ecessor, Dr. Jeremy Belknap. which were soon to burst upon the country. Doubtless in his law study and in his intercourse with men in different phases of society, he acquired that practical acquaintance with human nature which made available his instinctive and common-sense power of meeting all classes of men. Circumstances led him to change his purpose. He returned north, abandoned the law, and began the study of Theology in the Union Theological Seminary in New York City. Here he remained two years. Here, also, he did regular editorial work on the New York World, of which his brother was founder, and subsequently wrote for the columns of the New York Times. This experience enabled him, later, to write for five years, a large portion of the editorial leaders of the Watchman and Reflector. Leaving New York, he entered Andover Theological Seminary, where, after one year's study, he graduated in 1861. On the 5th of October of that year he was ordained pastor of the Congregational Church in Vergennes, Vt., a position which he resigned August 1, 1864, to accept a call to the Park Church, Hartford, Conn., formerly Dr. Bushnell's, where he was installed September 28. He resigned that charge, and was dismissed March 23, 1869, and was installed pastor of the First Church in Dover, September 1st, following. Mr. Spalding's literary work has been extensive, but mainly upon current newspaper periodicals. This has given him, of course,a valuable directness and clearness of expression. Five sermons have been published: A sermon on the death of Gen. Samuel Strong, of Vergennes, Vt. A sermon on God's Presence and Purpose in War. A Discourse on the 250th anniversary of the settlement of Dover. A Memorial of John P. Hale,a fine specimen of judicious analysis, in which he does justice to the pioneer of the anti-slavery cause in the U. S. Senate-a justice now lately apparently purposely ignored out of a desire to magnify a brilliant but later laborer. A Centennial on the Dover Pulpit in the Revolution, for which he searched and well used the manuscript of his eminent pred Without disparagement to others, it is safe to say that public opinion accords to Mr. Spalding a foremost place among the ministers of New Hampshire. Certainly no pastor of the ancient First Church ever had a greater public respect or a deeper personal affection. Under his ministry large numbers have been added to the church, and his administration of a strong and thinking society goes on without even a ripple. He has been frequently called to attend distant councils, some of great and even national interest, and some where delicate questions required the wisest consideration; and in all cases his calm and deliberate judgment has had an influence inferior to none. In his preaching, one has to study him to get the secret of his influence. There is nothing in it to startle. There is no dramatic exhibition. It is the farthest possible from the sensational. There are never any protruding logical bones. He never indulges in any prettinesses of diction. But a critical analysis (the last thing one thinks of in listening to him) finds some elements. His themes are always elevated themes. One sees the most earnest convictions, held in perfect independence and honesty; a natural development of thought in an always fresh and orderly way; a diction as clear as a pellucid brook; illustrations drawn from wide observation, always simple and frequently beautiful; a genial, sometimes intense, glow pervading his whole discourse; and a dignified but simple manliness throughout. Fully six feet in height, and with liberally developed physique, he impresses one at first mainly with the idea of manly strength. Those who hear him, and especially those who know him, find an equal development of a generous nature which inclines always to sympathy, and with which he answers, in public and private, to every appeal to his helpful power. In doctrine he is understood to hold the main tenets of what is called old theology, but as forces rather than dogmas, and liberally instead of severely applied. Mr. Spalding was a member of the recent Constitutional Convention of New Hampshire. He is also a Trustee of the State Normal School, by appointment of the Governor and Council; and is Chairman of the Dover Board of Education. Ecclesiastically, he is one of the managers of the New Hampshire Missionary Society. ANCIENT INSTITUTIONS IN CONCORD. BY ASA MC FARLAND. 