along, 
 side by side, with his. She was his com- 
 panion and wise counselor in all that he 
 did. She was devoted to her husband 
 and to her children; she was remarkably 
 faithful and efficient as a pastor's wife. 
 When her husband died she went to Can- 
 ton, N. Y., with her two youngest sons, 
 to give them a home while they were ob- 
 taining their education. Although with 
 but small income she was able to live 
 comfortably and to care for her sons. 
 "When her children left Canton she broke 
 up her home with the intention of pass- 
 ing the remainder of her life with her 
 sons. She spent one winter with Foster 
 N in Providence and a few months with 
 Walter and Herbert in Brooklyn, in the 
 meantime having visited friends in Hali- 
 fax and in Maine. In the summer of 
 1888 she visited her sisters at the old 
 homestead in Brewster, and while there 
 was taken sick. She suffered for several 
 months from what was supposed to be a 
 cancer in the stomach. She was patient 
 and hopeful through it all. She was 
 waited upon and carefully nursed during 
 nearly her entire illness by some one or 
 more of her children, and by her sisters. 
 Lucretia and Martha. She died on Octo- 
 ber 22, and was buried in Abington 
 Mass., beside the remains of her husband 
 her four sons, as pall bearers, tenderlj 
 carrying the body from place to place 
 and finally depositing it in the grave. A 
 
 46 
 
kinder, more faithful and loving mother 
 never lived. 
 
 The following tributes to her memory 
 appeared in the Christian Leader: 
 
 fln flDemorlam. 
 
 flDrs. Hnn %. (Bunntson 
 
 The Christian Leader made announce- 
 ment, in a recent issue, of the death of 
 this lady, at Brewster, Mass. She died 
 at the old homestead where she was 
 born and from which she went forth, 
 fifty years ago, at her marriage to one 
 of the clergymen of our Church, the Rev. 
 Nathaniel Gunnison. As a pastor's wife 
 she lived in Provincetown, Abington, 
 Annisquam, Mass.; Hallo well, Norway, 
 Dexter and Waterville, Me., and Hali- 
 fax, N. S. She was thoroughly in sym- 
 pathy with her husband's work, possess- 
 ing a deep religious nature and being 
 ardently devoted to the interests of the 
 Universalist Church. She was indefati- 
 gable in labors and possessed a ready 
 tact and a kindly sympathy that made 
 her admired and loved by the churches 
 where her husband ministered. 
 
 On the death of her husband in 1871, 
 she moved to Canton, N. Y., in order to 
 educate her sons in St. Lawrence Uni- 
 versity. One of them becoming a pro- 
 fessor in the college, she continued her 
 residence, remaining there for fourteen 
 years. The professors many of them 
 had been her own and her husband's 
 friends in other years, and her life there 
 was full of delight to her, and crowded 
 with helpful activities for others. She 
 was the friend of every good cause; the 
 friendless students found in her mother- 
 ly sympathy; her home was ever open to 
 them, and her genial and sympathetic 
 nature went out in continuous blessing 
 to those who needed help and guidance. 
 One who knew her intimately in those 
 days, President Cone of Buchtel College, 
 thus writes of her: "We retain in mem- 
 ory a vivid and charming picture of her, 
 as we knew her then— the benignant 
 gray-haired mother, interested in all 
 young people, the ready helper, the zeal- 
 ous Universalist, alive to all that con- 
 
 cerned the Church and the school. It 
 was always a benediction to go to her 
 house and sit awhile in her cheerful pres- 
 ence. One went away with his estimate 
 of the sweetness and worth of life height- 
 ened and his best aims quickened and 
 encouraged." 
 
 Since her removal from Canton, she has 
 resided with her sons in Providence and 
 Brooklyn. She retained the vigor of her 
 youth and her friends had expectation of 
 many years of life for her. Visiting her 
 sisters in Brewster in July, she was taken 
 sick, and for three months suffered great- 
 ly but with heroic patience. All that 
 loving care could do was done for her, 
 but in faith and resignation she passed 
 on, on October 22. 
 
 Her funeral services were conducted 
 by Rev. Messrs. Donald Fraser and H. N. 
 Couden, who had known and loved her. 
 Her burial took place at Abington, Mass., 
 where her husband is interred. Though 
 thirty years had elapsed since her resi- 
 dence there, the ladies of the church who 
 remembered and loved her, decorated 
 the church with leaves and flowers; 
 friends came from near and far, and with 
 sweet song and tender appreciative words 
 from Rev. B. F. Bowles, the last rites 
 of love were rendered, and then her four 
 boys with loving hands took all that was 
 mortal of her, and laid it tenderly to rest 
 beside the dust of the father who had 
 preceded her into the life beyond. 
 
 She possessed a spirit of unusual sun- 
 niness, having the largest faith in hu- 
 manity and quick sensitiveness to others' 
 needs. She would neither speak in de- 
 traction of others nor listen to unkindly 
 censure of them, and her life went out 
 through all its years in blessing to her 
 fellows. The weary and heavy-laden 
 came to her, and if she could not take 
 the burden from them she gave them 
 strength to bear it. Her memory is a 
 precious possession to those who came 
 within the influence of her gracious pres- 
 ence, and the remembrance of her good- 
 ness is as a healing balm! 
 
 Two brothers and five sisters survive, 
 one of the latter being the wife of Rev. 
 C. A. Bradley. She also leaves one 
 
 47 
 
daughter and four sons, one of whom is 
 Rev. Dr. Gunnison of Brooklyn.— The 
 Christian Leader. 
 
 Ubc late fTDrs. Hnn %. ©unntson. 
 
 Appreciative mention has already 
 been made in these columns of this ex- 
 cellent woman; but on behalf of her 
 friends in Canton, where she recently 
 lived and was held in great esteem, an- 
 other word seems appropriate. Mai-ked 
 traits of Mrs. Gunnison were good sense 
 and cheerfulness. She carried an atmos- 
 phere of "sweet content" wherever she 
 went. She was more than a useful wom- 
 an—she was helpful. She did her full 
 share, and a little more, and never criti- 
 cised nor complained. The experience 
 she had gained as a pastor's wife was 
 used, without offieiousness, to make one 
 of the rarest parishioners. We have 
 missed her much since she ceased to be 
 seen in our streets, and welcomed in our 
 homes and expected at all our meet- 
 ings. Her death is a bereavement to us, 
 though we know it is deliverance and 
 peace to her. Such true, helpful, genial 
 souls, such pure, unpretentious and con 
 secrated lives, are the real treasures of 
 earth. To their friends left behind they 
 are treasures in heaven. — I. M. Atwood. 
 
