Milton Observer

By Muriel Bristol | January 2, 2018

Nine Milton men joined together as proprietors of the Milton Social Library in 1822. The following act of the New Hampshire legislature established them as a corporation, June 14, 1822.

The Milton Social Library was a private subscription library. Likely, its original books came from the personal collections of the proprietors. The act authorized them to set rules, choose officers, take subscriptions, receive donations (not to exceed $1,000), assess fines (not to exceed $4), and perform other necessary functions.

No hint is given here of the location of the Milton Social Library, other than it being somewhere in Milton. The proprietors came from all parts of Milton.

{State of New Hampshire}

AN ACT TO INCORPORATE CERTAIN PERSONS BY THE NAME OF MILTON SOCIAL LIBRARY 

[Approved June 14, 1822. Original Acts, vol. 27, p. 33; recorded Acts, vol. 22, p. 117]

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives General Court convened, That Gilman Jewett, Stephen Drew, David Wentworth, John Scates, Isaac Worster, Josiah Witham, Charles Ricker, Samuel Blaisdell, Hanson Hayes, and their associates, proprietors of said Library, and all who may hereafter become proprietors of the same be, and they hereby are incorporated into, and made a body politic and corporate, by the name and Style of the Milton Social Library with continuance and succession forever; and in that name may sue and be sued, prosecute and defend to final Judgment and execution, and are hereby vested with all powers and privileges of Corporations of a similar nature, and may enjoin penalties of disfranchisement or fine not exceeding four dollars for each offence, to be recovered by action of debt to their use in any court of competent Jurisdiction; and may purchase and receive subscriptions, grants and donations of personal property not exceeding the sum of one thousand dollars for the use of their association.

Sec. 2. And be it further enacted that said proprietors be and hereby are authorized and empowered to meet at Milton aforesaid on the first Saturday of October annually, to choose all such officers as may be found necessary for the orderly conducting of the affairs of said association, who shall continue in office until others are chosen in their room. And the said corporation may convene as often as may be found necessary for the filling up of any vacancies may happen in said officers, and for transacting all other business for the benefit of said corporation except the raising of money, which shall be done at the annual meeting and at no other time, at which annual meeting they shall vote all such sums as shall be necessary to defray the annual expense of preserving said Library, and for enlarging the same; and may make and establish a constitution, rules and bye laws for the government of said corporation, provided the same be not repugnant to the constitution and laws of this State. 

Sec. 3. And be it further enacted that Gilman Jewett before named be, and he hereby is authorized and empowered to call the first meeting of said proprietors at such time and place as may be Judged proper in said town of Milton by posting up a notification of the same at the Meeting house in said town, and at some other public place therein, at least fifteen days before the time of holding said meeting, and the said Gilman Jewett may preside in said meeting until a Moderator be chosen; and the proprietors at said meeting shall have all the power and authority to establish such bye laws, and choose all such officers as they may or can do by virtue of this act at their annual meeting.

This act of incorporation designated Gilman Jewett (1777-1856) as moderator of the first library meeting, until someone might be chosen to fulfill that role. Gilman Jewett had been Milton’s first town clerk (1802-1806); he served on the executive committee designated to oversee construction of Milton’s first meeting-house.

Library proprietors Gilman Jewett, David Wentworth (1770-1832), John Scates (b. 1774), Josiah Witham (b. c1768), and Hanson Hayes had signed the Milton incorporation petition of twenty years before (May 28, 1802). (The other four library proprietors were either too young or resided elsewhere at the time).

Library proprietor Stephen Drew (1791-1872) was Milton’s first physician; he was a selectman in 1828. Isaac Worster (1772-1838) served as a Milton selectman in 1809-10 and 1814 (his son (1804-1870) and namesake was the ardent early supporter of abolitionism). Josiah Witham (b. 1768) served as a Milton selectman in 1812-13 and 1815-17.

Library proprietor Charles Ricker (1784-1836) served in Milton’s War of 1812 militia company. Hanson Hayes (1792-1851) served as lieutenant of that militia company; he served later as a Milton selectman in 1819-24.

Ichabod Hayes (1770-1830) of West Milton was said to have been one of the organizers of the Milton Social Library. He died in Dover, NH, July 8, 1830, aged sixty years, from injuries sustained when he was thrown from his horse, who had been frightened by a clap of thunder. He left behind among his papers this list of books contained then in the Milton Social Library (with his opinions of their literary merit in quotes) (Richmond, 1936). [Where possible, authors’ names, book titles, and publication dates have been added in brackets].

