USA > New Hampshire > Rockingham County > Candia > History of Candia: once known as Charmingfare; with notices of some of the early families > Part 1
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F 44 C 16E14
4001337 472 3
UC SOUTHERN REGIONAL LIBRARY FACILITY
LEF
LIGHT
.SEA
TH
ALIFORNIA
·1868.
THE LIBRARY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LOS ANGELES Ex Libris
Katharine F. Richmond and Henry C. Fall
33
3531.
Katharine F. Richmond:
1 France Dr. Fred N. Hagen of Dover, N.H. nov. 8. 1932.
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Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2007 with funding from Microsoft Corporation
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http://www.archive.org/details/historyofcandiao00eatoiala
1
HISTORY
OF
CANDIA.
BW Thayer VC Boston
F. B. Eaton der.
THE OLD MEETING HOUSE Built. 1766 Burned in 1838 .
.
HISTORY OF CANDIA,
HISTORY OF CANDIA :
ONCE KNOWN AS
CHARMINGFARE;
WITH NOTICES OF
SOME OF THE EARLY FAMILIES.
BY F. B. EATON.
MANCHESTER, N. H .: PRESS OF THE GRANITE FARMER, JAMES O. ADAMS, PRINTER. 1852.
F 44 CILE14
PREFATORY.
On the Fourth of July, 1848, It fell to my lot, by Invitation, to read to a few of my fellow townsmen, a sketch of the history of Candia.
A copy was requested for publication. Being by no means satisfied with the information which a few weeks' labor had collected, I thought proper to de- eline the request.
Four years have since passed, during which time I have, as opportunity offered, given attention to the subject, and as it seems now to be the very general wish of the citizens of Candia that something of the history of the town should be published and placed within their reach, I have not felt at liberty to disregard those wishes.
The events related, however trivial and common-place they might seem to strangers, I am sure will possess a certain degree of interest to every native born dweller in Charmingfare. Although few in number compared with what one would wish to see, yet the facts here offered were difficult of attain- ment, and the indulgence of the reader is asked towards any errors which may be discovered.
I take this occasion to express my sincere and most hearty thanks to those who have manifested an interest in this matter, and who have aided and encouraged me in its prosecution. Thelr number, only, prevents the Insertion of thelr names in this place.
For the time devoted to this matter, and the expense necessary for Its com- pletion, I shall feel amply compensated if by any exertlon of mine a small part even of the early history of my native town be preserved from the forget- fulness into which it is fast passing.
F. B. EATON.
MANCHESTER, May 1st, 1852.
1066422
HISTORY,
The precise time when the first log eabin was erected within the limits of what is now ealled Candia, eannot be known. While the fish yet swam in the streams, and the deer with his shaggy eoated fellows roamed at pleasure over the hills, or through the forests yet untouched by the axe, and long deserted by the Indian, the wanderer, half eivilized and half savage, always to be found on the fron- tier, made his way hither. During the summer months, a couch of skins, and the covering of the sky, was all lic asked; but when the snows of our rude northern elime began to cover the ground, when the music of the streams was hushed, and the ice hung in pendants from the huge limbs of the "fathers of the wood," some more fitting lodging must be had. So there are found to this day eertain old cellars, once covered with rude walls, respecting whose occupants tradition has hardly a story.
It is told that a party of hunters, weary with a long day's chase, near nightfall shot a large fine deer. In a trice their glittering knives carved out what was to be their evening's repast, and as the elioiee morsels slowly
8
HISTORY OF CANDIA,
roasted over a fire of crackling boughs, they sat in the deepening twilight telling their adventures. In due season they partook of the venison, which by unanimous consent was pronounced to be charming fare; so that part of Chester north of a line drawn from Healcy's Mountain to what is now the south-west corner of Candia, came to be called CHARMINGFARE. For many years its dwellers were few and far between. About the year 1743, David McCluer came from Chester center, and settled where Rufus E. Patten now lives, a little south of the line of Charmingfare. The frame house which he built a few years after is still standing. It is beyond much doubt that the first settler north of the line described above, was William Turner, who in the year 1748, built his cabin where Moses Turner, his grandson, now lives. At this time, one hundred and twenty-eight years after the landing of the Pilgrims, and one hundred and twenty-five years after the settlement of Dover, Candia was a part of the original township, or grant of ten miles square, made to certain persons from Portsmouth and Hampton in 1720, in what was then known as the chestnut country. This grant the proprictors called Cheshire. Within a year or two of Mr. Turner, Benjamin Smith, Enoch Colby, Mathew Ramsey, Nathan Burpee, Obededom Hall, and Jacob Sargent, came into the place. As we walk in spring time over our pleasant fields, we can hardly form an estimate of the toil which has made them what they are. The polish of the arts and the refinement of the
9
ITS EARLY SETTLERS.
sehools was not for the early settlers. They endured a discipline so stern and hardy, that all their institutions have the impress of force. The labor of a generation, with little time save to eat and sleep, was required to fit this place for a posterity of less strength and hardihood. We have outgrown their simple and honest fashions, and live in an age that the vision of prophecy could hardly have unfolded to them.
The great distance from the more populous settlement, the want of many necessaries of life, the lack of mills near at hand, as well as the destitution of religious and other instruction, was felt for many years to be a great evil. Accordingly so soon as a sufficient number of peo- ple eame into the vicinity, measures were taken to obtain the privileges of a separate Parish.
