THE DANA MEETING-HOUSE, NEW HAMPTON
By A. Chester Clark, November 1900
Remote from the village, in the town of New Hampton, stands the Dana Meeting-house which reaches the one hundredth year of age this fall, and which is truly a relic of by-gone days. It is located in a wild and romantic place, surrounded by the ancient homesteads of its builders, and where even the roadside and forests seem to impress one with a sense of the antiquity of the place.
The exterior of the building itself is of ancient design. Three entrances,
one from the front and one from each end, admit to the building. Over the front entrance juts a portico or rude workmanship. The windows are placed high as if to confine the attention of the worshiper within instead of allowing his thoughts to revert to the affairs of the world without.
One must go inside, however, to see this ancient edifice under the most favorable circumstances. Here everything except the simple means for lighting and heating is of an ancient pattern. The pews are large spaces enclosed by rails which are supported by rounds standing on a more substantial base of old growth pine boards. Around these enclosures, on all sides except where entrance is made through a gate, run rude seats of uncushioned pine boards. Thus, the backs of the seats are rigidly perpendicular. These enclosures were originally designed for separate families and a few manifestly for very large families. Some kindly disposed person of late has obtained the names of those who occupied these enclosures in the past and has tacked a card with the name of its former occupant on each pew for the information of those who now visit the place.
Among these names are those of many of the oldest and best-known families of the town. These names are as follows: Daniel Smith and Caleb Ames, Joseph Young, Robert Huckins, Deacon John Huckins, James Flanders, Page Smith, Zebulon Gordon, Benjamin Hanaford, Dr. Simeon Dana, Elder Samuel Thompson, Deacon Nathaniel Drake, Simeon Smith, John Smith, Daniel Randlett, Jonathan Dow, Joseph Smith, Darius G. Drake, James Howe, Stephen S. Magoon, Ira Gordon, Jacob Drake, Winthrop Y. Hanaford, Eben Howe, Benjamin Magoon, John Gordon, Elder Josiah Magoon, Samuel P. Smith and Timothy Dalton, Rufus Prescott, Henry Y. Simpson, Abraham Drake, Levi Smith.
The pulpit is raised to be above the heads of the congregation, and is a long, narrow enclosure reached by a flight of stairs from the front. Immediately in front of the pulpit is a seat facing the congregation, designed to be occupied by the ruling elders.
The story of the establishment of this church is an interesting one. New Hampton was originally a part of that gore of land, including also Centre Harbor, purchased by Gen. Jonathan Moulton in 1765 of Governor Wentworth, the purchase price being an ox fattened for the purpose and decorated with a British flag. Ten years later the first inhabitants came, and in 1777 the town was incorporated. These early settlers were Congregationalists, and June 8, 1789, began the erection of the first church building. Funds not being available the town came to the rescue and finished the edifice on condition that it should be used for town purposes. This building still stands. The denomination which began its erection has ceased to exist as a working factor in the town, but the town-meetings are still held in the old building each year.
There were some, however, among the early settlers who were not pleased with the idea of a paid ministry; and when, in 1799, Rev. Winthrop Young, of Canterbury, a preacher of the then recently formed denomination of “Freewill Antipedo Baptists” came to town and preached to them they readily accepted his doctrines, and January 6, 1800, organized a church of sixty-four members. The Congregationalists were now fully aroused and at the town-meeting held March 20, the town voted to settle the Rev. Mr. Hibbard as the first regular minister in the town. The Freewill Baptists voted against this, but being outnumbered they entered the following protest at an adjourned meeting held May 5:
To the Selectmen of New Hampton:
Whereas, you have lately called a meeting and voted to raise a certain sum of money to hire preaching in said town, this is, therefore, to certify that we, the subscribers, have no fellowship with raising money to pay those who preach for hire, or divine for money; and as the constitution we live under gives liberty of conscience, we wish to continue a free people, and desire you not to tax us with any part of such sum or sums, as may be raised for such use, as we are determined not to pay it.
This protest, couched in such strong language, was granted.
The new organization, however, had no regular place in which to hold their services. For a number of months meetings were held at private houses and even in barns, as was oftentimes the custom with the early settlers. The town very reluctantly granted the use of the meeting-house for a session of the New Durham Quarterly Meeting with which the new church had united. The religious flame now raging beyond the control of the established church was undoubtedly fanned by the zealous preaching of the early fathers who met there on this occasion. The church grew, and, at about this time, the question of building a new meeting-house began to be agitated. In the fall of 1800, another church edifice was begun. This edifice is the old Dana Meeting-house. Although in May of this same year, when an assessment was made on all the churches of the denomination, New Hampton paid an amount exceeded by only two other churches, yet the new organization was poor and for four years the building was without seats other than those made from a few pine boards placed around the walls. After the lapse of this time the present unique pews were put into place. The building was now complete and was dedicated in 1805.
