A Letter Written on Dec 1, 1857

Derry Dec. 1st 1857

Brother Chase -

We were glad to hear from you and of your prosperity last week - and we have concluded to send Fannie to Gilmanton next Monday - and should be very glad if she can do something in the way of teaching music to pay for her "fodder" - My present plan is for her to stay at G. till she graduates - and then send her one year to South Hadley - If you think it worth while I could send the Piano with her or after her - the cost would be but small and we shall not have much use for it when she is gone -

Love to all -
Yr af. Br
E. N. Hidden

[E. N. Hidden writes his brother-in-law Chase Prescott Parsons that he and his wife Mary have decided to send their daughter Fannie to Gilmanton Academy in Gilmanton, New Hampshire. They hope that Fannie will be able to help defray her expenses by teaching music. Fannie will stay at Gilmanton Academy until she graduates and they will then "send her one year to South Hadley" [Mt. Holyoke Female Seminary].

Rev. Ephraim Nelson Hidden (1810-1880) graduated from Dartmouth in 1836 and was Principal of Gilmanton Academy from 1836-1840. He married Mary Elizabeth Parsons in 1840 was ordained pastor of the Congregational Church in Deerfield, New Hampshire, in 1841. He was a strong voice in the anti-slavery movement: In 1845 he signed a petition to the U. S. Congress opposing the annexation of Texas; the same year he signed another petition calling for the abolition of slavery in Washington, DC.; he signed a petition against the introduction of slavery into Kansas; and in 1850 he joined a vigilance committee to fight the Fugitive Slave Law.

Martha Frances Hidden (1842-1870) graduated from Mt. Holyoke Female Seminary in 1862 and taught there for a short time. She married Benjamin G. Page (1835-?), a Congregational minister, in 1865. They moved to Missouri in 1868. See Who's Who in New York (1904).

Chase Prescott Parsons (1832-1879) was the son of Josiah Parsons, who was an early Principal of Gilmanton Academy. Chase graduated from Dartmouth in 1853 and was Principal of Gilmanton Academy until 1858. He married Hattie A. Howes in 1863 at Evansville, Indiana. In 1870 he was a queensware dealer in Cairo, Illinois.]