Special thanks to Troy Ancona, who brought our attention to the Aaron Hobart & George Handel Holbrook bells while researching the Hobart Family Ancestry.
The Baptist Meeting House bell was crafted by George Handel Holbrook in Medway, MA, and was cast in 1836. Early documentation improperly stated that the Holbrook Bell hung in the Salisbury, NH Congregational Church, when in fact it was in the Old Baptist Church, now the Baptist Meeting House, home of the Salisbury Historical Society. The Holbrook Bell Height: 33 inches, Diameter at the mouth: 36 inches.
The Salisbury Congregational Community Church features a bell cast by Aaron Hobart in 1791; the bell is 600 lb, likely around 30–32 inches in diameter. In 1761, Col. Aaron Hobart, Abington, MA, was the first, or one of the first, to cast meeting-house bells in this country. He was also the first to cast cannons. At some point, Paul Revere came to speak to Hobart, who taught Revere how to create bell molds. Hobart’s son returned with Revere to Boston to apprentice with him.
The historical evidence specifically says that an Aaron Hobart bell cast in 1791 was made expressly for the Salisbury Meeting House (a Meeting House in 1791, now the Congregational Church) and is believed to be the oldest bell in New Hampshire still hanging in its original belfry. One historical account says that twenty silver dollars contributed by Rev. Thomas Worcester were put into the bell to improve its tone.
- A bell of this type would have been hauled on a heavy wagon, probably with a team of horses or oxen. There were no railroads, and a bell weighing hundreds of pounds could not simply be loaded onto an ordinary farm cart.
- The 1890 Salisbury history says the bell’s sound was remarkably clear and that it could supposedly be heard as far away as Concord, about sixteen miles distant. People in surrounding towns reportedly used its ringing as a time signal for going to church, work, and meals.
- 1800 Stephen Webster is paid $7 to ring the meetinghouse bell for one year. The Salisbury history says this is the first surviving written notice of the bell being rung.
- Early documentation indicates that one of these bells was in the “Salisbury Meeting House”, which is the current Salisbury Congregational Church building. The building was a Meeting House on Searle’s Hill before it was moved to its current location in Salisbury, NH; see Moving Buildings.
- Article by Clifford W Brown Jr. regarding “The Holbrook Bell” states the following. Chepachet Free Will Baptist Church — The Holbrook Bell “ The earliest professional bell founder to cast bells on a sustained basis in Massachusetts is believed to have been Aaron Hobart of Abington, who was casting bells as early as 1770. Hobart learned his trade by employing the services of one Gillimore, a deserter from the British Navy, who had learned about bell casting in England. A bell cast by Hobart in 1791 still hangs in the Meeting House in Salisbury, New Hampshire.”
A similar report was made by Fay M. Mahoney, a Franklin, New Hampshire journalist/historian and photographer.
Revere Reverberations (date unknown)
Hobart Bell At Salisbury Church Believed To Be The Only One
By Fay M. Mahoney
When you have newspaper ink in your blood, you will do just about anything to complete your story.
It all started in the living room of Ida Prince in Salisbury and ended up on the roof of the steeple of the Salisbury Congregational Church!
All to complete the story of a church bell, a bell which is the predecessor of the famous Revere bell, a bell made by Aaron Hobart, the man who taught Paul Revere how to cast bells.
And, more importantly, it is believed to be the only Hobart bell in existence. Anyone with further knowledge on this fact is invited to contact Dana Parks, chairman, Bicentennial Committee, PO Box 47, Salisbury, N. H. 03268.
The Salisbury Congregational Church will be marking its Bicentennial this summer, and to start the activities, a program is being planned by the Ladies Aid of the Church for Wednesday, July 25 at 7:30 pm at which time Edward and Evelyn Stickney, Bedford, Mass., will speak on Revere Reverberations.” The Stickneys are church bell authorities.
Aaron Hobart was not well known, not even listed in the encyclopedia, but Paul Revere, a more colorful man, owes his success to this man, his teacher. Mr. Hobart quit casting in 1792 in Abington, Mass. So it was important to get the date of the bell in the steeple at the Salisbury Congregational Church… October 1791, “No problem at all,” says Dana Parks. “I’ll take you up.”
So across the street we went to the church and upstairs to the door to the steeple.
