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In August 1844, the Hutchinsons hired a stagecoach and driver to take them through the White Mountains.  Twelve crowded into the large vehicle, and others rode in single carriages.  They traveled to Concord on the 7th, pitched their tent, and gave a concert at the old North Church.  Others joined the party including Frances, Caroline, and Ellen, daughters of Nathaniel P. Rogers.   They reached Sanbornton the next day.  On Friday the 9th, they entered Plymouth at noon, singing  "Voice of Spring."  The quartet gave a concert that evening at the courthouse.

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The next day, the Hutchinson party went trouting at Lincoln.  No doubt their route and pace were set, in part, so they would be in Littleton to sing at an antislavery meeting on the 11th.  They traveled through Franconia Notch, had a great view of the famed  "Old Man of the Mountain,"  and went rowing on Pemigewassett Lake.  On the evening of the 12th,  the quartet gave a concert.

The next day the company was at Fabyan's, which was then a small establishment; so the tent was put to use by the men, and the eight women shared a single room in the hotel.  On the 14th, the party ascended Mount Washington on horseback.  "It was a romantic sight,"  said John,  "to see some twenty-four men and women on horseback, following one another single file over the rocks and crags, logs, ruts and ditches until they reached an altitude so high that trees or shrubs refused to grow.  Then we left earth behind and went into the clouds, and at last reached the summit."  Back at the foot of the mountain, they raced their horses on the plain.  When they came to a road, they followed it back to the hotel, singing as they went.

Then began the return trip.  They had dinner at the old Crawford House on the 15th, and that evening they pitched their tent in North Conway and gave a concert to people who gathered outside.  The next day they enjoyed a picnic in the woods.  Neighboring farmers joined them for a temperance and antislavery lecture.  The next day they went rowing and swimming in Lake Winnipesaukee.  They journeyed home through Plymouth, Sanbornton Bridge, and Goffstown, where they spent the last night of this trip.  Finally, their journey ended at Milford.  Brother Asa referred to this adventure as the Hutchinsons' White Mountain tramp, and he said it was one of the happiest times he ever had.

On September 11, 1844, the quartet began another concert season, with Brother Zephaniah serving as their business agent.  Their first stops were at Manchester and Nashua, where their engagements were highly profitable.  Appearances followed at Newburyport, Portsmouth, and Saco, as they traveled up the coast to Portland where they arrived on the 21st.  They had a delightful visit with their friend W. Oliver Dennett and gave two concerts.  Then they left Portland by steamboat for engagements at Augusta, Gardiner, Hallowell, and Brunswick.  At Bath, they closed the show with  "The Old Granite State"  -  or tried to  -  but the antislavery people in their audience shouted for  "Get Off the Track!"

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On October 4, the Hutchinsons took part in an antislavery meeting at City Hall in Portland.  But after the first day, it came to a sudden halt, when the mayor refused to allow such use of the building.  The meetings resumed at Concert Hall on Sunday.

At each session, a slave owner engaged Garrison in debate.  That evening, he proposed a resolution to the effect that the abolitionists were traitors to country and God.  At a point in the discussions marked by great chaos, Garrison asked the quartet to sing.  They answered with  "The Bereaved Slave Mother."  John said they faced the most disorderly gathering he ever saw  -  which is saying a lot.  The Hutchinsons had sung, and would continue to sing, at a goodly number of meetings in disarray.  Soon the hall was quiet, and the singers had the attention of those present.  Then the meeting continued without further interruption.  The Hutchinsons were so excited by this incident that it was the wee hours of the morning before they got to bed.

On Monday the quartet started for home through New Hampshire and Massachusetts,  with engagements all along the way.

The following week, the group gave a concert at the Melodeon to their largest Boston audience yet.  The day of the show, the Atlas attacked  "Get Off the Track!"  -  which appeared in the published program  -  calling it  "vile stuff."  Next, they sang to crowded houses in Providence and Worcester.  By November 2, the Hutchinsons had reached Albany, for a series of engagements in the area.  Election day came during this visit, and there was much excitement.

At one time, a trip to Albany amounted to a  "western"  tour; but now the quartet planned to travel far into western New York State.  They gave concerts along the way and arrived at Buffalo on November 22.  On the trip, John was lost in the works of phrenologist and publisher O. S. Fowler.

The Buffalo area had suffered a great storm, and Judson and John went to see a Lake Erie steamship that had washed ashore.  They noticed a house with its first story destroyed but with signs of life coming from the upstairs.  Inside, they found a frail woman wearing clothes that were inadequate for the season and holding a half-starved baby in her arms.  The next day, with Abby, they took her some clothing, paid her rent, and gave her money to use for a more secure dwelling.

The quartet gave two successful concerts at Buffalo.  Then they visited Niagara Falls, though the weather was so cold that they little enjoyed the scene.  On the way back, they stopped at many of the same cities for return engagements.

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At Buffalo, Judson's mood turned gloomy.  In Rochester, he was writing a letter to his mother and father.  As John passed by, he noticed that he had drawn a coffin in the margin.  John stopped a moment and watched Judson draw another coffin so that the two appeared head-to-head.  John was anxious already, for Fanny was pregnant; and though the quartet was having a long, highly successful tour, and though they often met old friends, John thought his brothers and sister were  "full of forebodings."

On December 6, the band reached Milford.  In the village, they heard that Rhoda's husband, Isaac Bartlett, and Brother Benjamin were sick.  This proved true, though Ben and Isaac were up and about.  But in the coming days, their condition grew worse; and Asa contracted the same illness, typhus.  On the 14th, Jesse and Andrew arrived to help take care of the sick men.

