CS 71 
 .B26 
 1902 
 Copy 1 
 
 TiawMarM,wMy'*ak.a)«ij>i«35iit:^yrw^^ 
 
 '.^ 
 
 ADDRESS DELIVERED BEP'ORE METHUEN, 
 MASS, HISTORICAL AND GENEALOGICAL 
 SOCIETY, MARCH Ilth, 1896. 
 
 BUSY METHUEN MAN 
 
 AND 
 
 HIS DESCENDANTS 
 
 OR 
 
 A STORY OF THE OLDEN TIME. 
 
 BY DEACON JOHN E. FOSTER. 
 
 WEST H II-L PRKSS, 
 
 ITHACA NEW YORK. 
 1902. 
 

 
A BUSY METHUEN MAN AND 
 HIS DESCENDANTS. 
 
 The rticords of the early settlers have 
 furnished an unlailmg source of romantic 
 themes for the historian, poet and novel- 
 ist. A wierd interest clusters around de- 
 serted houses and old cellar holes tilled 
 with the accumulated brush of ages. 
 Specters come up from the vasty depths 
 of old wells. Imagination runs riot along 
 the overgrown highways and by-ways j| 
 trod by the pioneers who fought the great 
 battle of life under difficulties that we 
 know nothing about. It was in the tinte | 
 that tried men's souls and brought to the 
 
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 »« ■! <.< • mjsn. tDtmLMA ixM^ ui m^ mmeam/ns^r'^afi 
 
f 2 A BUSY METHIEN MA?«. 
 
 
 front the stuti' of which they were made. 
 The men and the women who first pitched I 
 their tents and built their cabins in the I 
 waste and howling wilderness were he- 
 roes and heroines of no ordinary type ; 
 I they laid the foundation ; they commenc- 
 
 I ed to unroll the volume of the book filled 
 
 H 
 
 I with antique thoughts, that breathed ol a 
 
 p paradise, of home, of family, of fireside, 
 
 |j of independence, of liberty to worship 
 
 H God according to the dictattes of their own 
 
 ^ consciences, with none to dictate, to mo- 
 
 i\ lest or make afraid. 
 
 I Is this record of a people passed away I 
 
 I a strange one? Not at all. The inspira- U 
 
 b tion of necessity was upon them, that i 
 
 fi ner/ed them to endure hardness, to ac- Fj 
 
 I complishthe fixed purpose of their hearts. 
 n Illustrious examples ol this we have all 
 ^ along the pathway of history. 
 
 I Noble success is not found at the end 
 
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A nUSY METHCEN MAN. } 
 
 of tlowery paths. Persistant struggle is 
 the price of achievement. 
 
 Prior to the incorporation of the town 
 of Milford, N. H., in 1794, a goodly 
 number of sturdy, enterprising families 
 had taken root in soil that then became 
 Milford. These lamilies were distributed 
 in all tlie component parts that were at 
 that time incorporated into a town of 
 which its inhabitants have never been 
 ashamed. Many of those old families are 
 represented in the town to day. 
 
 As the original roots died out, new 
 
 and vigorous shoois sprung up that had 
 
 their period ol growth, of br<inches, of | 
 
 ft 
 buds o; promise, flowers ol beauty, i\nd p 
 
 a fruitage that has been inwrought into 
 
 the warp and woof of the Milford Town 
 
 History, cropping out there in the record 
 
 of every one of a hundred years. 
 
t» fcTrarrr^ y*ry.f9aTaiMM Kai£ag.a«a gir£lgg ES^^ 
 
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 4 A BUSY MBTHUBN MAN. g 
 
 Some years before the incorporation of 
 the town, a family had been transplanted 
 from Massachusett's soil and placed on 
 the boundary line that separated Amherst 
 N. H. from HoUis which passed over 
 Federal Hill in its course from east to 1 
 weH. 
 
 The name of Barker is synonymous 
 with Tanner, in the dialogue between 
 King Edward the Fourth and the Tanner 
 of Tamworthy we have the following 
 lines ; — 
 
 •*What craftsman art thou?" said the 
 King, 
 
 *'I pray thee tell me trowe," 
 **I am a Barker," Sir, by my trade : 
 
 Now tell me what art thou?" 
 
