USA > New Hampshire > Merrimack County > Northfield > Bygones. Some things not generally known in the history of Northfield, New Hampshire > Part 1
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org.
Gc 974.202 N78cr 1937175
M. L.
REYNOLDS HISTORICAL GENEALOGY COLLECTION
GEN
ALLEN COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARY 3 1833 00056 0828
Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2015
https://archive.org/details/bygonessomething00cros_0
-
BYGONES.
FRAGILE
SOME THINGS NOT GENERALLY KNOWN
IN THE
HISTORY OF NORTHFIELD,
NEW HAMPSHIRE.
READ BEFORE THE
NORTHFIELD AND TILTON WOMAN'S CLUB.
LUCY R. H. CROSS.
CONCORD, N. H.
NOV. 17, 1900.
THE JERRY
-
BYGONES-SOME THINGS NOT GENERALLY KNOWN IN THE HISTORY OF NORTHFIELD.1
By Lucy R. H. Cross.
1937175
HE story of border and between the walls and wainscot. pioneer life is always an interesting, but not al- ways a pleasant, one. Variety it may have, and every day adventure, comedy, and tragedy, perhaps, though it might
Give you no pleasure Or add to your treasure Could I weave it into a song.
Will Carlton says :
" It isn't the funniest thing a man can do, Existing in a country when 't is new.
Nature, who moved in first a good long while Has things already somewhat her own style, She don't want things exposed from porch to closet
And so she kind-o-nags the one who does it. She loves her agne muscle to display
And shake him up most every other day.
She finds time 'mong her other family cares To keep in stock good wildcats, wolves, and bears,
And those who've wrestled with his bloody art
Say, 'Nature always takes the Indian's part.' "
Canterbury, which means North- field as well, was for a long time the extreme border town. It was granted to Richard Waldron and others in 1727, and was incorporated in 1741. The Scotch Irish from Londonderry took possession of the Merrimack River Intervale in 1721. An old house near the site of the " Muchido" was used as a fort, and must have seen many sieges, for when it was torn down, bullets were found em- bedded in the oaken walls, and others
There was also a fort farther back on the hill, commanded by Capt. Jere- miah Clough, which was also a depot for provisions and a rendezvous for provincial troops during Lovewell's and the French and Indian wars, and a strong guard was always kept there. Not only did the garrison have to contend with wild beasts, and the more cruel Indian, but there was a bitter jealousy between them and the Rumford colony just below them.
Canterbury was a New Hampshire settlement, incorporated by the New Hampshire government, and settled by New Hampshire people, while Rum- ford was settled by Massachusetts peo- ple, and incorporated by the "Great and General Court," and the people looked to it for help and protection. They were angry that Canterbury was sup- plied with provisions and a competent force of troops, and this feeling did not entirely die out, until the brave soldiers of the two settlements had fought side by side in the many fast- following wars.
Capt. Jeremiah Cloughi, who was later well known in Revolutionary history, was here furnished with scouts, who roamed the wooded acres of Northfield long before a settler dared choose a home away from un- der the shelter of the fort. Many of the muster rolls of Captain Clough are
I Read before the Northfield and Tilton Woman's Club, Nov. 17, 1900.
*19540
4 still in existence. In the spring of 1743 he had twenty men for thirty- nine days. March 8 the house of representatives voted to pay him £16, 12S., Iod.
The next November he had six, and in April and May, 1744, seven men. June 2, 1746, the house voted to pay him £18 for " ye defense of the gov- ernment." In anticipation of the In- dian War in 1746 the garrison was strengthened and he had eleven scouts.
Captain Clough went along the Winnipiseogee river as far as the "great pond," with a force of nine- teen men. He used to furnish the bread but their meat was supplied by the game in the forests through which they passed. It was through and through these forests bordering the Merrimack and Winnipiseogee rivers, on whose banks large numbers of In- dians built their wigwams and on whose waters they paddled their ca- noes, that the scouts passed, and from their ranks came the first settlers of the " north fields " of Canterbury, at the close of the Indian War.