 (From the "Gospel Banner." ) 
 
 "She was a woman of the highest 
 character, great patience and devoted at- 
 tachment to her church. She was an 
 ideal minister's wife, and was greatly 
 beloved by her husband's parishes. She 
 
 was singular in this, that she never spoke 
 an ill word of any one, and would not 
 permit a word of detraction spoken of 
 any person in her presence." 
 
 poster in (Bunnfson's Bame. 
 
 The younger generation may not know 
 that the name given to Nathaniel Gun- 
 nison's eldest son was simply the letter 
 N. It will be noticed in the extracts 
 from the diaries that whenever this son 
 is referred to he is called "N". After 
 N became of age he found that this 
 name created so much confusion that he 
 applied to the courts for the name of 
 Poster, and since then his name has 
 been Foster N Gunnison. The explana- 
 tion of this peculiar name is given by 
 Foster as follows: 
 
 For 25 years I went by the name of 
 N. Have heard father say that mother 
 wanted me named Nathaniel, but he 
 said he had always been called "Nat" 
 and he was bound to have a name for 
 me that could not be nicknamed, etc. 
 Father always had to write a note to 
 my school mistresses explaining to them 
 that "N" was all the name I had. The 
 way of it was, mother wanted Nathaniel, 
 father something short. Some of the stu- 
 dents at Provincetown said: "Make it 
 N— (the letter father always signed as 
 his name)— that will suit Mrs. Gunnison, 
 as it is named after Mr. Gunnison, and it 
 will suit Mr. Gunnison, it being short and 
 cannot be nicknamed." So they gave me 
 that as a name, but called me "Ennie." 
 
 48 
 
ANN LOUISE GUNNISON 
 
H tribute to jfatber anb flfeotber 
 
 By their son, the Rev. Almon Gunnison, D.D. 
 
 Jfatber. 
 
 Each of our parents had a marked 
 personality. Unlike in temperament and 
 disposition, they were sympathetic with 
 each other and well mated. Father was 
 a man of striking appearance. In his 
 early manhood he was known far and 
 wide as a very handsome man. Upward 
 of six feet in height, broad shouldered 
 and massive, with small hands and feet, 
 high forehead, delicate complexion and 
 soft curling hair. In my school days I 
 visited his old home in Goshen and saw 
 many people who had known him in his 
 youth and early manhood and the fre- 
 quent remark was made, "Your father 
 was a very handsome man," a few old 
 ladies, whose sight doubtless was a little 
 the worse for wear, being so uncompli- 
 mentary as to remark, "You will never 
 be as handsome a man as your father 
 was." My recollection of him in his later 
 years is of a portly man, carefully 
 dressed, walking with dignity through 
 the streets of Halifax, strangers often 
 turning to look at him, because he bore 
 the mark of distinction. 
 
 He was a generous liver and it is not 
 wholly due to the zest of boyish appe- 
 tite that we children recall with longing 
 the old home table. He was compan- 
 ionable, humorous rather than witty, a 
 friend maker and keeper. He saw the 
 funny side of life and was quick to 
 detect the oddities of those with whom 
 he came in contact. When a finicky 
 spinster once called upon him, to sug- 
 gest that the theolgy of his sermons 
 needed a little softening, he blandly 
 
 asked her into his study, seated her 
 at his desk and with a graciousness that 
 was Chesterfieldian, sweetly said, "There 
 is the pen, pray you write the sermon." 
 With another who was rendered some- 
 what critical by an unduly protracted 
 period of unwelcome spinsterhood, he 
 replied, when she said his sermons were 
 too long, "I will give you my scissors 
 and you shall cut them off, but I shall 
 want to use the same shears to cut off 
 your tongue, which is afflicted with the 
 same trouble." In the suburbs of Nor- 
 way, he called one day on a worthy 
 farmer, who was outside of his parish, 
 except on the occasion of the somewhat 
 numerous funerals of his family. Father 
 had attended two in the family within a 
 short time. Driving up one day, with 
 one of the children, to see the family, he 
 was thanked with effusive gratitude for 
 his kindness in its bereavement. The 
 man said, I ought to have called upon 
 you and paid you for your services, but, 
 said he, with unctuous generosity, I 
 have put something in your wagon. Gn 
 starting for home father found the bot- 
 tom of the buggy covered with cucum- 
 bers. He had in his own rocky, side- 
 hill garden at home an over supply of the 
 same vegetables, which were merrily yel- 
 lowing in the sun and when the home- 
 ward bound buggy was out of sight of 
 the farmer's house, with great laughter, 
 father took the cucumbers one by one 
 and fired them at the forest trees, send- 
 ing with each shot a remark personal to 
 the donor, which, had he heard, would 
 have made his blood less cool than the 
 proverbial coolness associated with the 
 
 49 
 
cucumbers which were so ruthlessly 
 squandered. 
 
 He had singular business sagacity and 
 was an adviser of business men, having 
 insight rather than shrewdness and a 
 sort of natural divination, which would 
 have made him unquestionably success- 
 ful had he followed a business life. He 
 greatly increased the fortunes of several 
 of his friends in Halifax by urging them 
 to invest in United States securities. He 
 was consulted by men in trade, by women 
 in making investments, by those who 
 planned new enterprises, and his advice 
 was seldom at fault. 
 
