Jan. 7,1870

FATAL ACCIDENT---- A bright smart boy. Five years old, named George Taylor, son of Clark Taylor of Hampton, was drowned in the mill pond near the Bride Hill schoolhouse, in Hampton on Wednesday. We do not learn the particulars of the sad accident.

Rev. Elias Nason is announced to deliver a lecture before the Lyceum, at Hampton, on the evening of Wednesday, January 12. His subject will be either "Steam across the Continent" or "Greenbacks." It is hoped a full delegation of his Exeter friends will be present to show their appreciation of the man and the lecturer, Should the weather be favorable, Mr. Joshua Getchell will provide a four-horse conveyance, and furnish a party of twenty-five or thirty with a pleasant moonlight ride to "Old Hampton" and return.

Jan.28,1870

GOLDEN BIRTHDAY----- The semi-centennial birthday of Miss Martha W. Sanborn was celebrated in a very pleasant way at her residence, near Bride Hill, in Hampton, Tuesday evening, the 18th inst.; a large circle of friends gathered at the hospitable mansion of the three sisters. We noticed happy faces from Exeter, Portsmouth, North Hampton, Brentwood, Hampton Falls, Kensington, Hampton, Boston, &c. The guests were entertained with the most generous and attentive hospitality. The supper was a rich and bounteous feast, at which Rev. Mr. McLean asked the divine blessing. During the evening the social festivities were interspersed with cheerful amusements, music, &c. Rev. R. A. DeLancey, D.D. Made a short address, expressing thanks in the name of our kind and honored hostess for the attendance of so many of her friends, and the valued mementos of their friendship and love, -two tables being covered with varied birthday gifts,-and beside them a pair of easy chairs as a generous invitation to rest and social enjoyment. George S. Pike, Esq. of Boston, made a happy and eloquent speech, and Rev. Dr. DeLancey offered prayer. After refreshments, the friends retired with heartfelt congratulations and sincere wishes that Miss Sanborn may enjoy many, many happy birthdays with the fifty that have passed.

Feb. 25,1870

A LABOR SAVING PARTY.----- It is said that a new party has sprung into existence with the above name , and that its headquarters are at Hampton. It is also reported that John J. Leavitt, Esq. is its leader. We cannot vouch for the truth of these reports, but think Mr. Leavitt eminently qualified for any position the party may offer him. He will certainly favor an eight hour law, and he might be induced "to go two hours better."

APPOINTMENT.-----John J. Leavitt, Esq. of Hampton, has been appointed railroad post-office clerk, over Eastern Railroad, between Boston and Portland, succeeding Charles W. Adams of Portsmouth, resigned to accept a station agency on the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad.

MALICIOUS REPORT. ----- Circulation has been given to the report that an ox of Mr. Sherburne Lock of Hampton had died of that dread disease----pleuro pneumonia, 'T is false.

RECOVERED.---- The Concord Statesman says: "In June, 1868, Mrs. Dearborn of Hampton, had a sixty-five pound tumor removed from her body. It was encased in a sack which contained also about three pails of water. Since then she has slowly recovered her health and has acquired a new head of hair and a new set of finger nails. She appeared too feeble to undergo the operation; but the next fall she was able to attend to her usual household duties.

March 4, 1870

THE FAMILY OF DEACON JOSHUA LANE.-----The children of this family were all persons of highly respectable character. Eight sons lived to a good old age. They were all mechanics and farmers. Six of them were tanners and shoemakers, one was a tailor, and one was a cabinet maker. Their shops adjoined their houses so that they could enter them with out going into the open air. They all had farms which they carried on in connection with their trades . Their work was of premium quality and commanded good prices in the market. None of them were poor, nor were any of them rich, realizing the condition of Agur's prayer. All were men of steady habits, regular and prudent in their intercourse with the world, strictly honest in their dealings, careful in making promises, but always faithful in keeping them, and very temperate in their use of ardent spirits, which in those days everybody drank. Ebenezer Lane Esq. of Pittsfield, writing of his recollections of this family in 1841 says:

"I once saw five of them together at my Father's house in Stratham, as much as fifty-five years ago or more , They were truly a patriarchal looking band, neatly clad in the costumes of those times. They were easy in their manners and moderately sociable. I believe it is one striking characteristic of the Lane family that they were not much inclined to loquacity or to making a great noise and parade in the world."