1. THE NEW HAMPSHIRE PATRIOT. Between the years 1790 and 1810 several weekly journals were born and died in Concord. They severally partook of the scrap-book character of the papers of that early period, and exercised very little influence upon public opinion, because important topics were seldom discussed in their pages. Poetry, anecdotes, charades, riddles, with a meagre record of domestic and foreign occurrences, marriages and deaths in the village, with a few advertisements, occupied the sheet. Indeed, the public journals of Boston, during the period here mentioned, partook somewhat of the character of those in country villages. Reference to ancient files of papers, printed in the New England metropolis during the period now under consideration, will fully sustain the assertion that the press of that day had not become a great power in the State. The NEW HAMPSHIRE PATRIOT was established by the late Isaac Hill, Esq., and the year 1809 is the date of a new departure in journalism, so far as this State is concerned. Mr. Hill was a native of Cambridge, Massachusetts, and served an apprenticeship at the printing business with Joseph Cushing, proprietor and publisher of the "Farmer's Cabinet," a paper then and still living in Amherst, this State. The Patriot had been in existence a few months before it came into the possession of Mr. Hill, but its infancy was of sickly nature, and it would have gone the way of many predecessors in Concord but for a change of ownership. Mr. Hill was a gentleman of untiring industry and decided convictions; wrote with facility and vigor, and the pa per soon commenced to exercise an influence upon public opinion, not only in Concord and vicinity, but through a wider range, until it became a controling power in the State. There had been a season of much political warmth ten years before the Patriot became a vital force in New Hampshireimmediately before and during that canvass which terminated in the election of Thomas Jefferson to the Presidency, and the birth of the journal here spoken of was, as seen by the date above given, in a period of no inconsiderable amount of fervor, as events were tending toward a war with England. Mr. Hill entered with zeal into the discussion of public affairs, and his paper was virtually without a competitor in the central, western, southern and northern portions of the State. Like all public journals, even such as number only two or three decades-and the Patriot lacks but about two years of three-score and ten-it has been owned and conducted by several publishers. Its present proprietor is Edwin C. Bailey, Esq. 2. THE NEW HAMPSHIRE STATESMAN. This public journal was commenced in the year 1823, the first number appearing on the 6th day of January, and therefore may be regarded as one of the ancient institutions of Concord. In the early years of the present century, when the present Main Street—a mile and a half long-contained the chief residences, stores and other business buildings, there grew up a degree of jealousy between the North and South End, which exercised a disturbing influence for many years, and entered even into the social relations of the inhabitants. Little feuds sprang up in what was then known as the Republican, in distinction from the Federal party. They at the North End regarded their down-town brethren as desirous of giving law to the party. Conspicuous among the latter were Isaac Hill, William and Joseph Low, Richard Bartlett and Jacob B. Moore; and of their North End brethren were John George, Robert Davis, Samuel Coffin, Abiel Walker, Francis N. Fisk, and Charles and Joseph Walker-all now numbered with the dead. The first publisher of the Statesman was Luther Roby, Esq., who came hither from Amherst, and opened a printing office at the North End, in a building still standing and occupied as a dwelling-house. The first person who had charge of the paper was Amos A. Parker, Esq., who had been in the practice of law at Epping; and it is a somewhat remarkable circumstance that both these gentlemen still live; Mr. Roby in Concord at about seventy-six years, and Mr. Parker in Jaffrey, past procuring to be written and published the many histories of New Hampshire towns. In March, 1823, a literary society in Portsmouth addressed letters to Ichabod Bartlett, Timothy Upham, Alexander Ladd and Nath'l A. Haven, Jr., of Portsmouth; Andrew Peirce, James Bartlett and Charles W. Cutter, of Dover; Stephen Mitchell of Durham; David Barker, Jr, of Rochester; John Kelly of Northwood; William Smith, O. W. B. Peabody and Peter Chadwick, of Exeter; Samuel D. Bell of Chester, and Jacob B. Moore, Richard Bartlett and John Farmer, of Concord—requesting them to meet and make arrangements to celebrate the two hundredth anniversary of the settlement of New Hampshire. A meeting of gentlemen was held in Exeter, March 13th, and, after attending to the subject for which they assembled, they associated with themselves several others present, and proceeded to consider the subject of forming a society, the object of which should be to procure and preserve materials relating to the natural, civil, literary and ecclesiastical history of New Hampshire. Hon. Ichabod Bartlett of Portsmouth was called to the chair, and Professor Hosea Hildreth of Exeter chosen secretary. The meeting resolved that it