 He drew countless wills, he pushed on 
 the timid and restrained the rash, was 
 sagacious in counsel, sympathetic in mis- 
 fortune, a friend to those in any need. 
 He planned the Mount Vernon Cemetery 
 at Abington, and financed it; established 
 the Savings Bank at Norway and was its 
 successful president; he built churches; 
 reconstructed them in other places; plan- 
 ned large enterprises in the towns and 
 cities where he lived, doing everything 
 with a conservatism which left no fail- 
 ures for others to repair. He was a 
 man of great courage. No titled lord 
 could intimidate him and no threatened 
 personal violence deter him from his 
 course. In the Chesapeake affair, he 
 waited on his excellency the Lord Lieu- 
 tenant Governor. His lordship was at 
 dinner and sent back word to the Ameri- 
 can consul that he could not be disturbed. 
 Father said to the imperial butler, go 
 back and give this card to the Governor. 
 On the card were these words: "This is 
 no time for ceremony. I have important 
 business. You come out to me or I shall 
 come in to you." The Governor came, 
 and the Yankee minister read him some 
 lessons in American short-cut diplo- 
 macies which were not included in the 
 official books. 
 
 I was with him once during the war 
 on a Bay of Fundy steamer. A loud- 
 mouthed secessionist was speaking in the 
 cabin against the North to a group of 
 sympathizers. The Northerners who 
 were trying to answer him were less glib 
 of tongue. I went and found father 
 
 and told him he was needed. He saun- 
 tered in and took up the contest. His at- 
 tack was as decisive as it was direct. 
 
 "You are no doubt a fugitive who has 
 run away from his country to escape the 
 draft. We have no use for such traitors 
 in tli is country. We respect men who 
 stand by their flag." There was a silence 
 which could be felt. The man was of 
 immense size. He glared at his accuser, 
 livid with rage, and said: "If it was 
 not for your white choker I would strike 
 you." With a smile, father replied, "We 
 will waive the white choker for the mo- 
 ment; don't let that deter you. You are 
 a coward and cowards and bullies never 
 strike." And then father gave the man 
 such a scoring as he never had had; going 
 over the issues of the war and address- 
 ing the passengers as well as the man, 
 gave reasons why the North would suc- 
 ceed and ought to. When he had talked 
 him into silence, he turned away. I 
 loitered behind. The bully said, as he re- 
 covered himself: "Who is that man?" 
 "The American Consul at Halifax," said 
 a bystander. "Good God," replied the 
 man, "I am a fool. I am here to buy 
 goods and I cannot get a thing out of 
 the provinces without his signature." He 
 subsequently hunted up father, made his 
 apologies, had a very uncomfortable half 
 hour on a very hard stool of repentance 
 and at length made his peace. 
 
 Once in Abington, fearing that there 
 had been a premature burial of a person 
 whose funeral he had tended, he rose at 
 midnight and went to the receiving vault, 
 where the body was deposited and opened 
 the casket, and then calmly came home 
 and went to bed. 
 
 He was a man of singular integrity. 
 His sense of honor was a sort of second 
 conscience. He abhorred debt, was scru- 
 pulous in keeping his word and his en- 
 gagements and could not be coaxed into 
 any transaction which was not honest to 
 the last degree. He carried this spirit 
 into all his public career. He could not 
 utter a lie, and while he was a debater 
 of great strength and rare agility, he 
 could never be tempted to take an unfair 
 advantage of a sophism, dearly as he 
 
 50 
 
loved to win in a controversy. The half 
 cent of the bargain always went to the 
 other man, and if he was not quite sure 
 where the hard end of the load belonged, 
 he put his own shoulder beneath it. 
 
 In his public career, he was pre-em- 
 inently the clergyman. With a business 
 sagacity which would have made him 
 rich, he resisted every business allure- 
 ment and kept his eye single to his pro- 
 fession. He was of commanding appear- 
 ance in the pulpit, an impressive speaker, 
 making thorough preparation for his pul- 
 pit services, clear in his thought, logical 
 in arrangement, plain and simple in 
 presentation. His sermons convinced and 
 were remembered. After the lapse of 
 many years, persons, not a few, have 
 spoken to me of sermons preached by 
 him which they recalled. 
 
 His work was done in what may be 
 called the controversial era of his 
 church, and so intense was he in his 
 religious belief that it was not possible 
 for him to avoid controversy. He did not 
 seek to shun it, but, on the contrary, he 
 loved a religious debate as he loved his 
 life. His happiest moments were when 
 he was in debate. He was serene with 
 one antagonist, happy with two, radiant- 
 ly jubilant if he were pitted against a 
 dozen. The favorite recreation for his 
 vacations was to get a horse and a bun- 
 dle of handbills and start for the coun- 
 try, and in school houses, churches, town 
 halls, give his message, inviting ques- 
 tions and answering objections. If he 
 could be locked out of a public hall and 
 be compelled to wait for the key or 
 speak from the steps, he was joyous, and 
 he was wont to use the occasion to point 
 a moral and adorn a tale. He was skill- 
 ful in debate, resourceful, nimble witted, 
 strong and clear in statement, persua- 
 sive and convincing. He converted men 
 by his reasoning and was an opponent 
 rarely attacked a second time by the 
 same person. 
 
 The story of his many missionary 
 tours, as written in the denominational 
 press, is thrilling in its adventures and 
 incidents. Once, as he left a hospitable 
 
 home at which he had stopped for a noon- 
 day lunch, the hosts, who had been at- 
 tracted by his fine appearance and his 
 engaging talk, said to him: "We are 
 curious to know who you are." Father 
 replied: "I think I will not tell you. If 
 you knew who I am you would be 
 sorry that you had so hospitably enter- 
 tained me." "I do not think so," re- 
 plied the host. "We are sure you are a 
 good man." "I am called a very bad 
 man," replied father. "I am a heretic. 
 I am the Universalist minister in Hali- 
 fax." "Thank God," replied the woman. 
 "My prayer is answered. I have prayed 
 God that I might see you that I might 
 know if you could give me any hope for 
 my poor boy who died a year ago." The 
 horse was turned back into the barn, 
 and through all the afternoon the preach- 
 er sat with the father and mother, with 
 Bible in hand, giving them hope and com- 
 fort, leaving behind him, when he went 
 away, two happy people, who blessed 
 him for changing their tears into a joy- 
 ful faith. The next year, when father 
 made his missionary tour, this couple 
 was present at one of his meetings, hav- 
 ing driven twenty-four miles to see and 
 hear him. 
 