One of the sons, Dea. Jeremiah Lane of Hampton Falls, prepared an address which was read at the funeral of his father, and afterwards published under the title of "A Tear of Lamentation." It was a beautiful tribute of filial affection, and devout piety. The writer of this article has a copy in his possession. He has also published other pamphlets, one with the quaint title "Some choice drops of Honey from an ancient Hive." Pittsfield Times

May 20, 1870

A NOTICE.---- The annexed document has been handed us, and we put it in print for the benefit of the antiquarian of the future:

Otis H. Whittier, your highway tax in District No 1 for A. D. 1870 is .37

You are hereby notified and warned to appear at Simon P. Towle's gravel pit on Thursday the 19th inst. At 8 o'clock A. M. with shovel to work your tax the work not to exceed one-half by team

SIMEON B. SHAW, surveyor.

Hampton May 14, 1870

May 3, 1870

A NEW HOST,----- Mr. D. C. Wiggin, Conductor Tucker's predecessor as proprietor of the New Hampshire House, in Dover, and an old and successful hotel keeper, has leased the Granite House, at Hampton Beach, on Boar's Head, and will there well provide for Summer visitors. The last season he managed the Winnipisscogee House at Alton Bay, much to the credit of his past reputation.

July 1, 1870

FIELD TRIAL OF MOWING MACHINES,---- The haying season being close at hand, and Mowing Machine Agents as "busy as bees," each claiming superior excellence for the machine he "blows for," the farmers of Hampton and adjoining towns were invited to witness the operation of several different machines at Hampton, on Friday last. Notwithstanding the excessive heat of the day some two hundred "Sons of Toil" assembled to witness the trial. Mr. E. B. Philbrick of Rye was "on hand" with his "Buckeye;" Kelly and Gardner of Exeter "showed up" their Wood Machine; Getchell of Exeter, run the "Kniffin" and also a new machine "The Advance."

J. M. Weare of Seabrook"exhibited"his one and two horse Clipper Machines, and J.T. Brown of Hampton, and I. S. Cram of Hampton Falls, were on hand with a Granite Machine. The Agents agreed on a committee of three, composed of Messrs. C. N. Healey of Stratham, Steven Brown of Kensington, and Jewett Page of North Hampton, to judge of the comparative merits of thee different machines. The field selected for the trial was on the farm of R. F. Williams, Esq. , and was a piece of very heavy, badly lodged clover, on which the stones were very poorly picked. The machines all went in one by one, the Granite drawn by two small horses took the lead, going twice around and cutting the back swath. The Buckeye followed the Granite, cutting two swaths. After the other machines had taken their turn, the Granite came to a second round , as some agents complained that they operated on worse ground than the Granite in its first trial. The same team drew the Wood and the Clipper Machines. Getchell's span of heavy horses drew the Advance and the Kniffen Machines. The Buckeye was drawn by two large horses furnished by its Agent, Mr. Philbrick.

No perimeter being used , the Committee made no report on the draft of the different machines, except that spectators could draw their own conclusions from the appearance of the team pulling the machines.

In their report, publicly made on the ground, the Committee gave decided preference to the Granite Machine, as doing the work better than ant other machine present. The Clipper was pronounced the second best, and the Buckeye the third. They also gave it as their opinion that all the machines on exhibition would do good work on ordinary fields and in good grass. After the show and the report of the Committee the meeting dissolved, and the agents withdrew their respective machines.

July 15, 1870

RAPID PROMOTION,----- Rev. Mr. Durgin of Hampton, who recently received a call from the Congregational Society at Seabrook, has been called by the Casco Street Church, of Portland, Maine. Mr. D. is among the rising men of New Hampshire becoming distinguished alike in the pulpit and the legislature. We would regret to learn of his permanent departure from the State.

July 22, 1870

A COMMERCIAL VISIT,---- The Ocean House, Hampton Beach, was visited, on Saturday last, by the Boston Commercial Association of Dealers in Drugs, Paints, Oils, &c. accompanied by the Earthen Ware and Glass Ware Manufacturers. The occasion was gay, festive, social, genial and generous, many friends being invited to partake of the hospitalities. We acknowledge an invitation through the kindness of Charles E. Folsom Esq., formerly of Exeter. The Exeter Cornet Band, by invitation, furnished good music for the occasion. The party numbered some two hundred, who apparently "had the liberty of the house" and for the time being the servants were subject to their order. The whole party were conveyed to and from the depot, in coaches, arriving by special train from Boston, at about 11o'clock A. M. and departing about 5 o'clock P. M.

The dinner at the Ocean House was the richest and rarest the season could afford, and the after dinner speeches were of the liveliest and spiciest character. No dessert could have equaled them. Major George O. Carpenter presided, and speeches were made by Charles W. Slack, Esq., Farmer Allen, Charles Wiggin, Mr. Binney and others. Mr. Charles Smith read some humorous stanzas for the amusement of the company.