List of Books in Milton, N.H., Social Library. [Charles] Rollins, Hist. Egyptians, Cartheginians & Venetians. “good;” [John & William Langhorne,] Plutarch’s Lives, 6 vol. [1792] “50 lives – statesmen &c.;” [Jeremy] Belknap’s Hist. [1813] “good;” Josephus, 3 Vol.; [William] Allen’s [American] Biog., 1 Vol. [1809] “lives of divines & statesmen in America;” [Jeremy] Belknap’s Biog., 1 Vol. “do;” [Rev. Joseph] Buckminster’s Sermons, 1 Vol.; [Anthony F.M. Willich & Thomas Cooper] Domestic Encyclopedia [or Dictionary of Useful Knowledge, Chiefly Applicable to Rural & Domestic Economy], 4 Vol. [1821] “good;” [Jane Porter,] Scottish Chiefs, 3 Vol. [1809] “Romance;” [Henry Fielding,] Thomas Jones or Navie (?), 4 Vol. [1780]; Life of Washington, 1 Vol., by [David] Ramsey [1807]; American Revolution, 3 Vol; [J.] Goldsmith’s [A General View of the] Manners & customs [& Curiosities of Nations] [1818], 2 Vol; [James Cook,] Cook’s Voyages [Round the World] [1806], 2 V.; [John] Evens’ sequell [to Sketch] in 1 V. [1811]; [William] Paley, [Principles of Moral and Political] Philosophy [1794]; [Dubroca,] Life of Bonaparte [First Consul of France] [1802]; [John Mason,] Self Knowledge, 1 V. [1758]; [Notes of Nathan] Smith’s Lectures, 1 V. [1816]; [William Giles,] Guide & refuge, 1 V. “divinity;” [John Trumball], M’Fingal [A Modern Epic Poem in Four Cantos] [1799]; Life of [?]; [Ann Radcliffe,] Romance of the forrests [1791]; Mythology “not good;” Natural History.

Public libraries, as we know them, hardly existed at this time. (Maybe in a major city). Books were expensive. Only private subscription libraries could make them available for a subscribing clientele. Portsmouth’s private library, the Portsmouth Athenaeum, had been established just a few years earlier, in 1817.

Here follow some published notifications for similar Vermont libraries. They give some idea of the terms one might encounter at such private libraries: an initial subscription fee and signing of articles, followed by semi-annual fees or dues.

A LIBRARY. The utility, and benefit arising to every class of people, from Social Libraries, must be apparent to every intelligent mind. There is no member of society, who has not, at some Seasons, leisure to attend to the cultivation of his mind, and the increase of his knowledge, or to amusing himself by reading and perusing books of wit and humor. To effect this, a Subscription paper has been circulated, and a considerable number of subscribers obtained, who have had two meetings, formed and accepted a Constitution, and adjourned till Monday evening, the 21st inst. Any persons in this, or the neighboring towns, who are desirous of becoming Sharers in this Library are hereby requested to attend at the Academy, on that evening, at SIX o’clock (Green Mountain Patriot, January 11, 1799).

SOCIAL LIBRARY. THE Proprietors of the SOCIAL LIBRARY, in Rutland, are hereby informed, that the meeting of the said proprietors, is adjourned to the first Monday in April next, at two o’clock in the afternoon in the Library Room in Rutland. The Proprietors are requested to give a general attendance at that time, and to return all the books they shall then have taken out.

The Library, at present contains ONE HUNDRED AND SIXTY-ONE VOLUMES, OF VALUABLE BOOKS, which will be increased, as fast as the monies arising from new subscriptions, shall enable the proprietors to purchase new books. Any person living in Rutland, in Clarenden, as far south as the Mill River, and east of the hills, next west of Otter Creek, in Pittsford, as far north as the Meeting-House, and east of Otter Creek, and in Medway, west of the west mountain, may become a proprietor on subscribing the articles of the Library, and (if a minor) giving security to observe them, and paying two dollars at the time of subscribing, and securing to the librarian, the payment of two dollars, at the end of 6 months, and two dollars more at the end of twelve months, from the time of subscribing.

Frederick Hill, Clerk. March 11th, 1794 (Farmer’s Library, March 11, 1794).

References:

Belknap, Jeremy. (1813). History of New Hampshire. Retrieved from www.google.com/books/edition/The_History_of_New_Hampshire/_m8rAAAAYAAJ?

