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Quartet members were at the homestead  -  their busy travel itinerary suggests late April or early May  -  when Brother Jesse came up from Lynn.  He brought a strange,  new set of lyrics  -  "The Old Granite State"  -  to be sung to the Second Advent tune,  "The Old Church Yard."  Though Jesse had written verses to this melody in the heat of the Milford and Boston antislavery meetings

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earlier in the year,  the new piece was mostly about the Hutchinson Family.   It would give the singers a musical way to introduce themselves to audiences,  tell a little about their background,  and state their mission in the world.

A little farther along,  Jesse's new production gave a rhythmic recitation of the names of the surviving family's members.

The melody begins and ends with a natural excitement that made for a perfect Hutchinson Family theme-song.  And quartet members must have loved  "The Old Granite State"  at once.

John,  in his family history,  wrote,  "The song seemed the essence of egotism to us,  and we wondered that Jesse could have written it.  We could not conceive that the public cared anything about the Hutchinson family names."

On second thought,  perhaps it would take a while after all for the singers to warm up to Jesse's new lyrics.

In "The Old Granite State,"  if it ever were to see the light of day,  the Hutchinsons could speak of their antislavery and temperance principles.  Its most famous reform statement said

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In the southwest room of the house, Jesse sang the song for the first time, with his brothers and sisters joining in, as opportunity permitted.  When he finished, there must have been a mad scramble to find the most tactful way to tell him this was not one of his better ideas.  "The Old Granite State"  was Jesse Hutchinson's folly.  Nonetheless, somehow he persuaded his skeptical siblings to give his new song a try.

On May 5, the quartet sang at a  "tea party"  at what was once Deacon Giles' Distillery, in Salem, Massachusetts.  Temperance advocates seemed to enjoy the irony of events such as this.  Once a busy distillery, the building had been converted into a planing mill and was being used at this time as a temporary meetinghouse for temperance gatherings.  Jesse had written a parody of an old song,  "King Andrew."  This recent piece, called  "King Alcohol,"  was an obvious choice for the meeting.

One report was particularly cheery.  "Such a sea of happy faces and bright eyes, beaming with joy  -  the band of music, with its loud, harmonious notes pealing among the rafters, frightening all evil spirits from the building  -  the Hutchinson family, with their mountain music, swelling its deep, rich tones as sweet as was heard on Creation's morn, when the stars sang for joy. . . . "

The singers were invited to the American Antislavery Society anniversary in New York; and on their way they gave a highly successful concert in Boston.  Then they took the Norwich route, which combined railroad and steamboat travel.  With them was their lifelong friend, the Rev. William Weston Patton, a New Yorker who was then with the South Boston Congregational church.  The Hutchinsons were awake and standing on board their steamship as they arrived in New York at 5 AM on May 9,  "excited with curiosity to see Gotham"  -  so much so, in fact, that they went sightseeing first thing.  Asa, in particular, was greatly taken by the grandeur of the city.  When they finally arrived at Apollo Hall, the antislavery meeting was in full session.

On the 11th, the Hutchinsons participated in the anniversary of the American Temperance Union at the Broadway Tabernacle.  The Rev. William Patton was one of the chief organizers of this meeting.   A prominent New York clergyman, Rev. Patton was the father of William W. Patton.  The Hutchinsons were introduced to the crowd by one of the great American temperance leaders of the day, the Rev. Lyman Beecher.  They performed three songs  -  "King Alcohol,"  "We Are Happy and Free,"  and  "The Old Granite State."

"[W]hen  . . .  they sang their own family song of 'The Old Granite State,'"  crowed an early biography,  "the scene which ensued baffles description.  A perfect furore was excited.  In the ardor of the moment, Dr. Lyman Beecher rose and pronounced warm encomiums on the singers, and the entire audience testified their pleasure by thundering applause."  Jesse Hutchinson, Jr.,  now vindicated,  was a very, very happy man!

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Brother John may now finish his thought about  "The Old Granite State."   "[T]he fact was, Jesse saw better than we, that this song would make a hit, and we saw it too, after singing it once or twice."  Of course, thrilling a New York audience at the crowded Broadway Tabernacle  -  at that time, the city's biggest hall  -  was probably about all it took to convince the singers of the value of their brother's song.  The score sold very well, if we may judge by the large number of copies still in existence; and it was Jesse's most popular work.  The Hutchinsons sang this family song at nearly all their concerts thereafter, as well as at meetings, reunions, and various gatherings of the clan.  Decades later, Abby wrote,  "[T]he 'Old Granite State' is the one that arouses the people to enthusiasm."

A characteristic that helped keep the song fresh was that the verses generally were not dependent on one another.  The Hutchinsons could introduce a new verse, or retire an old one, without harming the overall meaning.  This practice continued as long as Jesse lived.

The quartet gave several popular concerts in New York and Brooklyn, promising to return in the fall for another round of engagements.  On May 13, the group sang at Concert Hall.  William W. Patton's brother Ludlow was a member of their audience.  Ludlow Patton was introduced to the singers, and they quickly became friends.

The following Wednesday, the Hutchinsons gave a concert at the New York Society Library Room, introducing  "The Vulture of the Alps,"  which Judson had just finished composing a few days before.  This became the group's first original song to be published.  It was inspired by vocal music imported from Italy.  This influence would show itself only occasionally, particularly in comic songs.  Judson's musical contributions are quite well documented; but as an entertainer, perhaps his greatest achievements were in the field of comedy.  Thus, "The Vulture of the Alps" may be seen as a first step toward one of his classic performances  -  his astonishing 1851 parody of Italian opera.