The accounts of the meetings held here in the early days are very interesting. The following from Rev. I.D. Stewart’s History of the Freewill Baptists tells of the session of the New Durham Quarterly meeting held here May 20, 1801:
About forty Christian friends, on their way through Laconia had fallen into the company of each other, and arrived at the farm house of Samuel Crockett just before noon. He kept “pilgrim’s tavern” and would have them all stop and dine. Two hours were spent in either cooking, eating, singing, prayer, or devout conversations; when man and beast being refreshed, they journeyed onward to the Meredith church where a meeting was held in the orchard of Deacon Pease. By the time they were ready to depart the next morning, the procession numbered one hundred strong, all on horseback, constituting an imposing and holy cavalcade. Randall led the van and a couple of hour’s ride brought them to the place of meeting. As they approached, all united in a song of praise. The hills and woods resounded with the song and the effect upon themselves and those at the house of God, who bade them welcome, was peculiarly impressive. The meeting of business soon commenced, and “the most beautiful order was observed through the whole audience”, of five hundred in number. As they reassembled the next day, it is said that “the glory of God so filled the house that there was no room to enter upon business for the space of two hours and upwards. The scene was indescribably glorious”.
Elder Benjamin Randall, who was the founder of the denomination, came here again in January 1805, to attend the quarterly meeting. So great was the power of his preaching that the congregation listened “until dark”. Here also came, in 1811, John Colby, the young and talented itinerant. David Marks, whose travels in the interest of the church encompassed many states, was at the yearly meeting held here I 1832, and preached in a nearby grove.
Other preachers of note have come here from time to time but none has left a deeper impression than those who spent their lives in this town.
First and foremost among these stands Simeon Dana, the preacher-physician, whose name has been perpetuated by being attached to the church. Dr. Dana was a native of Lebanon, having been born there is 1776. Unlike a large per cent of the Freewill Baptist clergy of that time, he was well educated, having been a student at Dartmouth. When a young man of twenty-two years he came to New Hampton to take up the practice of his profession, or, “if the people desired it, to teach a district school, singing school, or dancing school”. Soon afterwards he was converted under the labors of Elder Young, and December 8, 1803, was ordained in company with Josiah Magoon. From this time until his death in 1853, a period of fifty years, he continued to minister to the spiritual needs of this and surrounding communities. Wherever he went, whether to nurse the sick or preach the gospel, he was looked upon as model of true manhood by his large circle of acquaintances. One of Dr. Dana’s sons, John A. Dana, became a noted physician, practicing at Ashland, and was also quite closely identified with the Free Soil movement and well known in musical circles. Inheriting this latter talent, his daughter, Mrs. Martha Dana Shepard, is now one of New England’s best known pianists.
Rev. Josiah Magoon, mentioned above, was eighteen years the senior of Dr. Dana, having been born in Kingston, January 23, 1758. He fought gallantly through the War for Independence, and among other engagements was present at the capture of Ticonderoga. In 1793 he settled at New Hampton. Being ordained, he preached in turn with Dr. Simeon Dana and Rev. Thomas Perkins at the home church, and also itinerated in the neighboring towns of New Hampshire, Vermont, and Maine. At the close of his life he was in his eighty-third year.
Rev. Thomas Perkins was well known not only in New Hampton and vicinity, but throughout the state. For eleven years he was a member of the New Hampshire legislature, where he gained a reputation as a man of sound judgment and of the highest integrity. The town also honored him with seventeen elections to the board of selectmen. Elder Perkins was a native of Haverhill, Mass., where he was born February 22, 1783. On his thirteenth birthday he came, with his father, to New Hampton. Here under the preaching of Elder Young he was converted but was not ordained until 1816, although he had been preaching for a number of years. Habitually in the various quarterly and yearly meetings of the denomination his thoughtful countenance was looked upon with confidence, and his well-weighed words of counsel carried a deep and lasting influence. Six times he was called to act in the general conference of the denomination, and here also he was looked upon with the same high esteem. Modest and unassuming in his manner, “his light was unlike that of the blazing comet, but very like the clear, pure, silver star that is never dim”.
Another of the converts of Elder Young in the memorable revival of 1799, was Samuel Thompson. He, too, afterwards became a preacher, being ordained in 1836. He was in the legislature of 1811 and 1812, representing New Hampton. Afterwards he represented Holderness, his native town, for two terms.
For many years after its organization the Dana church was remarkably prosperous for one located in a farming community. Many years saw a large annual addition to its membership, but as the first three quarters of a century drew to a close it had suffered much by the death of many of its most staunch supporters and the removal of others to a different part of the country. Therefore, in the early seventies it transferred its membership to the Freewill Baptist church, organized at the village when New Hampton Institution passed from the control of the Baptists to that of the Freewill Baptists.
Yet services are still held here each Sunday, sometimes conducted by the pastor of the village church, sometimes by a student from the Institution, or often by a visitor in the town. Among these last was the late Rev. Adoniram Judson Gordon, D.D., the lamented pastor of the Clarendon Street Baptist church of Boston, who returned here to his native town each summer to breathe the pure air of its hills and vales. As a boy he had visited the sacred edifice, and as age grew upon him he loved to gaze upon its antique architecture. Here he preached sermons such as thousands came to hear in his city church. Nor was he lacking in auditors at this place, for from miles around the citizens came to listen to the noted divine. But the burdens of years was resting on the building erected under such great difficulties by the devout Christians of early days and lest no other should take the work of repairs in hand Dr. Gordon himself contributed his money and influence to its preservation. It was newly clapboarded and shingled and otherwise repaired, but the individuality of the building was preserved in every detail. It now stands with all the impressiveness that a hundred years can give to greet the traveler who comes from far and near to view this ancient home of religion.
This was published in the November issue (#5) of the Granite Monthly: A New Hampshire Magazine, volume XXIX, 1900
Note: This reproduction is text only, as the original included numerous photos.
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