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In Memoriam DR. JEREMIAH SPOFFORD. THE skill of a master's hand is needed to portray upon a canvas, which may be viewed with advantage by a distant beholder, some object made familiar only by close contact. With this in mind, the present writer essays, with somewhat of embarrassment, the task of furnishing a memorial of her father, fearing that fireside studies may have but inadequately prepared her for the broader delineation of character which shall truthfully represent it to persons unacquainted with the subject of the sketch, and withal serve as a not unfitting tribute to his memory whom she thus seeks to honor. It was during the war of the American Revolution that the mother of Dr. Spofford was led as a bride from the house of her father, Col. Daniel Spofford, in Georgetown, Mass., a spot recently made familiar as the gathering-place of the widely scattered representatives of the family bearing the name of Spofford. It is easy to imagine the surroundings of this newly wedded pair,--the meagre furnishings of the home; the sanded floors; the busy wheel and reel and shuttle, which primitive domestic thrift must have soon set in motion; the glowing hearth-stone, around which young feet fast gathered, till seven children had been received into the rapidly widening family circle, and three of them been called to fairer worlds, before the wintry day, Dec. 8, 1787, which first gave light to him who is the subject of this sketch. If it be indeed true that character and mental attributes take their tone from the circumstances of birthplace and early surroundings, if a rigorous training begets tenacity of purpose, and a scarcity of opportunity creates intellectual hunger and thirst and an eagerness of outreach in habits of thought, it is scarcely possible that he of whom we write could have been other than the sort of man he became. Though the home was humble and the fields were sterile in which he passed what he was wont in later life to call a lonely boyhood, he seems to have given early indications of an ability to find companionship in books, and food for thought in his own environment. Many were around him who had done service in the patriot army. His father had been a soldier; his paternal grandfather had been captain of a militia company; the father of his mother, the Col. Daniel Spofford mentioned above, had seen active military service; and the keen ears of the boyish listener were often regaled with the tales of patriotic heroism with which the air was all astir. The discussion by fireside and farmstead of the political issues of that day, and of the principles which shaped the Constitution of the new-born nation, the anxiously awaited and tardily received news of European warfare, the horrors of the French Revolution and the dramatic career of the first Napoleon, gave him an early familiarity with the history of the times, and doubtless created the interest in political affairs which characterized him to the end of life. As he passed into young manhood, his susceptible mind, athirst for knowledge, gathered to itself from all accessible sources the material for the supply of its own growth; and though debarred by the stress of adverse circumstances from pursuing a liberal course of education, it is quite evident that he made good use of his somewhat meagre opportunities for intellectual culture. Concerning this period of his life, he at one time wrote:-- "My labors were not often severe, and the mornings, noons, and nights of those farming days gave me more time for reading and mental work than I should then have been willing to acknowledge. "The perusal of Furguson's 'Astronomy' sometimes intruded hard upon my hours of manual labor, and Adams's 'Natural and Experimental Philosophy,' in five volumes, with illustrations, was in this way studied with more intense interest than I have given to any subject in later life, with more books and more time at my command. "A small parish library, mostly of religious works, given by the first pastor of the church in Georgetown, Rev. James Chandler, led me through a course of theological reading such as perhaps few young men have pursued without direct reference to a preparation for the clerical profession." The story of Dr. Spofford's education--from the days when he conned his childish tasks under the gentle guidance of Miss Sally Wood, of Boxford, whose praises he never wearied in sounding, through later studies with Dr. Joshua Jewett, of Rowley, and Rev. Isaac Braman, his revered pastor of blessed memory, and a course of medical studies with Drs. Whiton and Parkhurst, of Winchendon, Mass.--is but the story of a multitude of self-made men, who, perhaps oftener in former times than since, fought their way to honorable positions in professional life. Like them all, he was content to toil, courageously leaving the past behind, and perchance viewing the future with solicitous conjecture. He was licensed for medical and surgical practice in June, 1813, and having been united in marriage with Miss Mary Ayer Spofford, a daughter of Deacon Eleazer Spofford, of Jaffrey, N. H., on Sept. 14 of that year, he located in Hampstead, N. H.; but, preferring a settlement in his native State, he availed himself, at the end of three and a half years, of an opening caused by the death of Dr. Eben Jewett, the only physician in that part of Bradford, Mass., now known as Groveland, and removing thither he entered the field in which for more than sixty years he engaged in the arduous activities, and met the varying experiences which usually fell to the lot of country doctors of the old r‚gime. His long connection with the Massachusetts Medical Society, dating back to 1813, and ever marked by a deep interest in its transactions and loyalty to its principles, was but one of the results of his native conservatism, which was as strongly marked in regard to professional work as in all other directions. We quote his own words in regard to his old-school proclivities in medical practice:-- "I entered the profession, not as an experiment in money making by imposing on the credulous, or following some fashionable ism, and I have adhered to the ancient course, not because it is old, or that I was bound by some superstition or compact to practise on any routine, but willing to gather knowledge from every source, claiming that whatever remedy, adopted from the vegetable or the mineral kingdom, whether discovered or brought into notice in times ancient or modern, by scientific practitioner