 He was very quick at repartee. Re- 
 turning one night to his hotel after a 
 long and stormy meeting, in which the 
 clergy were prominent and aggressive, 
 he was followed by the clerical portion 
 of his audience and not a few of the 
 people. Father was tired and wished 
 to retire. One of the ministers said: 
 "If I were a Universalist I would lie 
 and steal and murder. There is no crime 
 I would not commit." Father rose with 
 great dignity and, taking his lamp in his 
 hand, said: "My dear sir, I have no doubt 
 you are just as bad a man as you say 
 you are and that were it not for the fear 
 of hell, your natural instincts would as- 
 sert themselves, and you would commit 
 all the crimes which you admit you de- 
 sire to do. God permits you to hold your 
 belief as a protection for society. He 
 
 51 
 
may suddenly take your fear away and 
 your natural depravity may assert itself. 
 I have a watch and some money about 
 my person. My life is of value to my 
 family, and common prudence suggests 
 that I take myself out of the presence of 
 a man who is so bad as you confess your- 
 self to be." At that father retired to bed, 
 leaving the minister confounded. The 
 next morning the discomfited man called 
 and made an apology. 
 
 He was distrustful of his ability and 
 feared that he lacked the mental re- 
 sources which would sustain him in im- 
 portant pastorates. He shrunk from pub- 
 lic occasions which would have given 
 him prominence, declined several city 
 pastorates, fearful that he should not be 
 equal to their demands. He was public- 
 spirited as a citizen, alert to all the new 
 currents of national, education and re- 
 formatory life, an abolitionist when to 
 be that was unpopular; a life-long public 
 advocate of temperance, solicitous not 
 only for the public welfare in a large 
 sense, but zealous, watchful, thoughtful 
 for the civic welfare at home. He re- 
 formed and reorganized the school sys- 
 tems where he lived, checked vicious 
 social tendencies by establishing new and 
 salutary agencies, and while tenacious of 
 his own religious belief, was catholic in 
 all his sympathies and affiliations. 
 
 His outward person was the type of 
 the inward man. Large minded, tolerant, 
 earnest, sincere, alert, enterprising, seri- 
 ous, kind hearted, yet with the softer 
 graces of affection for his fellows and 
 thoughtful love for his family and 
 friends. His life was salutary in its in- 
 telligent and self-sacrificing devotion to 
 others, and his rnenioiw is blessed! 
 
 flDotber. 
 
 I have never known so thorough an 
 optimist as mother. She believed that 
 the world was moving in the right orbit, 
 with some little tendency to get one- 
 sided and wrong-sided, but with an in- 
 ward gravitation that would in the main 
 
 keep it right side up. She believed in 
 people and persistently refused to hunt 
 up the wrong that was in them. She 
 knew that humanity was something of 
 a mixture, with not a little bad some- 
 where in every person, but she would 
 let the other folks find it, and she would 
 see only the good. She had not much 
 sense of humor, and could not always see 
 how we boys used to try to trap her 
 into some disparagement of some bad 
 case. But mother would evade our point- 
 ing out of the bad spots in the derelict 
 we were discussing and would get over 
 on the good side, and would, in spite of 
 us, find some virtue which no one else 
 had ever found and which we would 
 concede to her by right of original dis- 
 covery. She was of the good old Puri- 
 tan stock and had a good stiff drop of 
 iron in her veins, she could read the 
 riot act if occasion called with an em- 
 phasis that was at once effective, but 
 her wrath was always against wrong. 
 Woe to the gossiper that came to her 
 house with her tale of detraction; more 
 than once the backbiter was shown the 
 door and told to keep on the other side of 
 it until she could learn to think well and 
 speak well of her neighbors. 
 
 She lived always on the sunny side of 
 the house, was hopeful, patient, every- 
 body's burden-bearer, but never com- 
 plaining; a confidant of those in trouble; 
 sympathetic, always proud of her chil- 
 dren, but fearful lest she should spoil 
 them by over praise. She had her hus- 
 band's love of honor, was independent, 
 reliant, seeking out opportunities of help- 
 ing others, a model pastor's wife, equally 
 devoted to her church in her widowhood, 
 a rare mother in devotion, courage, sac- 
 rifice. A neighbor who sweetened and 
 brightened every community where she 
 lived; religious, yet not ostentatious in 
 her piety; a friend in whose presence the 
 young used to love to come and sit; the 
 beautiful, white-haired mother, of whom 
 her children were proud because of her 
 goodness, whose memory is a benediction 
 in all their homes and hearts. 
 
 52 
 
lEytracts from Xettere from jfrlenbs to wbom Copies 
 of tbte IBoofc were sent. 
 
 Mrs. Cordelia A. Quinby — It is in- 
 deed a most interesting life story of 
 one of our best clergymen. 
 
 Benjamin W. Wilson — Your father 
 must have been a remarkable man to 
 have brought up so large a family with 
 such a small income. I always thought' 
 the Gunnisons about right, and now, 
 after reading the history of your good 
 father, I don't wonder. You will be 
 repaid for your labor and give a good 
 text book for your children. 
 
 Rev. Cyrus H. Fay, D.D.— I knew 
 your honored father, as I have often 
 told you ; and yet was ignorant of the 
 struggles and triumphs of his early 
 life. I was also acquainted with your 
 mother. It is natural that their chil- 
 dren should be proud of their parents 
 and desire to perpetuate their mem- 
 ory, and it gives me pleasure that their 
 life's evening was cheered and bright- 
 ened by the successes achieved by their 
 offspring. 
 
 John W. Hinds — N. Gunnison was a 
 man spelled large, and people have 
 spoken more freely to me regarding 
 him than to you. I have heard things 
 said that to you would seem fulsome 
 flattery, and yet every word was true. 
 When I was in Lewiston and other 
 places in Maine we clergymen who 
 were from St. Lawrence had the older 
 ministers pretty well sized up. They 
 were divided into "hostiles" and 
 "friendlies." Rev. N. Gunnison was 
 friendly to the young men, and par- 
 ticularly to those from St. Lawrence. 
 Oh, yes, I knew your father! You 
 ought to get down on all fours and 
 thank God that your father was one 
 of the best men God ever made. Maine 
 is filled with Universalists that Gun- 
 nison made. You boys are all right, 
 but in my opinion none of you are 
 within touching distance of your fa- 
 ther in native intellectual power. You 
 
 know it's one thing to think yourself ; 
 it's a wonderful man who makes other 
 men think, and that's what Rev. N. 
 Gunnison did. 
 