 The family of Dca. Nehemiah Barker | 
 which early drifted to New Hampshire 
 from the old historic town of Methuen, 
 Mass., in the ever ceaseless march of 
 
I A BUSY METHUEN MAN. 5 
 
 ^ empire and civilization from east to west. 
 
 I 1 he pnrent stnck w as planted in the an- 
 
 ■j cienttownot Haverhill, Mass., way back 
 
 i under his Majesty's reign, King George 
 
 a the Second. 
 
 The town of Haverhill is one that is 
 beautiful for situation, built upon a gentle 
 aclivity on the north bank of the Merri- 
 mack River. Many years ago the town 
 was famous tor its handsome bridges, its 
 various manufactures , its navigation its 
 landscape scenery : Golden Hill, Silver's 
 Hill, (both typical of these days,) Plug, | 
 Round, Great and Creek Ponds, fine in- 
 land Lakes covering area of 750 acres. 
 In its early years it was particularly 
 famous as headquarters and camping 
 ground for the Indians, the Pawtuckets. 
 I remember in my boyhood days the 
 ^ thrilling interest that took p. ssession of 
 ^ my whole being as I read the account of 
 i 1 
 
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 A BUSY METHUEN MAN' 
 
 'StTESS 
 
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 £23 
 
 the cruel capture of Haanih Dustin of 
 Haverhill, in March, 1695. Confined to 
 her bed with an infant only six days old, 
 sht* and her nurse, Mary Nift', with her 
 iniant were carried away by the Indians. 
 The infant soon became an incumbrance, 
 and its head was dished against a tree in 
 the sight of its mother, who with the nurse 
 weri carried on to Dustin's sland in the 
 Met-rimack, near the mouth of the Con- 
 toocook. There th«y were notified that 
 they must "jc stripped and run the gaunt- 
 let through the village: but that night, 
 while the Indian band slumbered and 
 slept the heroic Mrs. Dustin and nurse 
 conceived the plan and carried it into ex- 
 ecution, ot dispatching ten of the twelve 
 
 with the Indian hatchets and returned to 
 their homes bearing with them the Indian 
 scalps, for which prowess the Great and 
 General Court awarded a grant of fifty 
 pounds. 
 
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 A BUSY METHUBN MAN. 7 
 
 As early as 1724. we find Stephen 
 Barker, a then prominent man in Haver- 
 hill, Mass., heading a vigorous move- 
 ment for a new town to be taken from that 
 
 township. He biings a petition before the 
 Great and General Court for that purpose. 
 The opposition was strong on the part of 
 Haverhill, but Stepehen and his helpers 
 prevailed, and Methuen, named after 
 Sir Paul Methuen, was incorporated, 
 and Stephen Barker was empowered by 
 the said Court to call the first town meet- 
 ing, which was held March 7th, 1736, at 
 which meeting he was elected on the first 
 board ofseieccnin of the new town, and 
 soon held commission as "justice of the 
 peace." 
 
 At the first town meetino- it was voted \q 
 *'that the selectmen have power to agree | 
 with an orthodox minister to serve in the 
 
 ^ 
 
I 8 A BUSY M vTHUSN MAK. 
 
 work of the ministry for the year ensuing 
 
 I and not to exceed five and forty pounds 
 and iiud minister his diet." 
 
 Stephen Barker took an active part in 
 
 I locating and ejecting a meeting house, 
 which was on Po^vder House Hill, but, 
 ere the frame was co\rered, local conten- 
 tions grew .^o strong it was taken down 
 and removed to Meetinor House Hill, 
 where later it was closed in and made 
 ready for dispensing the gospel, and at a 
 special town meeting for the purpose, it 
 was vo=;ed to "appoint a day for fisting 
 and prayer to spread our u.iited supplica- 
 tions before the Lord for his crracious as- 
 
 I sistance and conduct in our eadeavors to 
 settle a minister among us." 
 
 Later on the minister was settled and 
 the town -^voted that there shall be 
 but one pew in the meeting house and 
 
 p that to be for the minister'^ lamily, the 
 
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 IS 
 
 
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 A BUSY METHUJSN MAN. 
 
 rest to be fitted with se?/cs.'' 
 
 In a little more than forty years of the 
 early history of that church, sixty child- 
 ren of the Barker family were baptized 
 and one of the early deacons was Ebene- 
 zer, son of Stephen, and later Nehemiah, 
 son of Ebenezer Barker, filled the office 
 of deacon creditably up to the lime he re- 
 moved to HoUis (now Milford, N. H.) in 
 1787. 
 