or quack, homoeopathist, hydropathist, or allopathist, whether appropriately used in large doses or small, if it will but heal disease or lessen the ills to which flesh is heir, belongs to our system. This is a system whose basis is as firm as the everlasting hills, and can never be shaken or become antiquated while mortals live and have distresses needing alleviation." It is but reasonable to suppose that Dr. Spofford's professional standing and success were often unfavorably affected by his interest in public affairs, and the energy wherewith he was wont in middle life to engage in heated political controversies. In early days a Federalist, afterward a Whig, and yet later, when North and South joined issue, gravitating, with others of kindred views, into the Republican party of the present day, he was always decided in his opinions and unhesitating in their utterance, his pen being ever ready to give pungent expression to his ideas on political questions, or the ever-recurring topics of popular interest. The relations he sustained with the Haverhill Gazette, from the year 1821 to nearly the close of life, in the various capacities of proprietor, associate editor, and contributor; his frequent articles in many other newspapers, together with the authorship of a "Gazetteer of Massachusetts," published in 1860, and many addresses, give attestation to his industry in literary work. His fondness for antiquarian and genealogical research, of which this volume is an outgrowth, must have originated in his early youth, and is evinced by a paper, which is still preserved, containing a record of his immediate family connection, written in a laboriously legible school-boy hand, vastly unlike the penmanship of his later years, which so often tested the patience of correspondents and proved the dismay of compositors. Of the varied activities of Dr. Spofford's life we may not now speak, or of the enthusiasm with which he threw himself into enterprises for local improvement in connection with which his energies found scope, leaving their impress on the community in which he dwelt. The busy years hasted on, each bearing away from him somewhat of physical strength, but leaving his mind still active, though weighted with experiences and memories; and while retaining an interest in things about him, and a keenness of perception often lacking in persons of much fewer years, he became more quiet in mind, a certain native turbulency of spirit changing to tranquillity, and his old-time love of controversy merging itself in a habit of retrospective contemplation. On Aug. 9, 1876, nearly sixty-three years after their wedding day, the gentler life which had walked beside his own almost like its shadow ceased its earthly existence, and the remnant of his stay seemed but a time of waiting for the shades of life's deepening twilight. As Dr. Spofford's last days drew near, he furnished a wonderful illustration of the triumph of mind over physical infirmities, describing the hallucinations and mental vagaries with which he was at times disturbed, and characterizing them as way-marks in the "slow gradations of decay." While conversing with the late Rev. James McLean, afterward of Springfield, Mo., but then acting pastor of the Congregational Church in Groveland, of which Dr. Spofford and his wife had become members, Nov. 7, 1819, with apparent effort to summon his waning powers, that he might give clear expression to his thoughts, he spoke of his Christian faith, and of the help he derived from the trust that the revelations and experiences of the future would be under the same beneficent guidance which had sustained him through his earthly life of almost ninety-three years, which in the retrospect appeared as but a brief pilgrimage. Two days later, Sept. 16, 1880, occurred the final change which left void the large space in his family and in the community which had so long been filled with the influences of his forceful presence. From the many obituary notices which appeared at the time, we select the following from the graceful pen of Dr. John Crowell, of Haverhill, Mass.:-- "For over half a century Dr. Spofford was a leader in Essex County. His vigorous brain, his indomitable will, his tireless energy, and his stern integrity furnished the elements of his success, and wherever duty called him, there he made his influence felt by the strong personality of his character. By suggestion or questioning or direct antagonism, he pushed every subject with which he came in contact with the sharpness of his analysis and the force of his terse logic. He was not an easy antagonist in the discussion of social ethics or political economy. He had a tenacity in argument that never yielded to sophistry or idle speculation and fanciful theories. His mind was controversial, and hence he challenged the opinions of others, and boldly attacked the schemes of those who set themselves up as reformers. His trenchant pen was wielded in the interest of politics, of education, and historical reminiscences. His conservative nature made him cautious as to new methods, but he always examined them carefully, and accepted and adopted them when convinced of their truth and expediency. "In his earlier days he was a strong political writer in the Whig party, and he measured lances with the champions of the opposite party with a vigor that told in the stirring battles of that period of political history. "Dr. Spofford was a persistent opposer of the school system as conducted by the State Board of Education, and especially did he oppose the establishment of Normal Schools, to the detriment of self-supporting Academies of the State. His bold strokes in this direction were not without effect, and the modification of public opinion in regard to the efficiency of our present school system is in no small degree due to his utterances. "As a physician, Dr. Spofford had the confidence of the entire community and the respect of his professional associates. He was one of the oldest members of the Massachusetts Medical Society, and often occupied prominent positions upon the board of officers. He was a constant attendant at the meetings of the Essex North District Medical Society, where his venerable presence was always recognized with deference and respect by the younger members. "His exceptionally long life has been crowded full of activity, and he goes to his rest honored and beloved by the friends and neighbors and associates among whom his life work has been accomplished. " 'O good gray head which all men knew, |