was expedient to form such a society, and a committee was appointed to call another meeting, to be held at Portsmouth on the 20th of the following May. The meeting took place, and was attended by twenty-one gentlemen, who formed themselves into an historical society, and took measures to procure an act of incorporation. An adjournment was had-Concord being designated as the place in which to re-assemble-and a charter having in the meantime been procured, the first election of officers took 3. THE NEW HAMPSHIRE HISTORICAL place in that city on the 13th of June, four-score. It would be a laborious work, as in the case of the NEW HAMPSHIRE PATRIOT, to write of the mutations which the NEW HAMPSHIRE STATESMAN has undergone; and even if stated in detail, the narrative would possess little or no general interest. Many are the publications which had birth and died in Concord since these journals were commenced, and as to printers and publishers connected with one or the other, they would count a score and William Butterfield, Esq., is the oldest surviving editor of the Patriot; of those who had charge of the Statesman and still live are Amos A. Parker, George Kent, George W. Ela and Asa McFarland-the two first at more than fourscore years; the two last about ten years younger. more. SOCIETY. Two hundred years had passed since the settlement of New Hampshire before the formation of its Historical Society; an institution the utility of which is made manifest to all who have ever examined the contents of its well filled halls and cabinets in Concord,or taken into consideration the influence it has exerted in 1823, as follows: President, Hon. Wm. Plumer, of Epping; Vice Presidents, Levi Woodbury, of Portsmouth, and Bennett Tyler, D. D., President of Dartmouth College; Recording Secretary, John Kelly, of Exeter; Corresponding Secretary, Nathl, Haven, Jr., Portsmouth; Treasurer, George Kent, Concord; Librarian, Jacob B. Moore, Concord; Standing Committee, Nathan Adams and Nathan Parker, D. D., of Portsmouth; Prof. Hosea Hildreth, of Exeter; Committee of Publication, Wm. Plumer, Jr., of Epping, Parker Noyes, of Salisbury, and John Farmer, of Concord. Of the above the only survivor is George Kent, Esq., now residing in the city of Washington, at the age of eighty-one. The first volume of the Collections of the Society appeared in the following year, consisted of 336 pages, and was printed by Jacob B. Moore. Others have been issued as the means of the Societyalways small-have allowed. Its income has from the first consisted almost wholly of initiation fees and the annual tax upon its members; usually two dollars. The Legislature votes a small sum annually-the Society being justly considered its auxiliary in collecting materials of an historical character. For several years succeeding its formation the books, pamphlets, manuscripts and other collections were deposited in an obscure apartment in the State House. Thence they were transferred to a hall over the Concord Bank, and kept there for a very considerable period. The next migration was to an apartment in the Merrimack County Bank building-the Society still having money beneath it, although little or none in its treasury-near the north end of Main Street, where the property of this ancient institution has remained to this day. Several years ago the charter of the bank ceased by limitation, and by a persistent effort the funds-about $3000, were procured with which to purchase the bank building, and it is now the property of the Society. It is of brick, and slated; is three stories high, externally fire-proof, and no fires are permitted in the building. Here the great and very valuable collections of the Society are kept, in charge of a gentleman with the taste, historical knowledge, industrious habits and civil deportment indispensable in the custodian of such treasures-Daniel E. Secomb, Esq.. AGE OF JOHN LOVEWELL. [We copy the following from advance sheets of "Sketches of Old Dunstable," about to be published by E. H. Spaulding of Nashua. It is from the pen of JOHN B. HILL, ESQ., the venerable his torian of Mason, and may be regarded as showing with substantial conclusiveness that John Love. well did not live to the age accorded him.