 Ebenezer Barker, Esq., son of Steph- 
 en Barker, Esq., was tor the time in 
 which he lived a well educated man, a 
 man of ability and business tact, possess- 
 ing to a great extent family characteris- 
 tics inherited from a long line of ancestry 
 
 back and transmitted to hisdecendants in 
 a descerding line, to the end of the Bar- 
 ker chapter. These characteristics were 
 conscientious honesty and strict integrity 
 of character ; a race possessed of strong 
 
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 s»'^s^?^0itif^s!^^>;s:^^m2^^i^Bf^sit^:!^smss^^^^is^^s'^:^^^^ss^^!sms,^: 
 
lO A BUSY METHUEN MAX. 
 
 
 conviciiong and religious tendencies. 
 
 Ebenezer Barker was one of the busy 
 men of his day. As deacon of the church 
 he wa« practicfevlly and actively interested 
 in all that pertained to its life and work : a 
 leader and moving spirit in the affairs of 
 town, holding for many years the office of 
 town treasurer, and often on the board of 
 ualect men. He was teacher in the pub- 
 lic schools, and sometimes kept a select 
 school. He was sought after to adminis- 
 er upon estates, and write the wills of 
 of those expecting to die, which wills 
 
 were worded in the most solemn and re- 
 ligious way. When differences of opinion 
 
 arose among neighbors and fellow-towni- 
 men the settlement was often referred to 
 Ebenezer Barker, 
 
 As Justice of the Peace, he drew up 
 nearly all of the legal papers, agree- 
 ments, bonds, writs of attachments, re- 
 
i-] 
 
 A BUSY METHUBN MAN. II 
 
 turnable to himself as trial justice. He, as | 
 His ^fajesty's Justice solemnized or legal- | 
 ized many of the marriages ; so many 
 that at the time of his decease twenty of 
 those marriages had not been recorded 
 by the Town Clerk and a bill of eight 
 shillings was filed in the administratoj 's 
 account to pay the same. 
 
 A certificate of publishment was as fol- 
 lows : — 
 
 "These lines may certify whom it may 
 come before, that Thomas Webster of 
 Kingston and Elizabeth Merriett of Me- 
 thuen hath been published in Methuen 
 by posting their names and intentions on 
 the Meeting House door and no objections 
 hath been made against their proceeding 
 marriage. 
 
 Richard Whittier, Town Clerk. 
 Dated at Methuen, July 4th, 1765. 
 

 
 ?1 
 
 % 
 
 12 A BUSY MKTHUEN MAN. 
 
 The following commission was granted 
 to Ebenezer Barker, at Boston, on the 
 
 fourth day of Feb., 1762, in the second 
 
 year of the reign oi George the Third : — 
 
 By the G/ace of God, of Great Britain, 
 trance and Ireland, King Defender of 
 of the Faith, & c. 
 
 To all unto whom these presents shall 
 come, Greeting. Know ye that we have 
 assigned and constituted and do by these 
 presents assign, constitute and appoint 
 our trusty and well beloved Ebenezer Bar- 
 ker, --£sq., to be one of our Justices to 
 keep our peace in t-ie County of Essex, 
 in our Province of the Mass. Bay in New 
 England. 
 
 Under this commission he was to cause 
 to be kept the laws and to chastise and 
 punish all persons offending aginst them 
 and to have before him all those that 
 shall break the peace or attempt anything 
 against it. He was to enquire into all man- 
 
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 z^^^ssss^s^^mr^ 
 
- ■• 5.-■^ '»? A- 
 
 A BUSY METHUEN MAN. I3 
 
 ner of thefts, trespassesj riots, routs and 
 
 unlawful assemblies and all and singular 
 
 other misdeeds and offences which were 
 
 against the common good of the Province. 
 Three months oefore this commission 
 
 was granted the Great and General 
 
 Court of his Majesty's Province enacted 
 
 the following laws : — 
 
 "Be it enacted by the Governor and 
 Council, and House of Representatives — 
 That every person or persons that shall 
 after first day of Dec, next, assault, rob, 
 and take from the person of another, in, 
 or upon, any highway, street, passage, | 
 field, or open place, any money, goods, 
 clothing or other things whatsoever, and 
 shall thereof be convicted shall be adjudg- 
 ed guilty of felony, and suffer the pains 
 
 of death accordingly, without benefit ol 
 the clergy." 
 