Boston Library Society. (1844). Catalogue of the Books of the Boston Library Society. Retrieved from books.google.com/books?id=5uTTV2GYNxIC

Goldsmith, Joseph. (1818). A General View of the Manners, Customs and Curiosities of Nations. Retrieved books.google.com/books?id=QFyJ6_lUE3cC

Find a Grave. (2013, July 29). Gilman Jewett. Retrieved from www.findagrave.com/memorial/114597023

John B. Clarke Co. (1921). Laws of New Hampshire: Second Constitutional Period, 1821-1828. Retrieved from books.google.com/books?id=Ku8KAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA80

Richmond, Katherine F. (1936). John Hayes, of Dover, New Hampshire: A Book of His Family. Tyngsboro, MA.

Wikipedia. (2018, December 13). Subscription Library. Retrieved from en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Subscription_library

By Muriel Bristol (Transcriber) | December 30, 2018

Here we find again the inhabitants of Milton stoutly opposing slavery. In this instance, Senator William P. Fessenden, an anti-slavery Whig from Maine, submitted to the US Senate the petition of 340 male voters of Milton, NH, for a repeal of the Fugitive Slave Law of 1850.

Their petition was referred to committee, i.e., ignored.

Congress Thursday. In the Senate. Mr. Fessenden presented a petition signed by over 340 voters of the town of Milton, N.H., the birthplace of President Pierce, praying for a repeal of the Fugitive Slave Law – referred. The bill to establish a line of steamers between the ports of San Francisco and Shanghai, in China, was then taken up, when Mr. Seward supported the bill in an earnest and forcible speech, and when he concluded, the bill was laid aside to take up the bill appropriating $10,000,000 for the ratification of the Mexican Treaty, which was received from the House. The bill was immediately passed by a vote of 34 to 6. After an Executive Session, the Senate adjourned (Hartford Courant, July 1, 1854).

The Milton of 1850 had 1,629 inhabitants, consisting of 307 households residing in 295 dwellings. (That makes for an average of 5.31 inhabitants per household and 5.52 inhabitants per dwelling). Of those 1,629 inhabitants, 861 were males and 768 were females. (This ratio is rather male heavy). Some 431 of those male inhabitants were of voting age.

So, the 340 anti-slavery petitioners of 1854 represented nearly eight-tenths (78.9%) of Milton’s 431 eligible male voters. We might justly take pride in them.

One of the principal methods used by those opposing the Fugitive Slave Law was jury nullification. Jurors simply refused to convict those on trial for aiding fugitive slaves. They were well within their rights to do so. They held the Fugitive Slave Law to be invalid.

It has always been, and still is, a juror’s absolute right to judge the validity of the laws being prosecuted, as well as the facts of any particular case. NH’s constitution, as well as its laws, explicitly recognize and acknowledge what was already a juror’s natural right.

See also Milton and Abolitionism and Milton in the News – 1838

Previous in sequence: Milton in the News – 1853; next in sequence: Milton in the News – 1857

References:

FIJA. (2018). Fully Informed Jury Association. Retrieved from fija.org/

NH General Court. (2012). RSA 519:23-a – Right of Accused. Retrieved from www.gencourt.state.nh.us/rsa/html/LIII/519/519-23-a.htm

Wikipedia. (2018, December 6). Fugitive Slave Law of 1850. Retrieved from en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fugitive_Slave_Act_of_1850

Wikipedia. (2018, November 8). Jury Nullification. Retrieved from en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jury_nullification

Wikipedia. (2018, November 6). William P. Fessenden. Retrieved from en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_P._Fessenden

By Muriel Bristol (Transcriber) | December 27, 2018

Construction on the Great Falls & Conway Railroad was “near” Milton, NH, when this blasting accident occurred on Thursday, December 23, 1852.

Three men who were at work on the Great Falls and Conway Railroad, near Milton, N.H., on the 23d ult., were severely injured by tbe premature explosion of a blast. One of them had an eye blown out (New York Times, January 13, 1853).

SAD ACCIDENT – On Thursday, the 23d ult., as some workmen on the first section of the Great Falls and Conway Railroad at Milton, N.H., were engaged in blasting on a ledge, the powder took fire from a spark produced from striking the tamping iron against the rock when “tamping down,” severely injuring three of the workmen. One man had an eye blown out, and was otherwise injured about the head, and the other two were severely burnt by the powder (Orleans County Gazette (Irasburgh, VT), January 29, 1853).

Nothing in this report indicates whether the “first section” of the railroad line had progressed “near to” Milton or just beyond it.

