Historic Homes of New England

by Mary Harrod Northend

It was in 1775, several years after the house was enlarged, that Gilman was made Treasurer and Receiver-general of the State, in which office he stayed until his death in 1783. The treasury building was a room in his own house. This may in a way account for there being two entrance doors, one for family guests and the other for business purposes. The house has never been altered, with the exception of the introduction of modern improvements, since the day that it was enlarged. It is a fine, substantial building, two and a half stories in height, showing dormer windows and a six-foot chimney. The huge fireplaces are still kept intact, few if any showing hand-carving. The porches are dignified but ample in their lines of architecture, and the entire exterior shows an unusual type.

The room nearest the entrance door at the extreme left was used as a treasury, for in addition to the office of State Treasurer, Colonel Gilman held the position of Continental Loan Officer of the State, all the money being received here. In this same room the Committee of Safety used to meet, and it was here that the Battle of Bennington was discussed and planned.

Gilman was a great friend of Daniel Webster, who never came to Exeter without passing the principal part of his time in this house, the bed in which he slept being still shown in one of the large continental chambers.

The house was noted for its hospitality, a home where many gatherings, both for charity and pleasure, were held. The mistress of the household was a famous New England housekeeper, who possessed the whole art of housekeeping at her fingers' end. Beautiful as a young bride, she was even more so in after years. Her trim figure became rounded out, while her dark eyes and fresh, rich color preserved their brightness. Colonel Gilman was a striking figure, six feet tall, with an erect carriage. He wore until the day of his death a ruffled shirt-front and a cue.

It was during his occupancy that the Declaration of Independence was passed. The Legislature had not adjourned when the message came, and the President, who was in waiting, decided the documents must be publicly read. The news spread like lightning; the farmer eager to hear all dropped his scythe in the swath, the mechanic rushed from his shop, while the housewife forsook her spinning-wheel, all meeting in a general enthusiasm to hear the words that gave them freedom and a country. The document was brought into Exeter by a courier, who dashed suddenly into the village, bearing in his hand a letter addressed to the Convention of New Hampshire and signed by no less a personage than John Hancock. On, on, he rode, until he reached the Gilman house and delivered it into the hands of the host. It was read in the village square amid intense enthusiasm by his son, John Taylor Gilman, who was also destined to play an important part in our country's history.

John Taylor Gilman was then just out of his teens. He was a handsome man with magnetic power and an idol of the people. No one in the whole audience was more thrilled than was the father of the reader, who, filled with ardor, paused often to crush down the rush of sentiment that overmastered speech. Colonel Gilman was distinguished as one of those who financed the Revolution, and his son succeeded him in this service.

After Colonel Gilman's death, in 1783, the house was left to John Taylor Gilman, who inherited his father's love for political power. He, like his sire, was a most comely man, just entering into manhood when he married Dorothea Folsom, a great-granddaughter of the noted Revolutionary hero. She was only twenty-one years old when she married, being one of the belles of the village and a most estimable young lady. For sixty years she directed the affairs of her household in a most exemplary manner and was the personification of hospitality.

Directly after their marriage, the young husband, then only twenty-two years of age, gathered a company together and marched for Cambridge, where he was encamped for a short time only. Later on he acted as commissary to supply the three regiments of the State at Cambridge, for he was considered too important a person to be allowed to take a place in the field.

In 1779 he was elected a member of the New Hampshire Legislature and was called in 1780 as the only delegate to attend the gathering which was to take place at Hartford, Connecticut. Those were the days when there was no money or credit in the treasury, so that he was forced to take the journey on horseback. He was absent six weeks, paying his own expenses everywhere out of his personal income.

So popular did he become that he was elected to Congress in 1782, being one of the youngest and most popular members. Later on he became Treasurer of State, succeeding his father in this work. He was made Governor of New Hampshire, which office he held for fourteen consecutive years and later on accepted the nomination for two years more. In 1816 he declined the election, giving as an excuse that he preferred to spend his remaining days in quietness.