 Also. -'Whoever shall be convicted of 
 assaulting or offering any violence, or 
 insolence to any woman or womankind 
 
14 A BU8Y METIIUEN MAN. 
 
 in the fields, streets, or lanes of any town 
 or despoiling thein, damnifying or defac- 
 ing any of their attire or ornaments, or 
 attempting the same, shall be publicly 
 whipped not exceeding ten stripes, or by 
 beinor committed to the house of correc- 
 tion for thirty days and receive the disci- 
 pline of the house and tmd surities for 
 good behavior in tlie future." 
 
 To these laws I think miglit be appen- 
 ded the Bible reason for the execution of 
 wholesome laws, '-That thus shall ye put 
 evil away from among you/' 
 
 I find that those old Provincial Laws of 
 Mass, were almost identical with those of 
 N. H., at the same time. In New Hamp- 
 I shire the least offence referred to was to 
 be punnished by being tied to the public 
 whipping post and receive ten stripes well 
 laid on for the fir3- offence, and in addi- 
 tion to the whipping, they were to be 
 branded in the hand. What young lady 
 
i 
 
 A BUSY METHU3N MAN. 1 5 | 
 
 would, I ask, accept the burnt hand and I 
 link her deslin}' to a graduate from the | 
 ^vhipping post? For drunkenness, for the | 
 first offence, a fine of five shillings, and if | 
 the convict was not able to pay the fine, | 
 he was to be set in the stocks not more 
 than three hours. For profane cursing and 
 first offence a fine of one shilling: it not 
 paid the culprit was to sit in the stocks 
 two hours ; for more than one profane 
 oath at the same time a fine of two shil- 
 lings and to be set in stocks three hours. 
 One legal document drawn b}^ Ebene- 
 zer Barker, Esq, seven years after re- 
 ceivinof bis commission is recorded in 
 HoUis History, page 117 ; it is a deed of 
 sale oi two human beings, a negro nan, 
 Cicero, also a negro vvoman, Dinah, the 
 consideration being the sum of sixty 
 pounds : deeded by Jacob Whittier of Me- 
 thuen, Mass., to Col. David Webster, of 
 
l6 A BUSY METHUKN MAX. 
 
 tasj iii.>.-4ja i ig i^ uu 'i iJiiuLi^ ' i iii « 
 
 Plymouth in the Province of New Hamp- 
 shire. Those slaves taken to Plymouth 
 formed a part of the 384 slaves held in 
 New Hampshire at that date. Two more 
 were owned in Hollis. 
 
 The first regular newspaper published in 
 this country was the Boston News Letter 
 started by John Jampbell in April, 1704 : 
 the first number was carried to Harvard 
 as a great curiosity. The News Letter was 
 a weekly of ver} small size, but it wai 
 enough for the city population of eight 
 thousand. In 17 14, twenty years later, 
 there were four papers with a yearly cir- 
 culation of only 170,000 copies : the pop- 
 ulation was then one million. 
 
 In 1775 there were 37 papers publish- 
 ed in the country : in 1800 we find 359. 
 We have drifted far away from the time 
 
 of Campbell, who could hardly print 
 three hundred copies in a week. Now the 
 
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^S^B^^S^^S^^^2^E:^S£3S^^^^^M:;^^mS2»J 
 
 A BUSY METHUBN MAN. 
 
 17 
 
 i 
 
 New York World has a daily circulatiou 
 of nearly 6:0,000 and several other dai- 
 lies have about: the same. The total nura- 
 berof papers now published in this coun- 
 try is 17,960, a larger number than is 
 now (1896; publiiihcd in England, Ger- 
 many, France and Italy combined. When 
 we consider the immense circulation of 
 these papers and the number of pages, 
 we are truly amazed at the progress and 
 power of the press since the days of Ebe- 
 nezer Barker, but we have abundant rea- 
 son to fear that all these leaves are not 
 tor the healing of the nations : from the 
 influence of some of them at least, we 
 may wed offer the Sheriff's prayer, "God 
 save the State." 
 