 Rev. Joseph Crehore — I esteemed 
 your father — he was a man of action 
 and quick decision and impatient of 
 any moral obliquity. Your father be- 
 ing a predecessor at Abington brought 
 me into more intimate acquaintance 
 with him and his work, and also into 
 acquaintance with your mother, whom 
 we came to know and prize more fully 
 as a dear and valued friend during our 
 Canton pastorate — one of the wisest 
 and most judicious of women, a mother 
 whose memory must ever be a precious 
 treasure to her children. 
 
 Rev. J. M. Atwood, D.D.— I have 
 read it, every word, with the keenest 
 interest, and am thankful to know the 
 true inwardness of a life of such de- 
 votion and usefulness. Nathaniel Gun- 
 nison was one of the manliest of men. 
 His origin, his hardship, his self-denial, 
 his industry, his courage and his tri- 
 umphs constitute a deeply interesting 
 story : while his sturdiness, his integ- 
 rity and his perfect consecration to his 
 high business make his life a priceless 
 legacy to his descendants. My only re- 
 gret in the perusal has been that such 
 a story could not be read by all in our 
 church. Your mother was one of our 
 dear friends and the salt of the earth. 
 
 Rev. Donald Fraser — It is a long 
 time since I received anything from a 
 friend that I prized more highly than 
 I do this. Having heard so many pleas- 
 ant things while in Halifax about youi 
 father, from the lips of those who 
 loved and honored him for the brave 
 stand he took during the civil war and 
 the grand work he did for our faith 
 and church in that city, I felt a deeper 
 interest in reading his life than I 
 
 53 
 
would had I never met so many of his 
 warm friends and sympathizers. Then 
 knowing your mother so well I was 
 touched when I read once more of the 
 strong faith she manifested in the 
 goodness and mercy of God. 
 
 Rev. A. J. Canfield, D.D.— Its publi- 
 cation was a graceful conception, which 
 has been appropriately executed and 
 cannot fail to serve as an inspiring 
 souvenir for a family that has already 
 justified in large measure the self-sac- 
 rificing fidelity of its founders. No- 
 bility of ancestral character certainly 
 counts for much. 
 
 From the Halifax Evening Mail. 
 February 8, 1909. 
 
 George B. Stephenson, American vice 
 and deputy consul general at Halifax, 
 spoke before the Ethical Seminar in 
 the Universalist church parlors yester- 
 day on "The Personality of Abraham 
 Lincoln,'' in anticipation of the Lin- 
 coln centennial of February 12. In in- 
 troducing the speaker Mr. Pennoyer 
 referred to the fact that under Presi- 
 dent Lincoln, during the American 
 civil war, the Universalist minister in 
 this city, Rev. Nathaniel Gunnison, 
 acted as United States consul for this 
 city, and that the British commanding 
 general, then located at Halifax, said 
 of Mr. Gunnison that he was the finest 
 man he had ever met. Mr. Stephen- 
 son's address was interesting and prof- 
 itable. 
 
 An Extract from "The Old China 
 Book," by N. Hudson Moore. Published 
 by Fred'k A. Stokes Co.. N. Y. 1903, on 
 Page 109 and 110 
 
 Fig 90 is a twelve-inch Washington 
 jug, with a more than usually swell- 
 ing shape. There is a small portrait on 
 the pedestal and the words "First in 
 War, First in Peace. First in Fame 
 and First in Victory." 
 
 A naval officer and Fame stand on 
 either side of the shaft, and the pic- 
 ture is surrounded with scallops show- 
 ing the names of the thirteen states. 
 Notwithstanding the pedestal or obe- 
 lisk, I should place this jug as made 
 
 prior to 1800 from the use of the thir- 
 teen states in the border. 
 
 On the reverse side is a full-rigged 
 ship, with the American flag in colors, 
 and on the front in a wreath the in- 
 scription, "A Present to Capt. Nath'l 
 Gunnison." 
 
 It is in perfect condition and sold 
 for $00.00 
 
 In the rooms of the Antiquarian So- 
 ciety at Concord. Mass., there are sev- 
 eral of these jugs of large size and in 
 good condition. 
 
 They are in two sizes, 10-inch and 
 12-inch. 
 
 (The above does not refer to Rev. 
 N. Gunnison.) 
 
 At a dinner to Dr. Walter B. Gun- 
 nison, given by the St. Lawrence Club, 
 New York City, in 1909, Dr. St. Clair 
 McKelway, editor of the Brooklyn 
 Eagle, regretted that he could not be 
 present ; "but," he said, "I want to as- 
 sure you of my appreciation of the Uni- 
 versity, of its Club in New York City, 
 and of the propriety of making you 
 the focus and the radius of attention 
 on its coming occasion. 
 
 "The University is all right. And 
 why? One reason is because another 
 Gunnison is president. Another reason 
 is because another Gunnison is the 
 business manager of the paper of 
 which I am the editor. A third reason 
 is that the University is the foster- 
 mother of still a third Gunnison, who 
 is yourself, and who is the brother of 
 the two other Gunnisons, a tribe of 
 which the woods seem full, and the 
 second, the third and fourth genera- 
 tions of which are worthy of the pri- 
 mordial Gunnison, who as a clergyman, 
 an educator and a pioneer was not 
 only the friend of civilization, the up- 
 holder of trust in humanity and of 
 love in Christianity, but the progenitor, 
 direct or sequential, of all the other 
 Gunnisons since himself, who should 
 be happy to recur to and to resemble 
 him, and who should be happy in the 
 resurrection, should they awake in his 
 likeness. Now please take, as a truly 
 good man, the truly sincere congratu- 
 lations of another man who wishes he 
 was better, but who is glad to be your 
 friend." 
 
 54 
 
Gbe Descendants of IHatbaniel (Sunnteon 
 
 Nathaniel, born February 14, 1811; died August 25, 1871. 
 