It is thought that Jonathan Heath built his hut on the Merrimack inter- vale two years before Benjamin Blanchard brought his family to Bay Hill in 1760. He was then forty-one years old, and his father was killed at the fort, twenty-two years before. From this time to 1776 those about the fort moved to the north and es- tablished homes along the river. Among others John Forrest came to the Leighton place, near Franklin Falls, in 1774. Hle had nine children. Ilis son William cleared a few aeres near the center of the north fields, put it into grain and the next year went to Bunker Hill.
He returned sick and wounded and resumed his life-work, farming. He planted his corn himself sixty years in succession and was absent but once from the annual town-meeting. He died at eighty-seven, leaving fourteen children and forty-one grandchildren. He was a firm Democrat, as were all his sons and grandsons. He drew a pension for many years. His brother James went nearer the river to the cast. His descendants have through the successive generations been cele- brated school teachers and prominent business men of the town. This is the only one of the twelve families of Forrests whose descendants still re- main in town, while of the twelve families of Rogers not one is left.
Mr. Shubeal Dearborn purchased his farm, according to the deed, in 1779. He was married in homespun at twenty-six, and began housekeep- ing without a bed or crockery, in a house with but one pane of glass. Frugality and industry in time made him the possessor of a good house, well furnished, and the fine farm un- til lately in the possession of his great-grandson, the late John S. Dearborn. He was obliged to haul his building material from Ports- mouth with an ox team. It is said a cradle, for the numerous children who came to gladden the home, was hol- lowed out of a log, and had done duty as a sap trough, before the rockers were attached to it.
There have been twenty-four fami- lies of Dearborns in town, and it seems to have been a family of phy- sicians, as twelve have taken medical degrees, and several of them have been noted practitioners.
'Twenty-six physicians claim North- field as their birthplace, and fourteen
1
E
5
NORTHFIELD
others have practised here for longer or shorter periods. Dr. Nancy Gilman was the first woman in the state to study and practice medicine. Dr. Richard S. Moloney, after leaving Northfield, succeeded Hon. John Wentworth as the U. S. Senator from Illinois at the age of thirty-nine. He died in Nebraska in 1891.
The following named persons from the "north fields " served in the Revolutionary War and were at Bun- ker Hill :
Lieut. Jno. Gilman, Ist Lieut. Charles Glidden, Shubeal Dearborn, Nathaniel Dear- born, George Hancock, Jos. Hancock, John Cross, Reuben Kezar, Nathaniel Perkins, Jr., 1 Joseph Glines, Abner Miles, Jonathan Wadleigh, John Dearborn, David Kenison, Richard Blanchard, William Hancock, Par- ker Cross, 1 Nathaniel Perkins, William Rines, William Forrest.
The following persons served else- where in the Revolutionary War :
Lieut. Thomas Lyford, 2 Phineas Fletcher, Jonathan Leavitt, Benjamin Collins, Benja- min Glines, Thomas Cross, Isaiah Willey, Robert Perkins, David Morgan, 3 Benjamin Drew, Wadleigh Leavit, Edward Dyer, John Rowen, Robert Foss, John Willey, Mathew Haines, William Glines, Moses Cross.
The following persons who had served in the Revolutionary War had their residence later in the town (in 1854):
Capt. James Shephard, Ensign Abraham Brown, Ord. Sergt. Sanfuel T. Gilman, Mathew N. Sanborn, Samuel Haines, Mor- rill Shephard, John Shephard, Samuel Dal- ton, Joseph Mann, Surgeon George Kezer. Levi Morrill, David Clough, Perkins Pike, Jonathan Gilman, Jonathan Ayers, Edward Fifield, Jotham Sawyer, John Rollins, John Sutton, Elias Abbott, Abner Flanders, Sam- uel Dinsmore, John Dinsmore, Isaac Rich- andson, Jacob Richardson, Joseph Ellison. Caleb Aldrich, Jonathan Wadleigh, Moses Danforth, Henry Danforth, Jedediah Dan-
forth, Stephen Haines, Samuel Goodwin, Jesse Car, Joseph Clisby, Samuel Rogers, James Muchmore, William Danford. Sam- uel Rogers, Robert Forrest, Henry Tibbets.