The Hutchinsons gave their last concert in the city on May 25.  Finally, at Pier No. 1, North River, they departed from their New York friends.  As the steamboat pulled away, the singers struck up "Sweet Mountain Home."  Back in Boston at the Melodeon, when the group sang,  "We're friends of emancipation,"  it was received with "deafening applause."

A large delegation of Hutchinsons attended the annual meeting of the New Hampshire Antislavery Society at Concord in June, singing their songs between speeches.  There were calls for the quartet to stay over and give a concert; but on Jesse's advice they decided to return home.  They needed to prepare for an engagement in Boston on the 17th.  They had been promised the presence of the President of the United States.

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Frederick Douglass went home to Milford with the Hutchinsons.   Many years later,  Douglass wrote that

Then came June 17, the date of the Hutchinson Family's big concert at the Howard Street Tabernacle in Boston.  As the day wore on, the president wore out  -  and felt the need to excuse himself from the evening's entertainment.  His family attended the show, along with other members of his company  -  but no president.  Without a doubt this was a great disappointment, added to the fact that the hot weather made attendance lighter than expected.  But after the show, the singers were introduced to the Tyler family, and apparently they made a good impression.

Soon the Hutchinsons were in attendance at an antislavery meeting on Nantucket.  After the first session, they became ill with influenza; and their singing voices suffered to varying degrees.  It was at this time that Brother Asa was entertained at the home of Captain Chace, a whaler; Asa began wooing Lizzie, the captain's daughter.   A mutual attachment developed; and Asa and Lizzie carried on a correspondence for several years.

Lizzie was a young woman of strong religious convictions, which surely played no small part in endearing her to Asa.   A few years earlier, at the age of eleven,  "she felt the need of something to be done for her moral nature,"  and  "she had great longings for some one to point out a way of relief for her burdened heart."  A friend spoke with Lizzie about Jesus, and she felt this burden removed.  She united with the Methodist church, and remained so for the rest of her life.  Lizzie's mother was devoted to the Society of Friends, but her father was said to be in sympathy with the Methodists.

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Meanwhile,   Brother  Judson  had  been  courting  a  distant  relative,   Jerusha  Peabody  Hutchinson.

During much of that summer, the Hutchinsons remained in Milford helping with the farm work.  Nathaniel P. Rogers and his protegé, Henry Clapp, Jr., were among their guests.

When one considers the importance of Henry Clapp to the literary world of his day, it is surprising how little biographical information about him is readily available.  As a young man, he served as secretary to Albert Brisbane, translated Fourier into English, and evidently had much to do with the production of Brisbane's Social Destiny of Man.  Clapp founded the newspaper, the Lynn Pioneer; and through it he was an important participant in reformist debates.  At a later time, he would board with Jesse and Susan.

Clapp published the early poems of Walt Whitman, as well as  "Jim Smiley and his Frog,"  the first important work by Mark Twain.  When Henry Clapp is remembered at all, he is best known as the  "King of the Bohemians"  -  a literary group that came together in the winter of 1859-1860.  The Bohemians who are best-remembered would be Whitman and Thomas Bailey Aldrich, a future editor of the Atlantic Monthly.  Descriptions of the Bohemians' late-night gatherings at Pfaff's German restaurant, in a basement on Broadway near Bleeker Street, are quite colorful.

Late in the summer, the Hutchinsons got ready for their promised return to New York.  This tour began early in September, and the quartet gave concerts in the principal cities of New England along the way.  On a train to New York, a passenger asked if the singers had seen  "Excelsior,"  a new poem by Henry W. Longfellow.  When they said they had not, he offered to send them a copy.  At New York, they received this curious piece in the mail, loved it, and quickly set it to music of their own composition.  "Excelsior,"  as a poem, became one of the most popular pieces of a phenomenally successful writer.  As a song, Hutchinson Family notices show that many viewed it as a major work.

Longfellow was in New York; and one of the Hutchinsons went to see him at the Astor House, requesting that he write an introduction for the song.  His reply came later that day.  "'Excelsior' is a word in an unknown tongue; it represents the aspirations of genius.  Disregarding the every-day comforts of life, the allurements of love, the warning of experience, it presses forward on its solitary path; even in death holds fast to the device, and the voice from the sky still proclaims the progress of the soul in a higher sphere."

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A number of scores,  such as "Excelsior,"  name the Hutchinson Family as composer of the music.

When the Hutchinsons talked with their New York friends, they  "found the field was broad and open and quite ready to harvest."   C. M. Saxton, who operated a bookstore on Broadway, secured a hall and took care of their advertising.  Their cause was taken up in the pages of the New York Daily Tribune.

George P. Morris visited the singers and gave them  "My Mother's Bible,"  "The Origin of Yankee Doodle,"  "I'm with You Once Again,"  and  "Westward Ho!"  These pieces were included often in Hutchinson Family programs through years of artistic and financial triumph.  "We're With You Once Again,"  as the Hutchinsons gave the title, was an exceptionally durable part of the group's repertoire.

All this time, the quartet was giving concerts at crowded halls in various parts of the city.  Then, John recalled,  "Our reception in Brooklyn from the first was an ovation.  The amphitheatre of the Brooklyn Institute was nightly crowded with interested and sympathetic listeners, and the hall rang out with enthusiastic applause for our best efforts."

They gave a concert at the Rutgers Institute in New York on November 14.  According to the Providence Journal, as published on the 19th, the hall was crowded and the audience was made up of highly respectable individuals.  "[T]hese Hutchinsons have improved wonderfully since I heard them last year in Providence.  They give a better programme, their voices have become stronger, and the 'little sister' has grown taller and pretty."

The Hutchinsons planned to tour farther south; but first, during the middle of December, they went home to Milford.  Evidently it was at this time that the quartet arranged with Brother Zephaniah to act as their advance agent.