 Married Sarah A. Richardson, February, 1834; died January 22, 1837. 
 
 1. MariHa Ann, born April 28, 1836; died November 22, 1901. 
 
 Married Ann Louisa Foster, August 12, 1838; born April 15, 1819; died October 22, 1888. 
 
 2. Foster N, born April 4, 1840. 
 
 3. Anna Louise, born March 21, 1842; died June 21, 1861. 
 
 4. Almon, born March 2, 1844. 
 
 5. Walter Balfour, born May 2, 1852. 
 
 6. Herbert Foster, born June 28, 1858. 
 
 1. Marilla Ann married Willard P. Griffin (born May 22, 1832), April 26, 1857. 
 
 7. Annie Gunnison, born January 4, 1860. 
 
 8. Willard N., born October 5, 1863. 
 
 9. Marilla Carmen, born February 19, 1865. 
 
 10. Frank Davis, born December 11, 1866. 
 
 11. Alice Belle, born September 31, 1868; died May 17, 1887. 
 
 12. Jane Clark, born December 16, 1870. 
 
 13. Emma Elliott, born June 23, 1873; died August 23, 1873. 
 
 14. Herbert Foster, born August 19, 1875. 
 
 15. Martha Davis, born June 21, 1878. 
 
 2. Foster N, married Emma Elliott (born October 26, 1839), September 5, 1866. 
 
 16. Anna Louisa, born July 26, 1867. 
 
 4. Almon married Ella Everest (born April 6, 1848), July 7, 1868. 
 
 17. Fred Everest, born May 28, 1869. 
 
 18. Agnes Lulu, born December 27, 1874. 
 
 5. Walter Balfour married Blanche Eaton (born July 29, 1854), January 18, 1876. 
 
 19. Stanley Eaton, born November 11, 1876. 
 
 20. Alice, born November 21, 1877. 
 
 21. Almon Gage, born November 7, 18S0. 
 
 22. Adelaide Fancher, born December 31, 1886. 
 
 23. Portia, born February 27, 1890. 
 
 6. Herbert Foster married Alice May (born October 29, 1861; died August 3, 1903), 
 
 April 29, 1886. 
 
 24. Raymond May, born April 14, 1887. 
 
 25. Edith, born April 15, 1890; died June 11, 1894. 
 
 26. Florence, born August 13, 1892. 
 
 27. Foster, born June 9, 1896. 
 
 7. Annie G. Griffin married Frederick S. Jewett, December 2, 1SS6. 
 
 28. Marion F., born September 30, 1887. 
 
 29. Ruth Saville, born May 22, 1890; died January 21, 1893. 
 
 8. Willard N. Griffin married Emma L. White, October 13, 1888. 
 
 9. Marilla C. Griffin married Charles E. Cunningham, June 4, 1885. 
 
 30. James H., born June 15, 1886. 
 
 31. N. Carlton, born February 6, 1891; died August 28, 1894. 
 
 10. Frank Davis Griffin married Lydia Florence Lincoln, January 20, 1909. 
 12. Jane Clark Griffin married W. Howard Poland, June 1, 1892. 
 
 32. Eustis Leland, born August 23, 1893. 
 
 33. Herbert Griffin, born November 7, 1895. 
 
 40. Ruth Eunice, born March 18, 1907. 
 
 14. Herbert Foster Griffin married Jennie F. Craft, November 14, 1901. 
 
 15. Martha Davis Griffin married Herbert W. Rawson, January 14, 1901. 
 
 36. Marilla Gunnison Rawson, born May 17, 1902. 
 39. Warren Rawson, born April 4, 1906. 
 
 42. Elizabeth Rawson, born June 20, 1907; died April 26, 1909. 
 
 43. Herbert W. Rawson, Jr., born July 6, 1909. 
 
 17. Fred Everest Gunnison married Rose I. Fancher (born January 28, 1870), No- 
 
 vember 22, 1899. 
 
 34. Almon Fancher Gunnison, born March 5, 1901; died March 18, 1903. 
 38. Elsa Gunnison, born January 15, 1904. 
 
 18. Agnes Lulu Gunnison married Guy Leslie Harrington March 24, 1909. 
 
 19. Stanley E. Gunnison married Harriet O. McLaughlin (born December 23, 1875), 
 
 June 5, 1900. 
 
 35. Mary Eaton, born March 31, 1901. 
 
 37. Hugh Gunnison, born February 10, 1903. 
 
 41. Blanche Gunnison, born April 27, 1907. 
 
 21. Almon Gage Gunnison married Alice Poste (born January 24, 1SS1), April 3, 1907. 
 
 44. Walter Balfour Gunnison, 2nd, born February 21, 1910. 
 
 30. James Hutchinga Cunningham married Ann Kimberly Gifford, November 6, 1909. 
 
 55 
 
Ube Descendants of fflatbaniel Gunnison— Continued 
 
 56 
 
Sbe 2>e6cenfcant0 of 1bugb Gunnison 
 
 1. Hugh Gunnison, Sweden, England, America, born about 1610; died in Kittery, Me., 
 
 after September 21, 165S. 
 M. 1st, Elizabeth, 1635; died January 25, 1646. 
 M. 2nd, Mrs. Sarah Lynn, May 23, 1647, in Boston. 
 
 2. Elihu, born February 12, 1650, in Boston; died in Kittery, Me., after March 29, 1729. 
 
 M. 1st, Martha Trickee, at Dover, N. H., November 10, 1674. 
 M. 2nd, Elizabeth 
 
 3. Joseph, Kittery, Me., born October 14, 1690; died September 8, 174S. 
 
 M. 1st, Susanna Follett. 
 M. 2nd, Elizabeth Lewis. 
 M. 3rd, Margaret Nelson. 
 M. 4th, Susanna Ayers. 
 
 4. Samuel, Kittery, Me., Halifax, N. S., Goshen, N. H., born January 27, 1720-1; died 
 
 May 14, 1S06. 
 M. 1st, Jane Fernald, born February 6, 1745-6; died January 20, 1750. 
 M. 2nd, Alice Fernald, May 3, 1752; born February 21, 1725-6; died July 5, 1804. 
 