Into this scene of sickness and gloom came new life, for Henry, John and Fanny's first son, was born on Tuesday evening, December 17, 1844.  When Benjamin heard the baby's first cry, he awoke and said,  "One comes into the world; another goes out."  Soon Rhoda came hurriedly in, saying that Isaac was dying.  John found him saying his last farewell to the family.

On Sunday, December 22, Isaac A. Bartlett died, leaving Sister Rhoda alone with their daughter Marietta.  The next day, Ben sang a farewell song with Jesse, who was caring for him at the time.  Three hours later, Benjamin died.

A double funeral was held at the homestead on the 24th.  The family gathered, except Asa, who was too sick.  When John saw head-to-head coffins in the hall, he suddenly flashed back to Judson's drawing.  During the service, Jesse spoke, concluding with the words,  "We have adjourned our family meeting to Heaven."  Judson, John, and Asa were close in age to Benjamin, and, as boys, they had shared a room with him.  He was their confidant, and he quietly helped them start their concert career.  Not incidentally, Isaac and Benjamin, along with Sister Rhoda, had carried most of the responsibility for the Milford farm.

The quartet's New York engagements, scheduled for after the first of the year, were canceled.

Back in early 1842, Jesse Sr. gave a deed for the family farm to his six youngest children, with conditions that had not been fully met.  He owned a house in the village and still had the old homestead where all but two of the children were born; and he had a notion to take up preaching.  Around this time, some of the older brothers began saying they thought it was not quite fair that they did not have a share in the newer farm.  After several family conferences, a decision was made to divide the property and give up the community plan.  Since the deed to the youngest children had never been recorded, all that was needed was to destroy it.

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For a time Judson and Jerusha kept house in the farm's "milk room," while John, Fanny, and little Henry had their quarters in the sitting room.  They lived quiet lives which were devoted mostly to domestic duties, with appearances here and there at antislavery gatherings.

On March 1, 1845, the quartet started a tour through Manchester and Lowell to Boston.  From there, they went to Providence and on to New York, arriving on the 17th.  The first concert of this series was at Niblo's on March 19.  "Get Off the Track!"  was one of the songs planned as part of the program, though the Hutchinsons were cautioned not to sing this piece in New York.  According to an early biography,  "Threats were made of organized and violent opposition. . . . "   Sister Abby said,  "[T]he New York Herald and the Express newspapers . . . both came out in violent and vituperative terms, saying, the Hutchinsons ought not to be allowed to sing such a song, and that if they dared to sing it, they deserve to be mobbed.  Even our most warm and enthusiastic friends among the abolitionists took the alarm, and with some trepidation begged that we might omit the song, as they did not wish to see us killed outright."

As Abby told the story, Niblo's Garden was crowded with 2,000 people that evening.  Many friends of the singers came to protect them, should violence break out.  Women sat in front so they could hustle "little Abby" out of harms way.  When the quartet stepped on stage, the audience warmly greeted them.

Tensions, though, remained high.  During one of the New York shows, when a friend, Henry Denison, wanted to hear a particular song, he wrote down his request, somehow attached it to a penny, and threw it on stage.  The penny hit a violin; and since singers and audience alike did not know the missile's source, much confusion resulted and the program was stopped until the crowd could be calmed.

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On the 21st, the quartet sang at the Brooklyn Institute, though without an enthusiastic endorsement from the Brooklyn Advertiser.  That paper said  "Get Off the Track!"  should be utterly condemned and suggested that the Hutchinsons drop  "The Old Granite State"  from their programs.  Concerts at Niblo's and Palmer's Opera House followed.  John's diary did not speak of applause so much as little hissing.  On April 4,  500 people were turned away from Niblo's for lack of space at the show.

Now, way back on June 10, 1842, in the Herald of Freedom, Nathaniel P. Rogers wrote, "[T]he young Hutchinsons  -  they are the singing birds.  They sing and play as if they were born in a nightingale's nest."  It became common after that for journalists and fans to compare the quartet's vocals to the singing of birds.  In New York, this was condensed into a phrase that would stick to the Hutchinsons for life.  N. P. Willis, in the New York Evening Mirror, called them  "a nest of brothers with a sister in it."

The quartet's first engagement in Philadelphia fell on April 7.  Two days later, they sang again to as many people as could get into Musical Fund Hall.  After that, they gave more concerts in New York and Brooklyn.  They sang at Sing Sing prison on the 20th, and the song  "My Mother's Bible"  brought tears to the eyes of the female prisoners.  On the 24th, their final New York show was held at the Broadway Tabernacle.  The trip home included concert stops at New Haven and Boston.  May 5 found them safely back in Milford.  Asa and Abby returned to school, while Judson and John did farm work, and made soap, butter, and pickles.

In the spring of 1845, Jesse Hutchinson, Jr., bought land on High Rock in Lynn from Timothy Johnson.  Over the next couple years he would purchase eight adjoining lots,  "at great trouble and expense."  This purchase was worth the effort to Jesse, for now he was the owner of the spot he loved best.  Nathaniel P. Rogers was intrigued by Jesse's plans for his new property.  "Jesse is a Poet  -  but he can build songs, he will find, easier than he can [build] Stone Cottages, in this flinty, hard-money world, and among the cliffs of High Rock.  If he succeeds in this design, though, he will have a Home there, like a Song."

Jesse had a dream for the summit of High Rock that a dreamer like Rogers could appreciate.

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On June 4, the Hutchinsons attended a meeting in Concord.  It was one of the sad events of the antislavery movement.

The Hutchinsons had friends in both camps.   When tempers flared, they put in a song.  This bought some time; but evidently the family's best efforts were not enough to prevent a deepening rift.