This list comprises one captain, three lieutenants, one adjutant, three orderly, and gener ser- geants.
John Dinsmore was one of General Washington's body guard. He drew $96 a year pension. He died in 1846, aged ninety-four. He was a fierce Democrat and became so en- raged at his brother for once selling his vote for a new pair of pantaloons that he had nothing to do with him thereafter.
Elias Abbott was in Bedel's Regi- ment, Captain Osgood's Company, list of Rangers sent to Canada to fight Indians in 1776, and was placed on the pension roll, Dec. 15, 1830. He drew $96 a year.
Moses Cross was with Capt. James Shephard, Continental Line, Northern Army, and drew a pension from July 21, 1836.
Joseph Clisby drew $70 a year. John Dinsmore first drew $70, then $96, from June 16, 1819. Samuel Dinsmore drew $96 a year.
Samuel Goodwin was with Colonel Wingate, Captain Calef, and later Captain Salter, in the artillery at Fort Washington; later with Capt. David Place at Seavey's Island, Nov. 5, as matross man. He was later with Colonel Wingate and Capt. James Arnold at Ticonderoga.
Caleb Aldrich, under Colonel Reed, Captain Hinds, went to New York. Ile was pensioned Dee. 6, 1832, at $So per year.
I,ient. Charles Glidden was in the French and Indian War, and was at the taking of Quebec by General
1 Died at Bunker Hill.
2 Died at Yorktown.
3 Died in army camp.
6
Wolfe in 1759, and at the taking of at the Battle of Tippecanoe. He Montreal by General Amherst in was drowned. His friend returned with his personal effects and dying message. 1760, and afterward an officer in the Revolutionary War. His commission was signed by General Washington, Before taking leave of the military history of the town I wish to put on record the following, though it may not be in chronological order : and is still preserved by his descend- ants. He was later a prominent citi- zen of Northfield and was the dele- gate of the town to the convention at Exeter when the Federal Constitution was adopted in 1788. His neighbor, the grandfather of Wesley Knowles (?) was taken prisoner at the surren- der of Fort William Henry, and still another neighbor was in Stark's Com- pany of Rangers.
William and Francis Kenniston were in Capt. Jolin Moore's Company of Rangers from April 24 to July 16, 1756.
Captain Pevey also took a company to join the Rangers, among whom we find the names of Edward Presby, Nathaniel Keniston, and Benjamin Rogers. They were to serve from May I to Nov. 26, 1756. These were sent to reënforce General Stark who was with the Rogers Rangers.
The following soldiers of the War of 1812 were under Colonel Steele in Capt. Ed. Fuller's Company, and were mustered in Sept. 28, 1814, for sixty days : 1. 1
Benj. Rollins, John Marden, Samuel Carr,. Jr., Benjamin Morrill, Ephraim. Cross, Mil- ton Giles, James Otis, and David Keniston, Jr.
The latter was always called " In- fant David," either because he be- longed to the Infantry, or because of his immense size and height.
Jonathan Gile and a friend, whose name has been lost, were transferred from this company to the Fourth United States Regiment, Western Bri- gade, ordered to Vincennes and were
The following named men were mustered into the United States ser- vice from New Hampshire in the " War of the Rebellion " under call of July 2, 1862, and subsequent calls and assigned to the quota of North- field, or went prior to the date given, or were natives of Northfield who en- listed elsewhere :
First Regiment-Abe Libby.
Second Regiment-Edmund Sanders.
Third Regiment -- Peter Hilton, James Lynch.
Fourth Regiment-Benjamin Hannaford, Israel Hall, Richard Dearborn, James Til- ton, Winthrop Presby, James Danforth, Aaron Veasey, Curtis Whittier, William Parsons, Abram Dearborn, John Collins, Corp. Charles Cofran, George W. Clark, Thomas Benton Clark.
Sixth Regiment-James Martin, Thomas King, John Johnson, Charles Marsh, Josiah Robbins, Charles Dinsmore, Joseph Dins- more.
