Darrow School - Shaker Post Yearbook (New Lebanon, NY)

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The Peg Board 1936 The story of Frederick Evans's life after he came to America falls outside the scope of this article, but we should note in closing this study of his boyhood that his experiences at Chadwick Hall had, apparently, a considerable inliuence upon his future career, for he says: The example of the order and economy practiced at Chadwick Hall was not lost upon me. Two uncles, John and James managed the farm. One remained at home mostly, the other attended the fairs and markets, which latter are held twice a week at the principal towns. Here the farmers and dealers meet to sell and buy all the products of their farms, the grain being bought and sold by samples. The fairs were much the same thing, but the sales were principally of live stock on a large scale. On these occasions servants Cmale and femalej congregated together, and hired themselves out for the ensuing year, each one pro- ducing his character on paper from his former employer. To these markets and fairs my uncle John used frequently to take me, and there I learned somewhat of the relative value of property, and how to buy and sell. At home I learned to take care of horses, cattle, and sheep. Everything moved as if by machinery. For instance, there were some twenty horses, and in the morning at a regular hour, they were all turned out to water, as we now turn out cows. Whilst they were gone, their mangers were cleaned, and the racks emptied of any hay left in them over night, this was put aside to be aired, and fresh hay was given, at night, however, the aired hay was first fed out, nothing was wasted or lost. In the house it was the same. Once a month they washed, once a week they baked bread made from unbolted wheat, black enough, but sweet. S. P. C. fr. Chadwick Hall HADWICK Hall, the boyhood home of Elder Frederick Evans has had an interesting history The following account was received from the Mayor of Worcester, England, who had it in turn from Mr. E. F. A. Keen, Librarian and Secretary of the Public Library, Art Gallery, and Hastings Museum, Victoria Institute, Worcester: EXTRACTED FROM THE VICTORIA HISTORY OF THE COUNTY OF WORCESTER, VOLUME 3 Chadwick Manor House, about 3M miles north of Bromsgrove, on the west side of the Halesowen road, is a late 17th-century building of brick with stone dressings. In the Domesday survey it is stated that 3 hides at CHADWICK fCeldwic, xi cent., Chadelwic, Chadleswich, Chadeleiwyz, Chadewyz, xiii cent., Chadeleswych, xiv cent., Chaddyswyche, xv cent.j had been formerly held by thegns of Earl Eadwine, but in 1086 it was part of the royal manor of Bromsgrove, and Urse held it of the king, Alvred being the tenant under Urse. The interest of Urse passed to the Beauchamps and followed the descent of Elmley Castle. In the 12th century Ralph de Lens was holding the vill of Chadwick in demesne, and in I I95, after his death, his widow Beatrice of London held Chadwick and Willingwick as dower, with reversion to her son Roger. In 1232 Roger son of Ralph de Lens gave to the hospital of St. Wulfstan, Worcester, his capital messuage and lands in Chadwick. Roger's son Ralph, who probably succeeded him shortly after, was also a benefactor of the hospital, and in 1248 he gave to it the dower lands of his mother Felicia. In return for this the hospital gave to him and his wife Mary a corner house in Worcester, opposite that of Hugh de Pakenton, and a corrody, half of which was to cease on the death of either Ralph or Mary, and the other half on the death of the survivor. Thomas de Lens appears at one time to have held the manor, but before 1274 it seems probable that the Master of St. Wulfstan's had acquired it, for at about that time he appropriated to himself the asize of 68

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1936 The Peg Board As my friends had given up all attempts and hopes to educate, and thereby fit me for good society, I was allowed to follow my own instincts and affinities, and these led me to associate almost exclusively with the servants, of whom eight or ten were kept on the place, there being two distinct classes of human beings, and two separate establishments, at Chadwick Hall, as on a Southern plantation in the olden times of .seven years ago. Here I was allowed to educate myself to my heart's content, reading and studying the vegetables and fruits fand of these there were variety and abundance, including the apple and pear to the apricot and gooseberryj, in all of which I was deeply interested. The land and its crops, the animals and the servants who attended them, together with, those who officiated in- doors, were all my school-masters and mistresses, and the servants were not less my particular friends, for I was a Democrat. When almost twelve years of age, my father and brother, whom I did not know, ap- peared at Chadwick Hall, not to me among the servants, but to my uncle and aunts in the parlour, and to my grandmother, who had not given me up for lost, as had the others fso far as a school education was concernedj, but had taught me to say prayers before going to bed, and when I rose in the morning, had caused me to learn the text, and patiently endure an occasional gentle knock on the head from the sexton's long wand. For all of this I had a proper respect, but an organ fwhich I heard for the first timej in another church alarmed me, and caused me to cry out in a fright, to the amazement of a large congregation. My father, brother, and uncles and aunts, as I subsequently learned, had a sharp contention about taking me off to America, of which I only knew so much as I used to hear the common people sing in a doggerel originating at a time recruits for the Revolutionary war were being raised: The sun will burn your nose off, And the frost will freeze your toes off, But we must away, To fight our friends and our relations In North America. The different parties became warm in their feelings, and quarrelled, each party laying claim to meg and, as neither would give way, Englishmen-like, they agreed to settle the matter on this wise: I, Frederick, was to be called into the parlour, no word upon the subject to be spoken to me previously, and uncle was to put a question to me, which he did, as follows: Frederick, will you go to America with these men Cwho are your father and brotherj, or will you stay with us? I will go to America with my father and brother, was my instant reply, and that settled it. I was soon fixed off, and on my way to Liverpool. This was-in the year 1820 and I attained my twelfth year at sea. Evans refers to Licky Hill as the scene of one of Cromwell's battles. The battle to which he refers was probably a skirmish not known to history, but remembered locally and perhaps magnified in local tradition. Concerning the reference to a battle Mr. Palfrey has this to say: There is no record of any fighting near Lickey Hills during the Cromwellian times that I can trace. There may have been some skirmishing, of course, but the nearest battle would be Worcester, sixteen miles away in 1651. It is curious to note, however, that there is a Battlefield Brook running through the Estate. Who Elder Frederick's uncles were we have not yet been able to ascertain. They may have been managers of the Chadwick Hall estate. But be that as it may, Evans's association with this old English manor and his schooling in Stourbridge suggest that he came of good family. In any event, the Peg Board purposes to carry these researches farther, and it is possible that in some future number information of a more definite character concerning the boyhood of this great Shaker theologian may be presented. 67

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1936 The Peg Board CHADWICK HALL, WORCESTERSHIRE, ENGLAND THE BOYHOOD HOME OF ELDER FREDERICK W. EVANS Courtesy of Tha National Trust. 69