Biography of George Storrs (The Granite Monthly, 1883)

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THE

GRANITE MONTHLY,

A NEW HAMPSHIRE MAGAZINE

DEVOTED TO LITERATURE, BIOGRAPHY, HISTORY, AND STATE PROGRESS.

VOL. VI.

JULY, 1883.

No. 10.

CHESTER PIKE.

The subject of this sketch was born July 30,1829, in the town of Cornish, N. H. Mr. Pike may be said to be possessed of prescriptive rights in the township of his nativity and residence, for, planted of others, it was by blood of his blood nurtured into permanence and prosperity.

As the traits of the parent re-appear in the qualities of the child, so the annals of the stock from whence he sprang mingle inseparably with the chronicles of this many-hilled town by the Connecticut. His great-grandfather and great-grandmother Chase were the first white persons to settle in Cornish, and in every mention of early citizens will be found the names of Pike, Bryant, and Chase, whose blood blends with his. The friendship arising from nearness of residence and a common industry, which from the first had bound these families together, was soon strengthened and made permanent by the stronger tie of intermarriage.

In 1827 Eben Pike, who was the eldest son of Ebenezer and Mary Marcy Pike, of Cornish, was united in marriage with the daughter of Captain Sylvanus Bryant and Sarah Chase Bryant, of the same place. This lady, on her mother's side, was a cousin to the statesman, Salmon P. Chase, who for many years represented Ohio in the senate of the United States, and at the

time of his death, as chief-justice of the supreme court, wore, with undiminished honor and dignity, the mantle of the great Marshall.

The earliest fruit of this union was Chester Pike, whose life we are now tracing. A later son, John B. Pike, a mail-route agent between Boston and St. Albans, an efficient officer and courteous gentleman, is now a resident of Lebanon, in this state. The oldest son still resides in his native town, and not far from the spot where his grandparents first settled, in the broad, picturesque valley of the Connecticut, hard by the village of Windsor, and under the shadows of Ascutney. To one so located, the relics of the past are objects of enduring interest. The very hills and valleys must awaken memories of the olden time and kindle associations of the ancestral home, which will perpetuate the virtues and the aspirations of the dead. He can but experience something of the feeling of the descendants of the old families of England, who live upon their ancient estates, and saunter in the halls of old castles, or under the shadows of gnarled trees that were planted centuries ago by the founders of their line, whose ashes long since mingled with, and became a part of, their inalienable homesteads. The remembrance of the brave fathers and fair mothers who lived in the knowledge he acquired of the coast from his previous connection with the U.

S. Coast Survey, enabled him to render efficient services to the rebel cause. He was brave, skillful, and experienced a very accomplished officer.

I may at a future time write a more extended sketch of Mr. Maffitt and his family. I will close the present article by quoting, as indicative of his style, one of his beautiful utterances. It was in a sermon on the resurrection, printed in pamphlet form, a copy of which, in the possession of my mother, I read many times when a youth. It was substantially as follows: "How quiet countless millions slumber in the arms of Mother Earth! The voice of thunder does not awaken them; the loud cry of the elements—the winds, the waves, and even the giant tread of the earthquake—cause no inquietude in the chambers of death. * But at last a silvery voice, at first just heard, will rise to a tempest tone, and penetrate the voiceless grave; for the trumpet will sound, and the dead will hear its blast."

REV. STEPHEN LOVELL, who was stationed at Portsmouth in 1830, was born at Weymouth, Mass., April 21, 1799. In 1831 he withdrew from the Conference about the time he left Portsmouth. Alienated from the church he became a Unitarian, then a Calvinist Baptist, and subsequently a Protestant Methodist, and was associated with Rev. Mr. Norris in editing a paper, published in Boston, called the Olive Branch. He died in that city September 29, 1858.

REV. GEORGE STORRS was born in Lebanon, N. H., December 13, 1796. His father, Col. Constant Storrs, was originally from Mansfield, Conn., and served as a wheelwright in the Revolutionary army. After the war closed he married Lucinda Howe; emigrated to New Hampshire; settled at Lebanon, then almost a wilderness, and became a wealthy farmer. George was the youngest of eight children,

seven sons and one daughter, and at the age of 19 united with the Congregational church.