 5. Nathaniel, Goshen, N. H., born July 16, 1766; died April 15, 1S13. 
 
 M. Hannah Batchelder, January 4, 17S9; born 1767; died April 15, 1813. 
 
 6. Nathaniel, bom February 14, 1811; died August 25, 1871. 
 
 M. 1st, Sarah A. Richardson, February, 1834. 
 M. 2nd, Ann L. Foster, August 12, 1838. 
 
 The brothers and sisters of Nathaniel Gunnison were: 
 Sally Hook, born October 1, 1789. 
 Polly, born October 6, 1791. 
 John, born February 4, 1794. 
 
 Bllley, born April 11, 1796; died September 4, 1796. 
 Billey, born November 10, 1797: died April 5, 1799. 
 Levi Bartlett, born February 22, 1799. 
 (Baby) born March 13, 1802; died March 15, 1802. 
 Hannah, born June 5, 1803. 
 Almira, born December 10, 1S05. 
 Lemira, born April 21, 1808. 
 Nathaniel, born February 14. 1S11. 
 
 Sally Hook was the mother of Rev. Almon Gage. 
 
 The Gunnison country in Colorado was named after Captain John W. Gunnison (born 
 November 11, 1812; died October 26, 1853), of the United States Army, who was massacred 
 while exploring on the Sevier River. He was a cousin of Nathaniel. 
 
 For the Geneology of the Gunnison family see the "Geneology of the Descendants 
 
 of Hugh Gunnison," published by J. B. & C. E. Gunnison, Erie, Pa. 
 
 57 
 
Zbc E)escenoents of 1buQb Gunnison— Continue© 
 
Gbe IDescentmnte of ]£&munfc> jfteeman 
 
 1. Edmund Freeman, progenitor of all the Cape Cod Freemans. 
 
 2. Major John Freeman married Mercy Prince. 
 
 3. Thomas Freeman, son of Major John and Mercy (Prince) Freeman. 
 
 4. Edmund Freeman, son of Thomas, married Phebe "Watson. 
 
 5. Edmund Freeman, son of Edmund and Phebe (Watson) Freeman, married Mary Clarke. 
 
 G. Phebe Freeman, daughter of Edmund, Jr., and Mary Clarke Freeman, married David 
 Foster. 
 
 7. Freeman Foster, son of David and Phebe (Freeman) Foster. 
 
 1. Elder Brewster, born in England, 1560, came to America in the Mayflower, 1620. 
 
 2. Patience, daughter of Elder Brewster; married Governor Thomas Prince. 
 
 3. Mercy Prince, daughter of Governor Thomas Prince and Patience (Brewster) Prince; 
 
 married Major John Freeman. 
 
 4. John Freeman, Jr., son of Major John and Mercy (Prince) Freeman. 
 
 5. Mercy Freeman, daughter of John Freeman, Jr.; married Chillingsworth Foster. 
 
 6. Isaac Foster, son of Chillingsworth and Mercy (Freeman) Foster; married Hannah 
 
 Sears. 
 
 7. David Foster, son of Isaac and Hannah (Sears) Foster; married Phebe Freeman, 
 
 daughter of Edmund Freeman and Mary (Clarke) Freeman. 
 
 S. Freeman Foster, son of David and Phebe Freeman Foster. 
 
 (Tbe Bescenbants of Sbomae jfoeter 
 
 The Foster family originated in Flanders. The first ancestor to whom the family can be 
 authentically traced is Anacher, Great Forester of Flanders, who died in 837, Reginald Foster, 
 born in Burton, England, came to America during the latter part of the 16th century, and 
 with him were his wife and seven children. 
 
 1. Thomas Foster was the progenitor of this family; died Billerica, Mass., April 20, 16S2. 
 
 M. Elizabeth. 
 
 2. John Foster, born in Weymouth, Mass., October 7, 1642; died about 1732. 
 
 M. Mary, daughter of Thomas Chillingsworth. 
 
 3. Chillingsworth, Foster, born in Marshfield, Mass., July 11, 16S0. (He went to that part 
 
 of Harwich which is now Brewster, bought a tract of land about 1697-99, and built 
 
 a dwelling); died 17o4. 
 M. 1st, Mercy Freeman. 
 M. 2nd, Mrs. Susanna Sears. 
 M. 3rd, Mrs. Ruth Sears. 
 
 4. Isaac Foster, born June 17, 1718; died September 10, 1770. 
 
 M. Hannah Sears, daughter of his stepmother. 
 
 5. David, born March 24, 1742; died April 12, 1825. 
 
 M. Phebe Freeman. 
 
 6. Freeman Foster, born May 1, 17S2; died February 1870. 
 
 M. 1st, Mehitable Low of Barre, Mass.; born May 25, 1783; married January 15, 1806; 
 
 died September 30, 1842. 
 M. 2nd, Mrs. Sarah Mayo. 
 M. 3rd, Mrs. Belinda J. Nye. 
 
 59 
 
Gbe Bescenfcants of jfreeman jFoeter an& 
 HDcbltable Xow 
 
 1. Freeman, Jr., born March 4, 1S07; married Nancy S. Ingalls, bom Feb. 16, 1S09, died 
 
 Aug. 4, 1SSS. 
 
 2. Mehitable Low, born Dec. 7, 1S0S; married Tully Crosby. 
 
 3. David, born July 10, 1S10; married (.1) Cynthia C. Berry (2) Mary Anne Linehan. 
 
 4. Phoebe Freeman, born Oct. 15, 1S12; married (1) Isaac Doane (2) Josiah Linnell. 
 
 5. Sarah Hickling, born Oct. 25, 1S14; married Capt. Elisha Bangs. 
 
 6. Martha, born June 10, 1S17; married Asa Mayo. 
 
 7. Ann Louisa, born April 15, 1S19; married Rev. Nathaniel Gunnison. 
 
 8. Lucretia, born Feb. 21, 1821; married Rev. Cyrus A. Bradley. 
 
 9. "William Low, born Sept. 30, 1S22; married Matilda Higgins. 
 10. Sophia, born April S, 1S23; married Nathaniel T. Hunt. 
 