Seventh Regiment-Frank Edson. Eighth Regiment-Gideon Cots, Corp. fortan " Charles Arlin, George Whitcher.
3
Ninth Regiment-Thomas Austin, Wal- lace Chase, Lucien Chase, Thomas Gile. Jr., Van Peabody, Walter F. Glines, Alonzo Hoyt, Charles H. Davis, Charles W. Tilton, William H. Roberts, Joseph Bennet.
Eleventh Regiment-John W. Downes.
Twelfth Regiment - Calvin W. Beck, John Dalton, Asa Witham, Ira Whitcher, George Niles, Frank Braley, Cornelius Braley, James Farley, John Keniston, George Roberts, Charles Woodward, Benjamin Clark. Byron K. Morrison, Bill Harriot, Fred Keniston, Hiram Hodgdon, sutler.
Fifteenth Regiment-Jeremiah Hall, M. D). surgeon, Albert McDaniel, Thomas G. Ames.
Sixteenth Regiment-Ervin Hand, Rufus" 11. Tilton, John W. Piper.
7- Eighteenth Regiment -- Albeit Brown, Arthur Menill, John W. Piper. Ca22.
1
7
£
1
NORTHFIELD.
Veterans' Relief Corps-Samuel C. Fi- field.
First Cavalry- Charles Smart, William Craigue, Asa Dart, Lucien Knowles, George Stark, Peter Casey, George Keyes, James Be Gold, John Morrow, George Smith.
Heavy Artillery-Hiram HI. Cross, Albert McDaniel, Albert Titcomb, Joseph Mills Si- monds, John Dinsmore.
United States Navy- Stephen Kenney, Clarence H . Abbott.
Marines - John Lyons, John Kelley, Joseph. Sweeney, Joseph Perry, James Mc- Vay.
First Massachusetts Cavalry-William C. Whittier, credited to Tilton.
First United States Artillery-Abe Libby (reënlisted), James Morrison, Charles Stev- ens.
One Hundred and Seventeenth Infantry- Capt. William A. Gile, credited to Frank- lın.
Veteran Battalion-Charles Arlin (reën- listed).
Eighth Illinois Cavalry - George R. Clough, credited to Evanston, Ill.
Regular Army (under Gen. Joe Hooker)- Charles W. Clough, credited to New Bos- ton, N. H., retired for moon blindness.
Rev. John Chamberlain was sent out by Governor Berry to look after the sick and wounded New Hamp- shire boys, anywhere and everywhere, and was pensioned by special act of Congress.
So let us be proud that Northfield has ever done her duty according to her strength in helping to maintain one of the grandest governments in the world. Go past our cemeteries on Memorial Day and you will see the fluttering of the little flags that show how freely her blood was shed not only for the dear old "Stars and Stripes," but for the banners our fore- fathers bore.
was in Rockingham county until 1823.
A portion of Northfield was com- bined with other territory, to form the town of Franklin, Dec. 24, 1828. But the same territory was re-annexed to Northfield, July 3, 1830, and again re- stored to Franklin, June 26, 1858. A part of two farms were severed and annexed to Franklin, June 27, 1861.
The first meeting the town held Nov. 21, 1780, was at the house of John Simonds. The first tax was sixty bushels of corn.
Six thousand dollars was voted for highways, allowing forty dollars for a day's work. This item is presumably a mistake, unless we may learn from it the value of continental money at that time.
The third town-meeting held May, . 1787, must have been a very impor- tant one. The record shows three items of business :
Voted after choosing the modera- tor ----
Ist. To take the Buzzil family into the cear of the town.
2nd. To drink two bowls at the town caust.
3d. Voted in addition to the above vote To drink six more on the town caust.
Loudon was also a part of Canter- bury, set off in 1773. So, whenever we speak of dear old Mother Nortli- field let us not forget to think kindly of Aunt Loudon and Grandmother Canterbury.