 To illustrate the common occurence 
 of those days, I quote from the Essex Ga- 
 zette of Feb. 16,1771, published at Salem 
 to which Mr. Barker was a subscriber : — 
 
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 ^m.^^^s^!S^Mms^s^Msmi:3ss-^^s^^^^s^3 
 
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 l8 A BUSY M3THUBN MAN. 
 
 I "Yesterday between eleven and twelve 
 
 o'clock, two men were brought to the i 
 post, one of v/hich received twenty lashes | 
 well laid on, being convicted of breaking | 
 open the store of Mr. Isaac Hill of Dover. 
 The other received ten stripes, b^ing con- 
 victed of stealing a sheep. They were 
 
 both afterward remanded to Gaol." 
 
 Now the reporter of the above does not | 
 
 say v^^hat was done with the stolen sheep 
 butproceeda to say that an extraordinary | 
 fat sheep was brought to the market, 
 I v/hich weighed thirty pounds to the quar- 
 ter and the tallow twenty -two pounds and 
 that all who saw it declared it to be the 
 fattest sheep that was ever brought to 
 
 Boston market or any other ; and that 
 Lt. Gov. Hutchinson purchased one side 
 of it, and the Hon. John Hancock, Esq., 
 the other. 
 
 Who of us has not admired the patriotic 
 
A BUSY METHUEN MAN. 1 9 | 
 
 inspiration that thrilled the soul andnerv- | 
 
 •" 
 y ed the arm that penned the first bold sig- | 
 
 nature to that immortal declaration of M 
 
 U 
 
 American Independence, but can we Ion- ^ 
 
 k 
 
 ger wonder, when we know that he lived N 
 
 on the fattest m.utton ever sold in Boston l\ 
 
 1 market? This side of mutton was bought | 
 
 about five years before that old his- | 
 
 toric autograph was placed upon the | 
 
 charter of American Independence, but 
 the supply of fat muttton might have held 
 
 out, for the same paper reports that there 
 
 were about twenty more sheep on the 
 
 the eame farm nearly as good. 
 
 The newspaper reporter is no new in- 
 vention, for we find that away back in 
 those old bygone times he was ever alert 
 for something sensational, and perhaps 
 there was no place where he could find 
 more feeling items than at the public 
 whipping post where he couH note the 
 
amj^siUii^*A 2SZ£2^:^3S^^^:T:i. 
 
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 ■S&h*i^i^:»-^^i^'r\*r.'fS'! *»-• 
 
 20 
 
 A BUSY METHUEN MA5?. 
 
 
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 records of physlcii p.M*sua:?ion well laid i 
 
 i 
 
 on. 
 
 -Vlassachaseiij at that time had a Dro- 
 
 vliiclal government under his Maje-^-ty. 
 Kin'.]f 3.vor,;ye, s) thi editor was exD3Ct ed 
 to keep in touch with England as we'l as 
 
 « 
 
 America and post his readers on current 
 
 events on both sides of the water. 
 
 English society v'^.'as greatly agitated at 
 
 the time over the momentous question of 
 war or no war with Spain on account of 
 
 the Falkland Islands, which were con- 
 sidered of but little account anyway ; so 
 the editor facetiously says : 
 
 Did Oliver Know 
 
 In the regions below, 
 '•^h at insults from Spain .vi n>vV o^ir, 
 Fle'd forget all his pains 
 And rattle his chains 
 And bellow aloud for war. 
 
 Ebenezer Barker li'/jd to a srood old 
 
 te^fSB^isai£d^f^-JS£ra.S^^ss5gg^:??:^Taiv.rgt-'>.^\^',-^ 
 
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 A BUSY >€BTHUEIf MAN. 11 ; 
 
 age, having filled his life with usefuhiess, i 
 doing iaithiully whatever feis hands found 
 to do. He died in 177 1, leaving but lit- 
 tle of this v/orlds goods, but a good name 
 which is rather to be chosen than great 
 riches. 
 
 His son Nehemiah, then 36 years of 
 age, had already become an active busi- 
 ness man, filling positions ol tru?it and re- 
 sponsibility iu the church and the town. 
 Feb., 1777, he was drafted for the Revo- 
 lutionary war, having received notice on 
 Dec. 5, 1776 to be ready at a minutes 
 warning;, agreeable to General Court act, 
 but being unable to go at the time, he put 
 in a substitute for three years paying four- 
 teen pounds in addition to the bounty 
 which was paid by the town ot Methu- 
 en to Nathan Barker, substitute — 17 cattle 
 one year old, and paper money, ^£. 
 
