The
Chichester Town Library is having a Family Game Night on Monday,
February 28th from 6:30 to 8:30. You may bring
some cookies or chips to share if you like. We hope to see you
there.
Did you know the library has Wi-Fi? Just drop in and
get the password (and a library card, if you don’t already have
one.)
Chichester Grange will meet on Wednesday, March
2nd, at 7 p.m. upstairs in the Grange Hall. If climbing stairs is
not a problem for you, come visit us and see what we are about.
Happy Birthday to Molly Dahl on March 4 and Megan Morey on
March 5.
The Chichester School District meeting will
be held on Saturday, March 5th, at Chichester Central School at 9
a.m. Plan to arrive early to check in with the Supervisors of the
Checklist and pick up your voting card, which you will need in order
to vote on warrant articles. Don’t expect to make major changes in
the budget. There are too many fixed costs. Do expect to learn how
your money is being spent, hear a “State of the School” message, and
find out interesting tidbits about how the school and its budget
work. The meeting usually ends about noon. You might want to bring a
little cash for a snack or to support whatever fundraisers may be
out there.
Plan to come to the Town Hall on Tuesday,
March 8th, to vote for Town and School District Officials and
whatever zoning ordinances and the like may be on the ballot. If you
will have some time in the evening after 7 p.m., ask the Moderator
if you may help to count ballots. It usually takes a couple of
hours, and it’s a real education in Town government.
Here are some titles that have recently been added to the Youth and
Young Adult shelves at the Chichester Town Library: The Luxe, Envy,
and Rumors by Anna Godbersen; Sphinx’s Princess by Esther Friesner;
Inexcusable by Chris Lynch; Deadline by Chris Crutcher; Half Brother
by Kenneth Oppel; 100 Most Disgusting Things on the Planet by Anna
Claybourne; Nicholas – A New Hampshire Tale by Peter Avenstain; Moon
Over Manifest by Clare Vanderpool (Newbery Winner); How to Raise and
Keep a Dragon by John Topsell; and Diary of a Wimpy Kid – The Ugly
Truth by Jeff Kinney.
Out of
Your Attic Thrift Shop News
Submitted By Carol Hendee
Come check out our prices. I did some comparison shopping. Other
“Thrift” stores are charging minimum $1.99 for kids clothes and
$4.99 and up for kids brand names.
Adult pants are $4.99 and
name brand $9.99 and up. Women’s and men’s shirts are $4.99
and up.
Our prices start at $.50 for a kid’s top, $1.00-$2.00 for
pants, $2.00 name brand hoodies, ladies tops $1.00, men’s shirts
$1.00 and up, jeans $2.00. We have baby items $.50 and $1.00, shoes
$1.00 and $2.00, handbags $.50-$1.00. Name brand clothes $2.00
and up, but not too high.
Also, the last Thursday of the Month is
1/2 price day! Our aim is to recycle and reuse, clothing,
kitchen supplies, pictures, books, and knickknacks at
affordable prices with the proceeds going to charity-Baby Threads.
Remember, we are all volunteers with the donations going back
into use and sales into materials and goods for those in need.
We are at 345 Suncook Valley Hwy, Chichester, 8-4 Tues. and Thurs.,
11-4 Wed. and 10-4 Sat. 435-9339.
Chichester Historical Society
First Public Meetinghouse
By
Walter Sanborn
This History of Chichester’s first
meetinghouse and town hall is included in Chichester Town History
book written in 1927 and some articles I have included in other
articles since then. What I would like to do is to put in
chronological order the use and history of the building and mention
changes to the building which have never been detailed in print.
Like all early town grants the first proprietors were supposed to
build in Chichester 30 dwelling houses within 4 years and clear 3
acres of land and within 4 years build a public meetinghouse.
In
a meeting on March 11, 1730 the proprietors decided to build a
meeting house 35 feet long, 25 feet wide and 11 foot studs to be
finished by the last day of November next.
In a meeting on
January 3, 1731 they changed the meetinghouse to be 25 feet long, 16
feet wide and 9 feet studs to be done by May next. On March
11, 1731 the proprietors were to build 60 houses to be built 12 feet
long, 10 feet wide not more than 1 story high within four months.
For the next 50 years no mention of building a meetinghouse is
recorded but this period is dedicated to laying out lots, building
roads and establishing mills and recording town meetings.
In 1789
the town built the first four public schools in Chichester.
The first town meeting in Chichester was held in the Kelley’s Corner
School in 1791. During this time also Pittsfield was separated
from Chichester as a separate town in 1782. The population of
the town was 491 people in 1790.
The next mention of building a
meetinghouse occurred January 13, 1791 when a meeting was held in
the home of Capt. John Langmaid and the settlers voted to reconsider
all former votes concerning a center for the meetinghouse to be
built on.
It had now been over 50 years since any action had been
taken in regards to building a meetinghouse.
One of the
difficulties during this time was the establishment of a center for
the town and this led to dissent among the settlers to have the
center in their part of town. The town at that time was eight
miles square with Epsom taken from the South East Corner. The
difficulty of selecting a center for the town was mostly the reason
the North section of Chichester breaking away and forming the town
of Pittsfield in 1782.
Another meeting was held in February 1791
to see if the town would vote to build a gospel meetinghouse and it
was not voted. At the March Town Meeting it was voted after
much discussion to split the differences between former locations
for the meetinghouse to be built. On June 6th it was voted to
take the Northwest corner of Edmund Rand’s land for the meeting
house.
After building the meetinghouse there seems to be no
records kept of the meetings held in the building for the next 40
years. On July 4, 1793 it was voted to put singing pews in
front of the gallery, which pew is for the singing part of such
persons as shall devote themselves to the singing part of Divine
Worship. There is a mention of selling pews to raise money but
this is the only mention of the interior of the church. There
is no mention as to heating and lighting of the interior of the
building.
This meetinghouse was used for religious services up to
1837 with different pastors serving the church during this time.
My next article will pick up with rebuilding the meetinghouse in
1838.
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