In June, 1780, Northfield was set As I have before said the first set- lers were from Canterbury fort. Na- thaniel Whitcher soon came from Lee and purchased 500 acres of wild land and established his four sons off from Canterbury and incorporated as a parish. Mr. Nathaniel Whitcher was the prime mover. The Merri- mack and Winnipiscogee rivers formed its entire western and northern boun- near and around Chestnut pond. Mr. daries. It contained zy,000 acres and
Wesley Knowles's grandfather bought
5
-
his farm of Mr. Whitcher, it is said, they fought side by side. The latter had for a two-year-old heifer.
Mr. Jonathan Clough came from Salisbury, Mass., with four children, in midwinter on an ox sled, with all their worldly possessions. The two sons took opposite farms on Bay Hill, which are still held in the family.
Jonathan Wadleigh, a Revolution- ary soldier, came from Kingston to Bean Hill, moving later to the farm next below the reservoir. His son, Peter Wadleigh, one of the leading men of the town, was a judge of the court of sessions when Merrimack county was organized in 1823.
Four Hill brothers came from Salis- bury, Mass., and bought farms on and near Bay Hill. They were coop- ers and were attracted by the oak timber. The Cofrans came from Pembroke, the Winslows from Lou- don, and the Browns from Notting- ham.
A large family of Giles came from Exeter and purchased a large tract of land, some 414 acres, southwest of the centre of the town, where the fam- ily removed.
The Gerrishes came from Bristol, England, to Newbury, Mass., then to Boston, and Henry was one of the first settlers of Boscawen.
The Gliddens from Maine, and the cago. Smiths from Old Hampton.
Henry Tibbetts came from the Shakers, where he had brought his family a short time before. His son, Bradbury, tiring of Shaker life ran away and'took a farm in East North- field, where his father and family came a little later. Here they both lived and died. The father had been a soldier in the Revolutionary War. He had a fellow soldier named Sin- clair, with whom he was intimate as
left a young wife in his distant home and when he fell, mortally wounded, made his friend promise if he lived to return to carry the news of his death himself to her. He complied faith- fully with the wish of his friend and in due time wooed and won her for his bride. There were born to them two daughters and seven sons, three of whom, Hiram, Nathan, and Charless were physicians, and spent most of their lives in Louisiana. Charles was a surgeon in the army during the Civil War.
Capt. Isaac Glines was born in Canterbury. His mother was a daughter of the first settler, Blanch- ard. He learned the carpenter's trade at Salem, Mass., and used to take men and materials and return home summers and erect first-class houses. He was captain of the " Home Guards " at Salem, and after his return to live at Northfield was captain in the State Militia.
Robert Gray and " Squire " John Moloney first came to Northfield as his help. The latter became sheriff and did an extensive business in the surrounding counties. After his death his numerous family moved West. Some are now living in Chi-
Thomas Chase came from Concord to the Cross settlement. He was by trade a baker, but his father-in-law on his marriage bestowed many broad and fruitful acres on his bride as her marriage portion. He abandoned his chosen calling and became a thrifty farmer, adding from time to time, to his extensive farm until he became possessed of some five or six hundred acres.
Dr. Alexander Thompson Clark
£
NORTHFIELD.
came from Londonderry and read medicine with Dr. L'erned of Hopkin- ton.
In 1802 he came to Northfield after one or two years' practice in Canada. He was Fellow of New Hamp- shire Medical Society and died sud- 'denly in 1821, leaving six children.
Stephen Chace came to Northfield in 1775 and built the first fulling mill in the parts where the Granite mill now stands. He lived in the house still standing at the entrance of Bay street, where he kept tavern. He owned all the land east and south of his mill for a considerable distance. He surrendered his business to his son, Benjamin, who put in a carding machine and continued it until sold to Jeremiah Tilton, who paid $400 for the mill and four acres of land in 1820. He lived in a tenement over the mill until his new brick house near by was built. He was twice burned out and each time enlarged his plant, doing a prosperous business until his death in 1863.
Oak Hill was for many years called Foss Hill. Two brothers of the name owned all the land between the Pond Brook (now Phillips Brook) and the Canterbury line. There was a large family of Kenistons, one of Kenisons, and one of Kennersons, no relation- ship being claimed.