 I notice that in those days it was cus- 
 
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 22 A BUSY MSTHUBN MAN. 
 
 toniarv on the death of a husband for the 
 surviving widow to put on mourning at 
 the expense of the estate, filing a bill 
 therefor. When Nehemiah Barker ad- 
 ministered on his father's, Ebenezer Bar- 
 kei^s e.^late, the Hon. Nathaniel Roger??, 
 Judge of Probate, allowed the widov/ for 
 mourning, tsvo pounds, which was filed as 
 part of the administrator's account. 
 
 In 1782, Dea. Nehemiah Barker, then 
 52 years old, having dispDSjd of his es- 
 tate in Methuen, removed with bis family 
 toHollis, N. H. : his son Joel, then 33 
 years ol age accompanied him, and they 
 settled on the farm now owned and occu- 
 pied by Moses Freeman Foster on Feder- 
 al Hill, Milford. which farm remained in 
 possesion of the Barker lamily for many 
 years. 
 
 Soon after the settlement of the family 
 in HoUis, N. H., the young man Joel had 
 
 4 
 
 ^^s3a^^ S5KajL^Kaa^a.4iiiai^!tJj*58iia : ay a3^ 
 
i 
 
 A BUSY METHUEN MAN. 33 
 
 occasion to cross the lot to the nearest 
 neighbor, Edward Fosters to borrow 
 some article desired by his mother for cu- 
 linary purposes. When he returned he 
 astonished bis mother by declaring that 
 he saw a beautiful little girl over there and 
 he had already decided to wait until she 
 grew up and have her for his \vife. 
 
 This was indeed a romantic resolution 
 lor a young man 23 years old to make, 
 but no more »ti*ange than than true ; that 
 resolution took possession of his whole 
 being and the interest then awakened in 
 that baby girl, as the years went on, ri- 
 pened into love, and became mutual, and 
 the young Joel often had errands across 
 the lot, when not sent br his moth«r, and 
 perhaps the old folks thought the visits 
 were too frequent and too long, *'but such 
 is life," as some of us have known by ex- 
 perience. So to Joel and Sally life began 
 
n 
 
 Si 
 
 n 
 
 R 
 
 24 A BUSY METHUEN MAN. 
 
 to take oa a ntiW meaning : after waiting 
 and vvnlchlng eleven years, on Christmas 
 
 eve, 1793, they stood at the marriage altar 
 and mutually pledged to walk the ways 
 oflife together till death do part. 
 
 From this union originated the Barker 
 family as known by the older citizens of 
 ]^,Iilford,N. II. The children were Joel, 
 Benjamin, John and James ; Hannah, Sa- 
 rah, Nancy and Mary. They all emi- 
 nently inherited the sturdy, conscientious 
 honesty of the race from which they de- 
 scended. Yet the boys were boys, and 
 
 had some of the peculiarities of other 
 boys and one ol those peculiar things was 
 
 to slip their heads out of the mishaps or 
 wrong doings on the farm. On one oc- 
 casion the father walked out into the corn 
 field early in the afternoon vi^here the four 
 boys had been hoeing all the forenoon. 
 The object of his visit seemed to be to see 
 
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 A BUSY METHUBN MAN. 25 f 
 
 if the work was faithfulh/ performed. | 
 Stopping and carefully scanning o'ae row | 
 he enquired who hoed it. Three ot the | 
 boys, Benjamin, Joel and James, declar- | 
 edthat John had hoed it. The father | 
 made no reply, but carefully looked along 
 several rows, then stopped and said ; 
 
 "Who hoed this row?" 
 
 "John," all answered in chorus. 
 
 The third lime the father tested them 
 but the response was the same, "John 
 hoed that row." 
 
 The old gent then came up to the boys | 
 and in a very quiet and sarcastic manner, t\ 
 said, "John, you have done your work | 
 vex-y well, and 1 think you have done r« 
 more than your share ; you can have the | 
 rest of the day to yourself, but the rest of 1 
 
 vou boys see to it that you work and work | 
 
 I 
 well till sunset." and they learned a whole- | 
 
 some lesson. | 
 
'. -1 
 
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 26 A BUSY M'STHUBN MAN. 
 