At 22 he married, and at 28 was received into the Methodist Episcopal Church, and commenced preaching. He joined the New Hampshire Conference in 1825. His first wife having died, he married her sister, Martha, daughter of Col. Thomas Waterman, a prominent citizen of Lebanon, and the first child born in that town. Mr. Storrs continued in the regular work until 1836, when he became a local preacher, and was three years without an appointment, but during that time he traveled extensively, lecturing on the subject of slavery. He ardently espoused and ably advocated the anti-slavery cause, and exerted himself to create a strong public sentiment in its behalf. He was prominent in a most critical period, and was environed with perils. His arrest at an anti-slavery meeting in Pittsfield, N. H., while on his knees in prayer, caused great excitement and intensified the feeling against slavery. Mr. Storrs was a delegate to the General Conference of 1836, and one of the leading spirits in pressing the subject on the attention of the Conference. Failing to commit it to the radical views of himself and his associates, he severed his connection with the church in 1840. He had strong convictions on the subject of slavery, and was impatient at the conservative tendency of the church.

After residing at Montpelier, Vt., for a short time, he removed to Albany, N. Y., where he ministered for three years or more at the "House of Prayer" to a large congregation. In 1842 he preached his "six sermons" on "Immortality," which were subsequently printed and extensively circulated. He soon thereafter became interested in the Second Advent doctrine, and labored with great effectiveness in promulgating his views on that subject in the New England, Middle, and Western states, spending several months in Philadelphia, Cincinnati, Indianapolis and vicinity. In 1843 he commenced the publication of the "Bible Examiner," in which he advocated his theory of "no immortality or endless life, except through Christ alone," which publication was continued in different forms, either occasionally or regularly, until his death.

He was editor of The Herald of Life and of the Coming Kingdom from October 21, 1863, to August, 1871, during which time the "Bible Examiner" was suspended. He resided at Philadelphia nine years, and preached there mainly; but frequently visited other localities and was constantly occupied in lecturing or issuing his publications. He was a man of irreproachable purity of character, pious, exemplary, zealous, noble, generous, magnanimous, very vigorous and effective as a writer and preacher, conscientious, fearless and untiring in advocating what he considered the truth. His integrity, sincerity, and piety, were unquestioned. Possessing great decision of character and marked characteristics, he was true to his convictions, inflexible in his firmness, and boldly announced his views, whether popular or otherwise. He died at his residence, No. 72 Hicks street, Brooklyn, N. Y., Dec. 28, 1879, aged 83. His widow, Martha Waterman Storrs, died at the same place March 15, 1882, aged 82. Their only son, George F. Storrs, died at Brooklyn, January 31, 1867, aged 41, leaving a widow, who now resides at Milwaukee, Wisconsin. One other child, Harriet, lives in Brooklyn, unmarried. Mr. Storrs, while a member of the New Hampshire Conference, was a strong man, able and influential in its councils, and the beloved pastor of several important churches. He was stationed at Portsmouth in 1831.

REV. HOLMES CUSHMAN was pastor of the Portsmouth church in 1832. His record is not worthy of recognition here. Financial delinquencies marred his usefulness and terminated his ministerial functions, as well as his membership of the New Hampshire Conference.

REV. JOHN G. Dow, who was presiding elder in 1833-36, was born in Gilmanton, N. H., June 15, 1785; admitted to the N. E. Conference in 1822, and continued in the itinerant ministry thirty-six years. His last appointment was in 1857. He was a preacher of ability, an excellent presiding elder, faithful, acceptable, and efficient in every service. At one time he was the financial agent of the Newbury, Vt., Seminary. He died of paralysis, May 18, 1858, aged 73, at Chelsea, Mass., while on a visit to his son-in-law, Rev. Dr. John H. Twombly, a native of New Hampshire, then and now an influential member of the N. E. Conference, and recently president of the Wisconsin University, at Madison.

REV. REUBEN H. DEMING was pastor at Portsmouth one year, 1833, and was very successful. The church was greatly strengthened during his ministry. Many additions were made to its membership, and among the number several who became prominent. His brother, Hon. Benjamin F. Deming, a member of the twenty-third congress from Vermont, was born at Danville, in that state, and died July 11, 1834, at Saratoga Springs, where he was stopping in quest of health. His brother attended his funeral, and a son of the governor of Vermont preached for him, in Portsmouth, to a large congregation, the Sabbath he was absent. The necessity for being near his Vermont home and attending to his deceased brother's estate, prevented his return to Portsmouth by the Conference which assembled at West Windsor, Vt., Aug. 6, 1834. A throat difficulty subsequently caused him to remove to Kenosha, Wisconsin, and to retire from the active duties of the ministry; but his name is a household word with the old Methodists of that town, where he assisted in organizing the first Methodist class, and continued an efficient and beloved member of the church until he died in peace, Feb. 9, 1867, leaving a noble record. He will be long remem-