The following is copied from an ancient book called " Miscellaneous Documents and Records relating to New Hampshire at different periods : "
Northfield Apr. the rith ye : : 1786
This is to sartity a grecable to an Act Past the 3: ye : : 1786 a trew a Count of all the Males poles is 75 and the number of women and children is 27.4.
William Perkins, > Select- 75 Willi un Forrest. -74
Thomas Cross. 5
I would like, if time permitted, to speak of many more of the noble men and women who came from time to time to make Northfield their home ; who erected its churches, founded its schools, and gave their time and ener- gies to the various industries of its every-day life ; but I am now obliged to take leave of legitimate history, and without regard to chronology take an incident here and there, and acting the part of the oldest inhabi- tant bring to you in hurried detail a few disconnected stories, showing the ambitions and doings of the past.
There seems to have been some- thing akin to rivalry even in those good old times. When Mr. Gilman built his barn, the first one in town, his next door neighbor built one twenty-five feet longer.
"Squire " Glidden, seeing no rea- son why he should not have as big a barn as any one, built one the next year longer by twenty-five feet and larger. Dr. Clark built a fine tavo- story house, and Squire Moloney built a finer one, close by, three stories high. The great September gale un- roofed this house and when it was re- paired one story was taken off.
Squire Moloney and Squire Glid- den were always candidates for politi- cal honors, and were buying votes the whole year round. Some of Molo- ney's purchased votes went one year to elect Mr. Glidden, so the former charged the latter, for a whole barrel of rum, as the price of the votes lie liad stolen.
Ezekial Moore used to carry the mail on horseback from Concord, through Canterbury, over Bay Hill, as far as Gilmanton Comer. So you
10
NORTHFIELD.
see "Rural Delivery " is no new thing. He began in. 1798, and gave his business to his neighbor, Tallant, in 1812-fourteen years.
The first manufacturing within the limits of the town was by four Cross brothers on a brook bearing their name, now called Phillips Brook, en- tering the Merrimack opposite the Webster place, where the Plummer brothers now reside. Here, close to Oak Hill, they established a grocery store, tailor's shop, carding machine, and fulling mill, sawmill, cooper's shop, grist-mill, and a jewelry manu- facturing shop, making a specialty of gold beads. Other business gathered around then, such as shoeing shops for man and beast, and a shop where earthern and wooden ware was made. Their freighting was all done by boats on the Merrimack, and a ferry connected them with Boscawen.
Some of this business went later to the Centre, after the building of the Old Meeting House. Of the four sawmills, three tanneries, and four cooper's shops, once doing good business in town, not one remains.
The earliest schools were often kept in private houses. The first houses were all of the same general style, made of logs, with a rock chimney at one end, where, in winter, a roaring fire was kept, with unseasoned, un- cleft wood. There were two holes on either side of the walls, each furnished with a single pane of glass. There was one on Bay Hill, one at the Cen- tre, and Hodgdon, and perhaps one at Oak Hill, and only male teachers were employed.
Master Gleason at the Centre, had front sixty to eighty pupils. He boarded round and John Forrest was charged with the duty of carrying him a bottle of cider each day. Once by mistake or purposely the bottle was filled from the vinegar barrel. At the usual time, after the wear and tear of the morning hours, the master repaired to the closet, where the cider was wont to be kept, and dispensed with a good stout drink before he dis- covered his mistake. Speechless with rage and vinegar he could only shake his fist in the face of the boy, at the same time giving such power of ex- pression to his face as would have been highly applauded on the stage. John was promised a good flogging and the master wore a sour look the rest of the day.
Dudley Leavitt, the astronomer and almanac maker, used to teach at the Hodgdon, and board with his sister on Bean Hill, always going on foot. Masters Thorn, Bowles, and Sutton were the most ancient teachers, most of whom excelled in arithmetic. It is said that Master Thorn, being cor- nered by Moses Batchelder on a sum, went to Master Abram Simonds, one of the best learned men of the town, who refused to assist him, but that he sat down with Benjamin Winslow, who could not cipher but who did it in his head, while the teacher wrote it down in figures.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.