AN INTERESTING CLIPPING. The following paragraph of local interest is clipped from the Boston Journal’s department, “News of Fifty Years Ago.”

“Railroad Project. A meeting was to have been held at Portsmouth last evening to take measures to secure the construction of a railroad from Great Falls to Eliot. The Portsmouth Journal states that the whole expense of the construction of the road from Eliot, a little less than six miles, to Great Falls is about $100,000. About $60,000 of this sum has already been subscribed, and a subscription of $20,000 from Portsmouth would warrant its immediate construction. This would be a branch or extension of the Great Falls or Conway road, which is open from Great Falls to Milton, thirteen miles, and 300 men are now on the road between that place and Wakefield, nine miles further.” (Portsmouth Herald, February 3, 1903).

This Portsmouth Herald article of February 1903 reprints a Portsmouth Journal article of fifty years earlier, i.e., February 1853. It has the railroad open already as far as Milton, with 300 men working between there and Wakefield. The December 1852 blasting accident mentioned above must have happened in the stretch between Milton and Union, but closer to Milton.

The Great Falls & Conway Railroad reached Wakefield’s Union village by 1855.

Previous in sequence: Milton in the News – 1848; next in sequence: Milton in the News – 1854

By Muriel Bristol (Transcriber) | December 25, 2018

Here follow more Federal requests for proposals (RFP) for post roads or routes. First, route 236, which would run thrice a week from Great Falls, i.e., Somersworth, NH, to Eaton, NH, and back, with Milton as a stop along the way.

NEW HAMPSHIRE. 236. From Great Falls at 1 p.m., Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday By Rochester, Chestnut Hill, Milton, Union, Wakefield, North Wakefield, Ossipee, Centre Ossipee, West Ossipee, and Eaton. To Conway, by 4 a.m. next days, 60 miles and back between 8 a.m. and 9 p.m. Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.

Next, a “special” satellite post road or route that ran thrice a week from Milton to Milton Mills, and back.

Special Offices. Proposals are invited for supplying the following offices in New Hampshire for the nett [SIC] proceeds of said offices, respectively – limited to a sum to be named in the proposals in each case: Albany from Conway, 4 miles and back, once a week. Alstead from New Alstead, 3½ miles and back, twice a week. Bedford from Manchester, 4 miles and back, three times a week. Drewsville from Bellows Falls, 3 miles and back, three times a week. Hanover Centre from Hanover, 6 miles and back, once a week. Harrisville from Dublin, 4 miles and back, once a week. Holderness Centre from Holderness, 4 miles and back, once a weak. Hudson from Nashua, 3 miles and back, three times a week. Jackson from Lower Bartlett, 5 miles and back, twice a week. Landaff from Bath, 4½ miles and back, twice a week. Londonderry from Derry, 4 miles and back, three times a week. Loudon Ridge from Gilmanton, 3 miles and back, twice a week. Lyndeboro from South Lyndeboro, 3 miles and back, twice a week. Milton Mills from Milton, 5 miles and back, three times a week. Nelson from Nelson Factory, 3 miles and back, twice a week. New Durham from Farmington, 5 miles and back, once a week. North Londonderry from Manchester, 6 miles and back, twice a week. North Salem from Salem, 4 miles and back, once a week. North Sandwich from Centre Sandwich, 6½ miles and back, once a week. North Weymouth from Quincy, 3 miles and back, three times a week. Orfordville from Orford, 2 miles and back, three times a week. Poplin from Raymond, 4 miles and back, once a week. Roxbury from Keene, 5 miles and back, once a week. Rye from Portsmouth, 5½ miles and back, twice a week. South Bradford from Bradford, 2½ miles and lack, twice a week. South Kingston from Newtown, 4 miles and back, twice a week. Surry from Keene, 6 miles and back, twice a week. Sutton from Warner, 9 miles and back, three times a week. West Boscawen from Boscawen, 7 miles and back, twice a week. West Windham from Windham, 3½ miles and back,  twice a week (Washington Union, December 31, 1848).

This was likely the final post office route proposals for route 236, as defined above. The Portsmouth, Great Falls and Conway railroad would reach South Milton, by 1850, and Union, by 1855. Thereafter, mail for Milton would come by train.

Likely, the special route from Milton to Milton Mills became instead a special route from Union station to Milton Mills.

See also Milton in the News – 1827, Milton in the News – 1839, and Milton’s First Postmasters (1818-c1840)

Previous in sequence: Milton in the News – 1845; next in sequence: Milton in the News – 1853