Another teacher of the long ago was Master John Fulton, who lived on the farm now owned by John W. Farrar. In those days pupils often tried to secure a holiday by "barring out" the teacher on New Year's Day. More than once Master John Fulton found himself in this situation. On one occasion he went to one of the neighbors where he borrowed a tall white hat and a long white coat with several capes. Thus disguised he mounted a white horse and rode rapidly to the school house. The unsuspecting pupils rushed to the door, when, quick as thought, Master Fulton sprang from the horse, entered the school house and called the school to order. At another time, while teaching in a private house in Bow, finding himself "barred out," he entered a chamber window by a ladder, removed some loose boards from the floor (the house being unfinished) and descended among his astonished pupils. Dr. Harris regularly visited the schools, and catechised the children; he prepared many young men for college and directed the theological studies of those fitting for the ministry.
Many clergymen of the town served on the school committee. Districts increased in number till there were eleven. In 1867 the town system was adopted, and the number of schools reduced to four or five. Notwithstanding the short terms, the long distances, and lack of text-books (now provided by the town), Dunbarton has produced many fine scholars, and has provided a large number of teachers for her own and other schools.
I think no family has furnished as many educated members as the Burnhams. A short time prior to 1775 Deacon Samuel Burnham came from Essex, Mass., to the south part of Dunbarton. Of his thirteen children, four sons graduated at Dartmouth College. In 1865 fourteen of his grand and great grand children were college graduates. Not all of them lived in Dunbarton, but Samuel's son, Bradford, and most of his children lived here. Henry Larcom, son of Bradford, was a successful teacher and land surveyor; he represented the town in the Legislature and was also State Senator. The last years of his life were passed in Manchester where he died in 1893. His son, Henry Eben, is a lawyer in Manchester, and was for a time Judge of Probate. He was born November 8, 1844, in the Dr. Harris house, and is an honored son of Dunbarton. He was elected United States Senator by the Legislature of 1901, for the term of six years and succeeded Senator William E. Chandler.
Hannah, eldest daughter of Bradford Burnham, married Samuel Burnham from Essex, Mass.; she died in November, 1901. Her two daughters were teachers for many years; the younger, Annie M., taught in Illinois and Oregon until recently. Two sons were college graduates, Josiah, at Amherst in 1867; William H., at Harvard in 1882. The latter is instructor in Clark University, Worcester, and a writer and lecturer of great ability. A daughter of his brother, Samuel G. Burnham of St. Louis, graduated from Washington University with high honors, ranking second in a class of eighty-two.
Three sons of Henry Putney were students at Dartmouth College, though the second son, Frank, did not graduate, leaving college to enter the army in 1861.
Thirty or more of the sons of Dunbarton graduated at Dartmouth College, while ten or twelve others took a partial course. John Gould, Jr., and Abel K. Wilson, died at college, Three graduated at Wabash College, Indiana, two at Union College, Schenectady, N. Y., and one each at Yale, Harvard, and Amherst Colleges, and Brown University. It is said that at one time there were more students from Dunbarton in Dartmouth College than from any other town in the State.
There have been several graduates from Normal Schools, Ralph Ireland and Ethel Jameson from the school at Bridgewater, Mass. The former is now teaching in Gloucester, Mass., and the latter in Boston, Mass. Ella and Leannette L. Mills (the latter the daughter of Leroy R. Mills), graduated from the school at Salem, Mass. Lydia Marshall, now holding a government position in Washington, D. C., Mary Caldwell (now Mrs. Aaron C. Barnard), and Lizzie Bunten (now Mrs. James P. Tuttle, of Manchester), took a partial or whole course at the school at Plymouth, N. H. Louise Parker and Mary A. Stinson graduated at Kimball Academy, Meriden, N. H. Many others have been students at McCollom Institute, Mount Vernon, Pembroke, and other academies, and several have taken the course at the Concord High School. Among the teachers of the long ago may be named Antoinette Putnam, Lizzie and Ann Burnham, Jane Stinson, Nancy Stinson, Sarah and Marianne Parker, and Susan and Margaret Holmes. The list is too long for further mention.
Among college graduates who made teaching their life work were William Parker, who died in Winchester, Illinois, in 1865; Caleb Mills, who was connected with Wabash College, Indiana, from 1833 until his death in 1879. He was greatly interested in the cause of education, and was known as the father of public schools in Indiana; Joseph Gibson Hoyt, who was called the most brilliant son Dunbarton ever educated; he taught several years in Phillips Academy, Exeter, and was Chancellor of Washington University, St. Louis, Missouri, taking charge February 4, 1859; inaugurated October 4, 1859; died November 26, 1862; Charles G. Burnham, orator at the Centennial, in 1865, who died in Montgomery, Alabama, in 1866; Mark Bailey, who has taught elocution at Yale since 1855, besides spending some weeks of each year in former times at Dartmouth, Princeton, and other places. Samuel Burnham, the first graduate, should have been mentioned earlier. He was principal of the academy at Derry for many years; William E. Bunten taught in Atkinson, N. H., Marblehead, Mass., and in New York, where he died in 1897; Matthew S. McCurdy, grandson and namesake of Deacon McCurdy, is instructor at Phillips Academy, Andover, Mass. Although not a college student, John, brother of Thomas and James F. Mills, spent many years in teaching in Ohio and West Virginia; he died in 1879. Among those who have been both teachers and journalists are Amos Hadley of Concord, Henry M. Putney, now on the editorial staff of the Manchester Daily and Weekly Mirror; William A. (brother of Henry M.) who died some years ago in Fairmount, Nebraska; and John B. Mills, now at Grand Rapids, Michigan. George H. Twiss, of Columbus, Ohio, has been a teacher, superintendent of schools, and proprietor of a bookstore.
Of the native clergymen, Leonard S. Parker is probably the oldest now living. He has held several pastorates, and is now assistant pastor of the Shepard Memorial Church, Cambridge, Mass. One of the early college graduates was Isaac Garvin, son of Sam Garvin, whose name was a by-word among his neighbors; "as shiftless as Sam Garvin" was a common saying. Isaac obtained his education under difficulties which would have discouraged most men, and at first even Dr. Harris thinking it not worth while to help him. He probably studied divinity with Dr. Harris, and was ordained in the Congregational Church, but late in life took orders in the Episcopal Church in New York. There were two Rev. Abraham Burnhams, uncle and nephew, and Rev. Amos W. Burnham, whose only pastorate was Rindge where he preached forty-six years. Thomas Jameson held pastorates in Scarborough and Gorham, Maine; he was blind during his last years. Charles H. Marshall preached in various places in Indiana, and died nearly thirty years ago. Ephraim O. Jameson held several pastorates; he is now retired and living in Boston. He has compiled several genealogies and town histories. Rev. George A. Putnam, son of the second pastor of the church in Dunbarton, preached for several years in Yarmouth, Maine, then went to Millbury, Mass., in 1871, where he still resides—an unusually long pastorate in these times. John P. Mills is preaching in Michigan.