“Dana, no lights?!” I queried.
“No,” he replied confidently.
“We could stand a flashlight though,” he concluded, but didn’t find one.
I looked around the stairwell corner, and that 200-year-old church is so well built that the cracks didn’t even let in natural light.
Step by step, I followed Dana’s voice. “This top step is a little higher than the rest,” he said. I practically went belly bump over it to the first landing.
Around the corner and up the second set of stairs. At least some natural light was coming in from somewhere; I didn’t look around to see where.
Two-thirds of the way up, Dana starts pushing a board up, and I see the sky. “Dana we going outdoors?” “Well, where else do you expect to find a church bell?”
After shimmying up through the trap door, I was on the roof of the steeple. “Dana, how do you expect me to manipulate a camera in this one-by-two corner?” “Just follow me,” he said.
After casting one glance groundward, it was better judgment not to look at anything but the Aaron Hobart Bell.
Around the narrow rail fence, through the wheel that turns the bell, back outside the fence on the other side, and I got my pictures. But not without ringing the bell by accident, a bell which isn’t used because of a crack which summoned Mrs. Parks to see what was up.
(The bell has a great tone.) Back down through that trap with a camera and flash attachment, down the first set of stairs to the first firm landing where Dana casually notes, “These steps are supported by old pews!”
“Dana, you better go first; I don’t have cats’ eyes to find that first step.” And so hand in hand we went down without incident, picture intact.
Miss Prince was able to get in touch with the great, great, great, great-granddaughter of Col. Aaron, who passed on the following information: “The following is copied from a Feb. 5, 1873 issue of a local paper, the Eastport (Maine) Sentinel. The headline is ‘Taken from an old Eastport Sentinel,’ but it does not give the date of the original.
“Aaron Hobart was a man of ability and great energy and introduced several new branches of manufacture into the town (Abington, Mass.) He established a foundry for casting hollow ware and in 1769 a deserter from the British Army came along who un the process of casting bells. They continued the manufacture of casting bells for many years, and his advertisements are found in the Boston papers of that time.
“A Bell Foundry lately erected by Aaron Hobart of Abington (by an air furnace) where bells are cast of any size, suitable for churches equal to and cheaper than can be imported.
‘Inquire of Joseph Webb of Boston, or said Aaron Hobart.’ “He also was the first manufacturer of Cannon in this Country. At the beginning of the Revolution, the Patriot leaders were greatly embarrassed by their inability to furnish the cannon for the Army and the fitting out of vessels of war and privateers; none having been manufactured in the country.
“Col. Hobart being known as an enterprising iron manufacturer, the Committee on Safety applied to him to undertake the supply of this demand. The following account of it from Hayward’s Gazette of Mass.: ‘In the year 1775 or 1776 Col. Aaron Hobart contracted with the State to make cannon and shot. The State furnished him with a large amount of material to begin with: pig iron and coal. This was a bold undertaking. Col. Hobart did not know the business; he cast bells, and was the owner of a blast furnace for casting hollow ware; but the exigency of the times required powerful efforts. Revolutionary War had just commenced, and there were but few cannon in the county, and hundreds of merchant ships were in want of cannon to go out as privateers.
“The first attempt (the first made in this country) proved very unsuccessful. The cannon burst; the cause was that the iron was not raised to a sufficiently high temperature and became chilled too quickly. So disastrous was the experiment that the stock provided by the State was expended and his own fortune besides. The disappointment was severely felt by him and by the public. But providentially at this dark hour, the cause of the low temperature of the iron in the furnace was discovered by a Frenchman who had worked in a foundry in France. In passing through the town, stopping at a public house, he heard of Col. Hobart’s want of success and inquired the cause. On being told, he said there was no difficulty in keeping the iron hot.
“‘He was instantly invited to inspect the furnace and stated at once the cause of the failure. The flue of the chimney was made large, and the chimney above was small. He said the reverse ought to be the case; the flue small and the chimney above large. No time was lost in making the change, and success was complete. The contract with the State was fulfilled, and individuals were supplied extensively. About three years later the concern was disposed of in the State and removed to Bridgewater.”
If you want to learn more about the bell, circle July 25 on your calendar. The public is invited to the special “Revere Reverberations” program at the church.