Even in the middle of the 19th century, education was a luxury for many who lived in these parts. But those who called to book learning and dedicated enough to pursue studies on their own were often able to follow intellectual pursuits even while continuing with more prosaic lines of work.
Such was the case with Ephraim Weston, a Hancock resident who gave up hopes of a teaching career to run the family farm, and also earned recognition and praise as a captain in the Civil War.
Weston moved with his family to Hancock as a boy, already used to the rigors of farming and tending sheep and cattle, but with no schooling. “After the removal of the family to H[ancock] he had the advantage of the common school in the winter, but during the season for labor on the farm he either worked for his father or for others until he attained his majority,” the 1889 town history reports.
Still, he longed for the life of the mind. After he reached adulthood, he spent much of his money on books, and for four years spent the winter teaching in Concord, Mass. For a while, it seemed he’d be able to make a career of teaching. He enrolled at Exeter Academy to prepare himself, but had only completed one term when he was called back home, where his father lay dying. His father’s last request was that Ephraim handle his estate, a somewhat complicated matter, according to the town history. “More than a year was consumed in this work; and during that time he decided to abandon his previous purpose, and give most of his attention to farming,” the history states.
Weston settled in at the family homestead, which he named Cascade Farm. “He did not, however, abandon his intellectual pursuits,” the history reports. Among his interests were insects and geology. He collected samples of every species of moth and gnat, which he displayed in cases. He also collected rocks, and lectured on geology in the local schools. He also spoke frequently in Hancock and neighboring towns on politics and other subjects, and advocated for the town to start a library.
Weston also served his community on both the town school board and the county commission. The writer of the town history, William Willis Hayward, was particularly impressed with his skills in education:
“He served several years as a member of the school committee, and also frequently as a teacher in the common schools, and I take great pleasure in saying that, having been a teacher when he was the special visiting committee of my school, having served on the school board with him, and having visited schools where he was the teacher, and therefore having a good opportunity to know whereof I affirm, I consider him one of the best educators that I have ever met. He had a happy faculty of inspiring the young with a love of knowledge for its own sake, and perhaps no person has ever been more instrumental in raising the standard of culture in town than he.”
Weston was among the first in New Hampshire to enlist in the Union army at the outset of the Civil War, and opened a recruiting office in Peterborough in April 1861. Co. G, 2nd Regiment N.H. Volunteers left for camp at Portsmouth June 4, with Weston as its captain. He would serve as the company’s leader until his death, which fell only six months later, due to a cold he picked up in Portsmouth that turned into tuberculosis.
“The company left for the seat of war June 20th, and for nearly three months he performed his duty as a soldier notwithstanding his suffering,” the history tells us. “He inspired the men under his command with his own dauntless courage, and would frequently address them with feelings of strongest regard, and say: ‘Boys, I will never ask you to go where I will not lead you.’ His bearing and fortitude at the battle of Bull Run were worthy a veteran in the service, and could hardly have been expected of one who so recently had left the quiet occupation of a farmer.”
The town history also includes a report from a correspondent of the Lancaster Republican, who stood near Weston at Bull Run:
“Had he been pitching hay among his native hills in a slight shower, he would not have showed less trepidation. I remember well while passing through a hollow, in our last attack, the enemy’s shells were flying about our ears in a perfect storm — some bursting in our ranks, but most of them passing a yard or two above us, — and involuntarily, at every whiz as they passed, the men and officers would stoop, but Captain Weston stood his full five feet ten, and I thought he added a ‘cubit to his stature’ as he turned to his men, his face wearing a look of complacency that approached a smile, and said as calmly as though on dress parade, ‘Don’t dodge, boy, don’t dodge; you will get shot just as quick as though you stood up like men.’”
Weston was seriously ill during his service, yet took part in 15- to 20-mile marches and slept on the ground. By Sept. 9, however, he could not continue and left for his home. He died there Dec. 9, and was buried in the family graveyard.
If he ascended to the heaven that he expected was awaiting him, he would indeed have been happy. In a letter dated Feb. 6, 1860, Weston wrote: “Heaven must be a place devoid of selfishness, — where each soul strives for the joy and happiness of other souls, where no thought is given to self. Oh, how glorious to be thus in the arms of universal love, where all are caring for you, and where the whole soul, washed clean from selfishness and envy, rejoices in the joy of those about it! I pray continually for this high state here on earth. Our love must go out to our fellows, though they hate us and slay us. We must love and pity them and tenderly take them up in the arms of our charity, striving continually to clear away the darkness that is about them, and strengthening ourselves by constant draughts upon the Divine Love. Give me the soul that rises above expedients and reaches forth to grasp the Divine in all things, reading the book of Nature and of Revelation in the light of God’s great love.”
A Look Back originally appeared in the Monadnock Ledger.