The Paint and Oil Dealers have been accustomed to take an annual excursion on the water. This year it was varied by an an excursion beside the water, and we think the change was considered a good one if we may judge by the evident happiness of the party and its apparent fullness of pleasure and dinner, Come again, we say, and so does Mr. Yeaton of the Ocean House. Among the party we noticed Mr. Henry R. Merrill and Mr. S. W. Dearborn, formerly of Exeter.

July 29,1870

S. B. COFFIN'S SALOON.------ Mr. S. B. Coffin, who keeps a first class saloon at Hampton beach, has, with commendable enterprise engaged the Hampton Falls Cornet Band to furnish music at his saloon, every Wednesday evening, during the season, Mr. C. has the best arranged rooms for comfort and convenience and he always succeeds in obtaining the latest and freshest fruits and edibles. We learn that the Hampton Falls Band, though young in organization, is filled withy the right kind of talent which has been successfully cultivated.

HOTEL OPENED.---- We learn that Mr. Charles Sargent has opened the Leavitt House at Hampton Beach. The friends of Mr. Sargent and the public will find "mine host" always ready, with his sleeves rolled , to give them a substantial dinner or a hot supper, be the same beefsteak or clams. This is just the place to debark for a fishing excursion.

August 12,1870

RAILROAD CROSSINGS.----- There is a culpable neglect of railroad crossings on the part of railroads. Instances are numerous, but the mentioning of one at a time may suffice. The one now in mind is that at Hampton Depot, or near it , which is extremely blind over which there is a great number of persons passing, and to which, we believe, there is neither a gate or a flag man. The town authorities, or rather the town itself, is at fault; for railroads are obliged to protect these crossings, with proper notice given them. We hope the voters of Hampton will not wait for accident and death to admonish them of this necessity.

YACHTING.---- A party of literary men, including T. B. Aldrich, William Lee of the firm of Lee & Shepard, and others, have recently been cruising for pleasure and recreation about the beaches at Hampton and Rye and also visiting the Shoals.

LONGEVITY.----- At the raising of Palmer's barn, in Hampton, in the year 1800, there were eight ladies present, each with a male infant in her arms. Seven of these children are now living, and six of them recently met together and assisted in the moving of John J. Leavitt's store from its former to its present site.

August 19,1870

RAILROAD CROSSING.--- We are informed by a correspondent from Hampton that the Eastern Railroad employs men at the crossings on their railroad, and has done so for two years past. We are pleased to learn of this, and also to make this correction of an error in our last issue.

August 26,1870

DROWNED,---- Frank B. Evans of Derry, arrived at the Granite House, at Hampton Beach, Wednesday afternoon, and after tea went in bathing on the North Beach, leaving his clothes on the beach. He was seen in the water between 7 and 8 o'clock, and has not been seen since. No money was found in his clothes, which lay on the beach all night, although he had $205 in his possession when he left the house of his brother-in -law, Elias S. Evans, in Derry, last Monday. He was 52 years old, and leaves two children, a son and a daughter, both grown up.

DEATH AT BOAR"S HEAD.----- Sunday morning at 3 o'clock, John W. Butterfield, Esq., a lawyer of Boston died at Boar's Head Hotel, from typhoid fever, after a sickness of thirty days, during which time he has been at Hampton Beach, surrounded by his friends and relations from Concord, Mr. Butterfield was a native of Andover, N. H., and the youngest son of the late Samuel Butterfield. For many years he resided in Concord, where he was highly esteemed. he graduated at Dartmouth College in 1861 and studied law with Minot & Mugridge of that city. He was a half brother of William Butterfield, one of the editors of the Patriot. The general sorrow at his death is greatly enhanced by the painful sufferings and precarious condition of Miss White of Concord, to whom the deceased was affianced, and who was ill at the hotel at the time of his death. She was carried to his room during his last moments . The mental agony of the trying hour was too much for her, and during the Sabbath she was in convulsions, and it is feared she will not recover, She is a daughter of Mr. Nathaniel White of Concord. The remains of the deceased were taken to Concord Sunday afternoon by a special train sent to Greenland to meet the funeral party. It was a sad, quiet Sunday at the Boar's Head Hotel. --- Portsmouth Times

September 30, 1870

LARGE YIELD OF POTATOES.----- We understand that Mr. Joseph Ballard of Hampton has raised the past season and recently dug a field of potatoes which averaged a bushel for every seven hills.

SMART.---- There is an old lady in Hampton who unharnesses the horses and attends to feeding them when her sons and others visit her. She is seventy-two years of age and numbers among her connections some of the ablest men of today and of the last century.