 These four boys grew to man*s estate. 
 Joel, only, married in early life ; he and 
 his estimable wife pursued the even ten- 
 or of their v. ay together for nearly 
 half a century. She was a woman of fine 
 education, culture and refinement, and 
 these were coupled witli an excel- 
 lent christian character. Thev had no 
 children but cared for those, of other peo- 
 ple. Benjamin and John married later in 
 life ; James never married. Not a child 
 was left to perpetuate the Barker name, 
 which has become extinct in Miford, and 
 nearly so at Methuen^ one family only 
 remaining in Methuen, and they have no 
 children. Three of the daughters lived 
 to marry and have families. Mary mar- 
 ried Hiram Wheeler, lived in Nashua and 
 had two children, but the whole family 
 are dead. Sally married Aaron Wood of 
 Merrimack ; two ot the three children are 
 
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 L» r *^ 4 <» > < !K. w .''^?)f^': «Afe,iavv* ^i^« h g gasEygmsa eg » :« B 's »' .KJ 5 «SHreiaKW,« gBa!gg 
 
I A BUSY METHUEN MAN. 2^ 
 
 I Still living, Sarah Wood somewhat known 
 
 I as a woman possessing very excellent 
 
 I traits of character : Hannah (1838) mar- ^ 
 
 I ried Benjamin Spalding ; had three eons 
 
 ?j 
 
 i t^voofwhichsucceededto man's estate. I' 
 
 1-" 
 
 
 j| Jacob Franklin Spalding m early life be- fi 
 came a somewhat popular Methodist min- 
 ister, but after several successful settle- 
 ments, he leftprraching and permanently 
 settled as a physician at Salisbury, Mass. 
 and now has most of the local practice. 
 
 Hon. Warren Foster Spalding entered 
 a vigorous journalistic career in Boston in 
 1870. In addition to general contributions 
 to newspapers and magazines, he had 
 he editorial managt^mentol the Commer- 
 cial Bulletin, Boiton Daily News, has 
 held the position of General Superinten- 
 dent of prisons, Secretary of State Board 
 of Commissioners of Prisons, and mem- 
 
 3 
 
 I 
 
 ber oi the Massachusetts Lecrislature in 
 

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 28 
 
 A BUSY METHUEN MAN. 
 
 1^94 and 1895. 
 
 The Barkft,i-s were among the first in 
 the Town of Milford and the State, yes, 
 in New England, to espouse the cause of 
 t'le oppressed and downtrodden slave of 
 the South. They were pioneers in tha 
 cause of human rights in a time when it 
 cost something to champion the cause of 
 the black man, even herein New Eng- 
 land. Few men dared to provide for, pro- 
 tect, or in any way succor the fugitive 
 
 slave fleeing from his relendess master. 
 
 Fewer still were the men who dared to 
 
 be conductors on that mystical under- 
 ground railroad betw^een the sunny South 
 and northern climes. It required courage 
 even in a land of freedom, for a man to 
 stand up and say that the black man had 
 certain inalienable rights that the white 
 man was bound to respect, such as life, 
 
 I! 
 
 S^ZSSSSSM 
 
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 '^^';L■,'^K\^■-^AV^^f^^^^iZ*■»i:'AZ\■•^•^ss■.+".■^s?sr 
 
▲ BUSY MBTHUBN MAN. JQ | 
 
 liberty and the pursuit of happiness ; but ^ 
 at last the idea began to take possession % 
 of Chrigtian men and women that there | 
 was a higher law than the National Fug^i- f] 
 tive Slave Law, and that a righteous God 
 would not hold them guiltless if they at- 
 tempted to arrest and return to bondage 
 the man guijty of no crime except the 
 pursuit of a God given right. The first 
 anti-slavery meeting ever held, lor ought 
 1 know, in the State of Nsw Hampshire, 
 was called by John Barker to meet at Fed- 
 eral Hill School House in Millord. At an 
 early hour the people gathered from near 
 and far. Very few had any sympath}' 
 with the movement. Some boisterously 
 opposed and came for the purpose of de- 
 nying the right of free speech. The dis- 
 discussion had not proceeded tar before 
 the excitement became intense and the f, 
 meeting closed with little less than a mob. 
 