 (1) Children of Freeman Foster, Jr., and Nancy Ingalls: 
 
 1-a. Isabella (born Oct. 21. 1S31), married Gilman Osgood, Dec. 23, ISoo; died Sept. 
 9, 1S99. Their children: 
 1-b. Isabella, born Feb. 3, 1S57; married William S. Tyler; died May 19, 1889. 
 2-b. Marion I., born June 27, 1859; married "Walter Noyes, Nov. 29, 1SS3, 1 child, 
 
 (1) Marion Temple, born Sept. 19, 1SS4. 
 3-b. Gilman. Jr., born Feb. 26, 1S63; married Mabel Russell, Jan. 14, 1891. Children: 
 
 (1) Louise R., born Nov. 6, 1S91. 
 
 (2) Gilman, 3d, born April 11, 1S95. 
 
 (3) j Foster I D1S97 
 
 (4) ^RussellJ 
 
 (5) Helen H., born April 27, 1904. 
 
 4-b. Charles G., born Aug. 30, 1S69. 
 2-a. Abby, born March 12, 1S33. died July 13, 1909. 
 
 3-a. Freeman, 3d, born June 29, 1S35; died April 25, 1SSS; married Jane Wellman, 
 March 10, ' 1S58, who died Jan. 29, 1902. 
 
 1. Freeman, 4th, born July 29, I860, died Dec. 22, 1SS9. 
 
 2. Jennie Wellman, born Oct. 11, 188S. 
 
 3. Frank Stetson, born Feb. 7, 1S70, died Dec. 15, 1871. 
 
 4. Helen Louise, born Oct. S, 1871. 
 
 4-a. Mary Freeman, born Aug. 23, 1S40; married (1) Edward Nash. Aug. 7, 1862, 
 died June 17, 1863; (2) M. Ferdinand Nash, Sept. 22, 1869, died April 16, 1905. 
 
 1. Alice, born Sept. 19, 1871. 
 
 2. Bessie Foster, born Sept. 22, 1S77. 
 
 (2) Mehitable Low Foster and Tully Crosby. Four children: 
 
 1. Tully, died in infancy. 
 
 2. Tully, Jr., born Aug. 21, 1S41, died 1909; married (1) Loella Hopkins (2) 
 Melissa Hopkins. 
 
 Walter, son of Tully, Jr., and Loella Hopkins, died in infancy. 
 Grace Loella, daughter by Melissa Hopkins, married Arthur Wendell. 
 
 3. Freling, born 1843, died 1850. 
 
 4. Hittie Low, born July 14, 1S48; died August 17, 1907. 
 
 (3) Children of David Foster: 
 
 1-a. Ellen, born Nov. 16. 1S34. died Jan. 22, 1906. married Elisha Freeman 
 Sears, born May 2, 1S60, died April 15, 1897. 
 1-b. Annie Foster, born April 14, 1863, married Elmer Ellsworth Hudson. 
 1-c. Elisha Sears Hudson, born Aug. 30, 1893. 
 2-c. Richard Brewster Hudson, born Aug. 1, 1898. 
 2-a. Mehitable, born May 13, 1S36. died Nov. 5, 1858. 
 3-a. Emma Frances Foster, born Dec. 21, 1S44. 
 
 60 
 
4-a. Martha Lucretia, born June 25, 1S46; married Dec. 5, 1S67, Charles 
 Lincoln; born Nov. 23, 1S45. 
 
 Chas Edwin Lincoln, born July 19, 1896; married Mary Alice Berry 
 July 7, 1896. 
 
 David Foster Lincoln, born July IS, 1S72; died Feb. 22, 1899. 
 
 Robert Sears Lincoln, born Nov. 22, 18S0; married Winifred E. Mc- 
 Kay, June 30, 1909. 
 
 Ruth Deborah Lincoln, born June 15, 1910. 
 
 Paul Lincoln, born Dec. 3, 1S83; married Ethel A. Barr, Jan. 1, 1908. 
 5-a. Mary Louise Foster, born April 20, 1865. 
 6-a. Lenette Foster, born Nov. 10, 1866, married John Henry Parmerton. 
 
 John Henry Parmerton, Jr., born March 18, 1895. 
 
 Foster Parmerton, born Dec. 19, 1896. 
 
 Lewis Bigelow Parmerton, born March 20, 1903. 
 7-a. David Foster, Jr., born March 12, 1S75, married Caroline Stowell Bell, 
 
 Oct. 9, 1901. 
 
 Mary Paddock Foster, born Oct. S, 1902. 
 
 Rachel Foster, born May 10, 1904. 
 
 Caroline Stowell Foster, born Dec. 7, 1905. 
 
 (4) Phoebe Freeman Foster, one child by first husband (Doanej : 
 
 Evelyn, born Aug. 17, 1839; married (1) Nathaniel Hunt, (2) James Damon, 
 (3) Seth Bennett; no children. 
 
 (5) Sarah Hickling Foster and Elisha Bangs— 5 children: 
 
 1. Daughter died in infancy. 
 
 2. Elisha Dillingham, married Georgiana Skillings; daughter, married Les- 
 
 lie M. Brown, one or more children. 
 
 3. Son, died young. 
 
 i. Herbert Harold, married Elizabeth Scudder. 3 sons. 
 
 1. Boy, died in infancy. 
 
 2. Harold S., born March 2S, 1S74. 
 
 3. Clarence F., born April 2, 1876. 
 5. Loella Foster. 
 
 (6) Martha and Asa Mayo; no children. 
 
 (7) Ann Louisa and Nathaniel Gunnison; 5 children. (See page 55). 
 
 (8) Lucretia and Cyrus A. Bradley; 2 children. 
 
 Asa Mayo, born March 9, 1856; married Mary H. Emery; no children. 
 Cyrena Augusta, born Oct. 6, 1860, died 1861. 
 
 (9) William Low and Matilda Higgins. Children: 
 William Osborn Foster. 
 Freling Crosby Foster. 
 Elmer Foster, died. 
 Seaward Foster. 
 Ernest Foster. 
 
 (10) Sophia and Nathaniel Hunt. Child: 
 
 Wilmer, died at sea, age about 20 (1S79). 
 
 61 
 
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