October 14, 1870

HAMPTON BEACH IN OCTOBER.----- Almost everybody goes to Hampton Beach in Summer or early Autumn, but very few visit this retreat in October or later than this time. Like true Yankees, all go to the beach when it is too hot inland for endurance and to find coolness and comfort there, but they do not get luxury until the season of frosty nights, the flight of sea birds and when the distant background of maples and other deciduous trees have put on the gaudy drapery of death and decay; in October, the most beautiful month in which to sojourn at Hampton Beach or near the mountains.

Standing on Boar's Head, at this season, the eye pierces farther into the dim distance where sky and sea blend together, both of a brighter but of a different blue than exhibited in July or August. The Shoals rise higher, to the vision , and are more clearly seen. Little Boar's Head looks much like a fortress, and Rye is but a step beyond, so clear is the atmosphere. Agamenticus, with its clearly rounded dome, the first and only sentinel mountain that can be seen at this standpoint, is bluer, and to appearance, miles nearer than in Summer. To the southward the hills of Newbury and bluffs of Cape Ann appear in sharper outline, and the low cottages at Salisbury beach make some show of individuality.

To the rear of Boar's Head, Hampton lies basking in an Autumn sun whose warm radiance is sifted down through a many hued foliage, upon ripened cornfields and a wreath of red Baldwin apples that materially enriches anticipation and the pleasures of the coming winter fireside. Nearer and on the marsh, the haystacks stand like so many burly Dutch burgomasters, maintaining a sort of silent neutrality, just about as expressive of sympathy as is manifested by all nations for the new French republic.

A word for the sunshine. It is a mantle of warmth but not a burden of heat, as when Sirius reigns. It is a light shorn of its caloric; a halo invested with geniality, mildness, mellowness and persuasiveness and inviting to laziness. It is good to sit in, and recline in, sleep in and dream in of October, to be spent in that Paradise where there will be no need of neither Sun nor Moon.

The Zephyrs, not the nor'easters, are as mild as the sun and as gentle as gazelles, touching as lightly as the wands we read of in fiction. They are not gusts or squalls but peaceful, sleepy messengers from mountain highlands or from southern climes.

At this time "the melancholy waste if waters" meets, face to face , the melancholy waste of a street, lonesome and deserted, except by a few fishermen, sportsmen and a few farmers who are drawing loads of dark ribboned seaweed. Almost every house is empty of occupants , with blinds closed, and, in some instances, with doors and windows boarded up. There is no loud rattle of carriages, no hum of chitchat, no suppressed titter or hearty "ha, ha" and no tumbling of bathers in the surf or rustling of silken trails along the walks which, two months since, were so familiar with such sounds, and many others, including the intermittent squeak of "lovyers'" boots by moonlight. Visitors are all gone , gone to the hills, the cities and the villas; gone to the loving embraces of doting papas and mammas and of each other. One thing is left to make the desolateness more desolate, and that is the hulk of an old ship in which so many damsels have sighed and in which so much cheap poetry has been written during the past season. The hotel and saloon keepers have gone with pockets well lined with currency and greenbacks. Take it all in all, it reminds one of

Yet nature is more beautiful, more lovely and decidedly more grandly magnificent than it can possibly be at any other time, excepting in the midst of one of those terrible storms that appall both the landsman and the mariner and strew the coast with wrecks.

October 21,1870

MILITARY REUNION.----- For a considerable time the ex-members of Co. "D," Third N. H., Volunteers, have contemplated holding a reunion, and the affair came off on Saturday, 22d inst., at the Union House, Hampton, in which town a large number of the original members of the company belonged.

The exercises were of a general character, this being the first occasion of the kind. The most important proceeding was the adoption of measures having for their object the carrying out of a favorite project of many prominent ex-members of the Third Regiment, viz: a Regimental Reunion, in furtherance of which object the following resolutions were introduced and unanimously adopted:

Whereas, it is apparent that a regimental reunion would meet the approval of a large number of the ex-members of the Third N. N. Vols., therefore

Resolved, That a committee of arrangements consisting of one ex-officer of each company, be selected by the Secretary of this meeting.

Resolved, That a meeting of the committee be held in Manchester on the last Saturday in April, 1871, to select a location and perfect arrangements for a regimental reunion during that year.

Resolved,, That General John Bedel, the original Major of the Third, (in which capacity he endeared himself to every member of the regiment by his uniform kindness and courtesy in camp, and commanded their respect by his unflinching bravery in times of danger), be invited to deliver an address at the regimental reunion, and that he be requested to communicate with, and invite to be present, the ex-members of the field and staff of the regiment.

