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��NEW LONDON CENTENNIAL ADDRESS.
��Several have held the place of lady principal. Miss Mary J. Prescott from 1853 to 1857, Miss Harriet E. Rice, Miss Julia A. Gould, Miss Adelaide L. Smiley, Miss Lucy Flagg, Miss Mary A. Davis, Miss Mary O. Carter (who became Mrs. Warren in 1872), Miss Hannah P. Dodge; and in 1877 Miss Smiley was again appointed, who con- tinues to hold the position still.
Mr. Ephraim Knight was appointed associate principal and professor of mathematics, at the commencement in ■ 1853, which place he held down to 1873, ^ period of twenty years, when, in consequence of declining health, he re- signed the post, and died here March 4th, 1878.
In '1870 the population of the town was 959, a gain of 7 from i860, and just the same made in the last pre- vious decade. Since 1870 but few matters of general interest have occurred in New London.
In 1874 you came very near furnish- ing another governor for the state. Gen. Luther McCutchins was born in Pembroke, N. H., in 1809 ; first came to New London in 1837, and remained two years ; then went to Connecticut for some four years, returning to New London in 1843, where he has since lived. He received the Republican nomination for governor in 1874, and received the full strength of his party, and a vote very complimentary to him, and only failed because, as the issues were then made up and the parties were then organized, the Republicans could not elect anybody that year. He has been your representative in the legislature in 1850, 185 1, 1873, 1878, and also the present year, 1879. He is a practical farmer, who takes a deep interest in whatever is calculated to ad- vance the agricultural interests of the state.
In 1875 George M. Knight, Esq., of this town, was elected county commis- sioner for the county of Merrimack, which office he held for the term of three years, 1875, 1876 and 1877.
In 1878 you commenced prep- arations for your centennial reunion in this hundredth year from the date of
��your charter as a town, and the success of your enterprise today shows how well and how faithfully you have made your preparations.
We have thus come down to the close of the first century of New London's history. I have endeavored to give you a fair and impartial statement of the facts of that century, without any attempt at embellishment. There are a few other facts that may properly be alluded to before we close, and first, the patriotis7ii of the town. We have seen that the town voted at once, after it was incorporated, to furnish a soldier for the continental army ; this they did furnish and paid him, as we have seen, through the war until its close. We have no evidence that the Mr. Coums, who went from the town, was an inhabitant of the town ; our impression is that he probably was not, but was a substitute, or a man hired by the town to fill the place. But New London had its revo- lutionary heroes in abundance. In fact it seemed a favorite resort for those soldiers who had gone from other places and served through the war, and then looked about for the most desirable places for settlement in the new coun- try. The fresh breezes of your hills, and the views of the noble mountains in your neighborhood, are all congenial to a love of freedom and independence. Hence we find that immediately after the war many who had been in the continental army came at once to New London and settled here ; others came later. There was Thomas Currier (known as Capt. Kiah), Edmund Davis, Josiah Davis, John Dole, Jesse Dow, Levi Everett, Penuel Everett, Eliphalet Gay, Zebedee Hayes, Ezekiel Knowl- ton, Thomas Pike, David Smith, Moses Trussell and Eliphalet Woodward. Most of them came from Massachusetts, — from Attleborough, Dedham, New Row- ley (now Georgetown), and Bradford ; but Moses Trussell came from Hopkin- ton, N. H., in the year 1804.
Capt. Currier not only served through the revolutionary war, but no sooner was the war of 181 2 declared than he entered the regular army. He went through the war, fought in several bat-
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