 e 
 
30 A BU3V MKTHUEN VIA2I . 
 
 Bat the Barkers were not diacouraged ; 
 they stood firmly to their convictions, and 
 later Jonn Barker became an aggressive 
 worker in the cause in the Congregation- 
 al Church, v^dth which he united about 
 the time that the [^ev. Abncr B. Warner, 
 that mighty champion of human rights, 
 was installed as pastor. He was a young 
 man whose heart God had touched. In 
 him John Barker found a man alter his 
 own heart, as may be shown by a seiies 
 of resolutions introduced by them and dis- 
 cussed in seveial church meetings and 
 adopted by the Congregational Church, 
 of Milford, N. H., Dec. 14., 1840. Afew 
 extracts from these resolutions will show 
 that there was advanced thinking and ad- 
 vanced conviction in that church at that 
 time. 
 
 '•Resolved That it is our deliberate 
 convicdon that slavery in whatever form 
 
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 TiSSSSSSS^SSlM^^iSS^SZS^ 
 
A BUSY MSTHUBN MAN. 31 | 
 
 ^ or whatever country it exists, is coutrary | 
 I to the the eternal and immutable princi- h 
 
 
 pies of justice and the spirit and purpose | 
 of Christianity, and is therefore a sin U 
 against God, which acquires additional p^ 
 enormity when committed by nations pro- 
 fessedly Christian." 
 
 "Resolved that those professors of re- 
 ligion, who are still guilty of those sins 
 are not worthy ol fellowship with the 
 saints r recognition as ministers of Christ r 
 until they have repented of and forsaken 
 their transgressions." 
 
 "Resolved, That it is neither impolitic h 
 
 or wicked to discuss this important matter ri 
 
 and that the pulpit is an appropriate place n 
 
 and the Sabbath a fittinor time to attend ^1 
 to the claims of God's oppressed and sut- 
 fering people." 
 
 "Resolved, That we as a church earn- 
 estly protest against the course v/herever | 
 
 I 
 
 i 
 
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 32 A BUSY M2THURN MAW. 
 
 pursued of receiving into the treasury of 
 the Lord the avails of unpaid labor and 
 the price of slaves and souls of men." 
 
 Thus I have very briefly followed the 
 intricate and partially obliterated pathway 
 of a family history, commencing back 
 back more than 170 years, more than half 
 a century before the declaration of Amer- 
 ican Independence. The History in itself 
 is not perhaps unique, but its presentAtion 
 before this society should be suggestive 
 to others to go and do likewise. 
 
 It gives me great pleasure to be able to 
 bring to you "this story of the olden 
 time," these recordi of a busy life passed 
 here in the early history of Methuen ; of 
 a man who must have had much to do 
 with the good order and peacableness of 
 this goodly town in its early years. I have 
 papers and records that are good evi- 
 dence that the first inhabitants of this town 
 
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 w.iy.jwLi,yiwvipw^t^ - .y^ ' .^ ' ifliL,tmm . \fti-,in mi 
 
i:s2siEiES2Sba^i25ea<ii3E^'^as&r^'5^-iV*.» -i 
 
 A BUSY MBTHUEN MAN. 33 
 
 like those of other New England towns, 
 had a battle to fight, obstacles to over- 
 come thai you know little of, surrounded 
 as you are to-day by wealth, prosperity 
 and everything that exalts and embelish- 
 es New England life. The search that I 
 hare made among a bundle of faded 
 
 and musty papers to gather these facts 
 has impressed upon me the importance of 
 
 the preservation of old documents and 
 papers, and also that we should seek out 
 and bring from their hiding places these 
 mementoes of the past. A worn out and 
 faded scrap of paper may be the key to 
 unlock a volume ot history. The object of 
 the historical society is to decipher the 
 heiroglyphics of bygone ages and to pre- 
 serve the mementoes of the past :— 
 
 **they bind the memory fast, 
 
 To those whose lives teach where our 
 own most securely may be cast, 
 
■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■I 
 34 A BUSY MSYHUSM MAN. 
 
 For the future it safest when it strivci to 
 
 emulate the past. 
 Whmt dearer privilege indeed than to do 
 
 ai our sires have done. 
 To follow in the paths they proved, to 
 
 finish as they begun, 
 To give to our children undefiled all that 
 
 our fathers won ?" 
 
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 
 
 021 549 318