Resolved,, That each member of the committee be notified of his appointment by the Secretary of this meeting, and furnished with a copy of these resolutions.

JOHN M. MALLON, Secretary.

The company enjoyed one of those dinners for which the Union House is so famous, spent an hour or two in social converse and "fighting their battles o'er again," and departed for their homes well pleased with the Co. "D" reunion, and confident of meeting some hundreds of their comrades at the regimental gathering, next year.

November 4, 1870

AN OLD BIBLE.---- The oldest bible, probably, in New Hampshire, is kept in the family of Joseph A. Philbrick of Hampton. It was printed in London, in 1583, in English black letter. It contains about 1,300 pages, and is eighteen and six inches in depth as it lies on the table. It weighs twenty-seven pounds. The following account of the Bible was written many years ago, and placed on the fly leaf by the late Rev. Jonathan French of North Hampton,

"English Bible, printed in London in 1583"

The tradition in the Philbrick family is that one of their ancestors, an Englishman, was captain of a vessel, which was captured by a French man-o'-war. The French vessel would afterward have been wrecked, had not Philbrick, by his skill and efforts, been the principal agent in saving it. As an expression of gratitude, his liberty and his vessel were restored to him. This Bible had been taken by the Frenchmen in a former prize. Whether the French, being Catholics, viewed the Great Protestant Bible as a sort of Jonah, or for what other cause tradition does not say, but the Bible was brought on deck, with the intention of casting it into the sea. Philbrick, encouraged by the favor he had found in the sight of his captors, entreated them to give him the Bible. It was given to him. He took it into London, and had it rebound in its present binding.

November 25, 1870

AN OLDER BIBLE.----- Our Hampton Bible, printed in London, in 1583, is placed in the shade, so says the Manchester Union by a Bible in the possession of a Mr. John Smith--- the veritable John--- of Meredith Village. His copy was printed in London, "By Christopher Barker, dwelling in Paternoster Row, at the sign of the Tyger's Head 1577." Mr. Smith says "it has descended in the name of John Smith since it was printed, and of course is very valuable to me." Now, who owns the oldest Bible in New Hampshire?

Our Bibles don't last like these.

December 2, 1870

FOUND.---- Says the Portsmouth Times----Messrs. Smith and Whittier of the Union House at Hampton, have been making great improvements in the stables connected with their hotel, and while moving a large grain box a few days since the workmen found a valuable gold watch and chain, which had evidently been hurriedly thrown underneath the box. Messrs. S. & W. immediately recognized it as the property of Judge Morrill of Austin, Texas, who, with his family, occupied rooms at the house last summer. The watch and chain, which are valued at about $200, were stolen from their rooms, while they were out playing croquet one day in August. Mrs. Morrill missed the valuables and there was such a lively hunt made for them that the thief probably put his plunder out of sight in all possible haste, and never dared try to recover. The proprietors are well satisfied that they know who he is.

December 16, 1870

SUICIDE.---- On Tuesday last, a gloom was cast over the town of Hampton, by the sad news of the death by suicide of one of its respected and aged citizens---- David M. Leavitt Esq. Mr. L. was naturally of a melancholy temperament; and, at times, had become quite despondent, by reason of his owing several small amounts, which he was unable to accumulate money enough to pay; and it is supposed that the fear of coming to want had weighed so heavily upon his mind, that in a temporary aberration he was tempted to end his troubles in death. At 10 o'clock in the morning, he was seen to go from his house to the barn, and at 11:30 his corpse was there discovered suspended from a beam, he having hung himself by a rope. The age of the deceased was sixty years.

December 23, 1870

INSTALLATION AT HAMPTON.---- Rev. James McLean was installed as pastor of the Congregational Church and Society, Thursday, Dec. 15. The following was the order of exercises:

1, Invocation and Scripture reading, Rev. A. B. Peabody, Stratham. 2, Anthem, Awake, put on thy strength, by select choir. 3, Sermon, by Rev. C. R. Palmer, Salem, Mass. 4, Installing Prayer, Rev. M. Campbell, Newburyport. 5, Hymn 6, Charge to Pastor, Rev. Samuel Spaulding, Newburyport. 7, Right Hand of Fellowship, Rev. Chas. Durfee, Newburyport. 8, Anthem, Great is the Lord. 9, Charge to the people, Rev. Geo. M. Adams of Portsmouth. The select choir, which included Mr. Thomas Chase, jr., of the quartette of the South Parish, Portsmouth, and Misses Batchelder of Hampton Falls, was in charge of Mr. J. H. Moulton. Mr. E. A. Hilton, of Portsmouth, presided at the organ. ----Portsmouth Journal