-ED.] John Lovewell of Old Dunstable, did he live to be 120 years old? This question has been debated, but never definitely settled. No record is found of his birth or of his death, nor any entry or memorandum, answering to the character of a record, in which his age at the time of his death is stated. In the years 1825-26 I resided in Nashua, then Dunstable. The tradition was then uniform and unquestioned that this was his age. Fox, whose book was published in 1846, (see Hist. of Dunstable, page 158, note), seems to have doubted the statement, but finally to have yielded credit to it (see page 157), and Kidder (in Expedition of Capt. John Lovewell) adopts the traditional age without question. Mr. Farmer, also, in his letter to me, says he always doubted it, though it seems to have passed into history as an undeniable fact. But it appears to me that a careful examination of all the facts will show that there is no foundation for the statement. During my residence in Nashua I obtained from Moody D. Lovewell, Esq., a descendant of John Lovewell, the loan of the town records and other papers of Old Dunstable, which were then in his keeping, but which I understand are now in the City Clerk's office. This book and papers, purporting to be records of the town and church of Old Dunstable, commencing in 1673 and ending in 1733, contained, as I believe, every existing written document relating to the doings of the town and church during that period. I made a careful copy of everything in this book and these papers which I thought could be of any interest in illustrating the doings of the town and church or the names and fortunes of the residents and owners of lands in the town. Col. Ebenezer Bancroft, my mother's father, born April 1, 1738, was then residing on his farm in Tyngsboro', the second house south of the State line. I had frequent conversation with him during my residence in Nashua, as well as in previous years, in which he was fond of relating incidents of the early history of the town and region and of the early inhabitants. The substance of these conversations I was careful to make minutes of at the time, and to make a record of in the same book. This book is now before me, and I propose to resort to it and other documents in order to contribute my mite towards solving the problem of the age of John Lovewell. count. The committy was Lt. Farwell, John Lovewell, Joseph Blanchard, Jonathan Robens and Thomas Cummings." I find no entry of the name of Lovewell after this date except in the record of births, which are as follows: "John Lovewell, son of John Lovewell, was born 14th of Oct., 1691, (this was Capt. John Lovewell who was killed at Pequacket), Zacheous Lovewell, son of John and fanna lovewell, was born 22 of July, 1701." If he was 120 years old in 1754, he was born in 1634 and was 24 years old when Cromwell died in 1658. He might then have been an Ensign in Cromwell's army according to the family tradition, as stated by Fox, but at that early age it is not probable that he was one of the "Ironsides;" and if it was, that circumstance furnishes no reason why he should flee from his country on the occupation of Charles II., for it was only those who had taken an active part in the administration of civil affairs, who were exposed to punishment by the new rulers. Fox states that he settled in town some years before 1690. His deposition, taken in 1744, states that he was an inhabitant in 1680. His name first appeared in the record in 1687. In the record, the name of his wife in one place is Fanna, in another Hannah, and in the deposition Anna, all being in fact the same name. The birth of his son Jonathan, the Judge, is entered May 14, 1713. If he was 120 when he died, he was 79, and his wife (by the deposition, ten years younger) 69, when this child was born. That a husband 79 and a wife 69 should at that age have a son born who would be smart enough to become a judge, and who lived until 1792, is incredible. I find in the "ministers rate for the year 1686," the names of the tax-payers in town, residents and non-residents. I find no record of the rate in any preceding year. In this rate the name of Love well does not appear, but in the rate for the year 1687 the names of Joseph Lovewell and John Lovewell are entered, each rated at seven shillings. No town rate is set against any name, though seyeral others have the same rates. This is the first appearance of the name in the records. In 1688 John Lovewell, Jr., is one of the surveyors of the highways. In 1689 John Lovewell, Sen., is one of the selectmen. In 1690 Joseph Lovewell is a fence viewer. In 1691 John Love- There is no doubt that Jonathan, the well is a hog constable. In 1693-4 John judge, was the son of John, and the Lovewell is a fence viewer. In 1698 John brother of Captain John. Fox so states, Lovewell is a surveyor of highways. In and Col. Bancroft, who knew him well, 1715 John Lovewell is a field driver. In so stated to me. Now, bearing in mind "1718, Feb. 3, Voted that the selectmen that for several years after 1687, there make a Rate of seventy pounds, also that were taking an active part in the town there shall be a committee of five to affairs, John Lovewell, Sen., and John sarch the town books to see what each Lovewell, Jr., tradition may readily have proprietors grant was, and that no man borrowed some twenty from the years of might have more than his grant was, and the son to add to the father. to see that justice be done on that ac What additional facts are there that |