For fifteen years the population does not seem to have made much inerease. What few lived in the settlement were brave men and women, not easily daunted or dis- couraged. There are few now-a-days who would ride through the woods, infested by bears and wolves, as did Mrs. Turner, when she cantered away merrily to town through the bridle-path by David MeCluer's, carrying the plough-irons to the blacksmith, out of which the white oak stumps and the rough stones had broken many a notel. In March, 1762, by desire of the dwellers in Charming- fare, the people of Chester signified their assent in town meeting, for the incorporation of another Parish. Where- upon the following petition was sent to the General Court:
2
10
HISTORY OF CANDIA.
PROVINCE OF To his Excellency Benning Wentworth
NEW-HAMPSHIRE. Esq. Captain General Governor and Commander-in-Chief in and over his Majestie's province of Newhampshire in New England to the Honorable his Majestie's Council and house of Representatives in general Assembly Convened:
The Humble Petition of us the Subscribers Inhabitants of the North Westerly part of Chester in the province aforcad Most Humbly Sheweth that the Situation of the place where we live is such that we cannot without much Difficulty attend the publick worship of God with our familys in good Weather, and at many times in the year not at all. And the Town of Chester being sensible of our Difficulties have passed a Vote in their Annual Meet- ing the 25th of March 1762 that we should be set off from them as a Distinct parish about five Miles and a half in Length and about four Miles in Breadth as followeth (viz) Bounding Notherly upon Notingham line Easterly on the old Hundred acre lots So Called. Southerly on the Longe Meadow parish, as that is Voted off already, and West- erly on the forty acre lotts. Wherefore we pray that we may be Incorporated into a parish agreeable to the above Mentioned Bounds and be Invested with all those prive- lidges that other parishes have within this province. The granting of which we Humbly Conceive will be a great benefitt to your Humble petitioners and our familys.
And your petitioners as in Duty Bound Shall ever pray. Chester March 22d Anno Domini 1763.
Benjamin Batchelder, Samuel Mooers,
William Turner, Winthrop Wells,
11
PETITION FOR INCORPORATION.
Jonathan Hills,
Abraham Fitts, - Sherburne Rowe,
Samuel Towle,
Nieklus Smith,
Asel Quimby,
Jonathan Towle,
Gillman Dudley,
Nathaniel Ingalls,
Zachariah Clifford,
Theophilus Clough,
Enoch Colby,
John Karr,
Moses Smart,
Thomas Chretehet,
Nath- Emerson,
Samuel Eastman,
John Sargent,
John Clay,
Jonathan Been,
Moses Baker,
Benj" Smith,
Theoph Sargent,
James MeCluer,
Stephen Webster,
Stephen Palmer,
Joseph Smith,
Jacob Sergant,
Jeremiah Bean,
Ichabod Robic,
Zebed Barey,
Elisha Been,
Phineas Towle,
David Hills.
In Council June 24 1763. Read and ordered to be sent down to the Honble House. T. ATKINSON, Jun., See'y.
This copy was taken from the original document in the office of the Secretary of State at Concord, and probably has upon it the name of every voter at that time within the limits described.
Here is given also a copy of the action of the House of Representatives, and of the Council, in regard to the petition.
12
HISTORY OF CANDIA.
PROVINCE OF In the House of Representatives, June 22 1763.
NEW-HAMPEL.
This petition being read
Ordered That the petitioners be heard thereon the second day of the sitting of the General Assembly after the first day of August next and that they cause the Substance of this petition and order of Court thereon In the New Hampshire Gazette three weeks successively that any persons Concerned May Appear and shew cause if any they have why the prayer thereof should not be granted.
A. CLARKSON, Clerk.
In Council. Eadem Die. Read and Examined.
T. ATKINSON, Jun. Sec'y.
PROVINCE OF In the House of Representatives, NEW-HAMPER. S Dec. 2ª 1763.
This petition being Read
Voted that the prayer thereof be granted and the peti- tioners have liberty to bring in a bill accordingly.
A. CLARKSON, Clerk.
Eadem Die. In Council. Read and Concurred.
THEOD. ATKINSON, Jun., Sec'y.
Following is the act of incorporation; as taken from the town record:
13
ACT OF INCORPORATION.
Anno Regni Regis Georgii Tertii Magna Brittannic Francice et Hibernice Quarto:
L. S.
An Aet for Erecting and Incorporating a New
Parish in the North Westerly part of the
2
Town of Chester in this Provinee.
Whereas a Petition has been Exhibited to the General Assembly by a Number of the Inhabitants of Chester Aforesaid Setting Forth, that it would be Very Conven- ient for them to be Incorporated into a New Parish as they lived a Considerable Distance from the Parish in said Town to which they belonged and there was a Num- ber in the same situation Sufficient to make a New Parislı to which the town had Consented of which due Notice having been given and no Objections made; and the Peti- tioners praying to be so Ineorporated by the Bounds and Limits agreed to by the town-
It is therefore Enacted By The Governor, Council and Assembly that there be and thereby is a New Parish Erected and Incorporated in the Town of Chester by the following Boundaries, (viz.) Beginning at the North East Corner of said Parish on the Line of the Township of Nottingham at a Hemlock tree at the head of the old Hundred aere Lotts, then runs South twenty Nine Degrees West joining to said lotts as they are Entered on the Proprietors Records about four miles to a stake and stones, then West North West to a Maple Tree being the North East bounds of the Lott Number forty three in the Sec- ond part of the Second Division, and Continuing the same course by towerhill pond to a stake and stones what com- pleats five miles and a half upon this course, then Nortlı Twenty Nine Degrees East to a Piteh Pine which is the South West Boundary of the Eighty acre lott in the
14
HISTORY OF CANDIA.
Third Division Number one hundred twenty three, then North twenty Nine Degrees East to Nottingham Line and then on that Line to the Hemlock Tree first mentioned. And all the Inhabitants Dwelling or that shall dwell within the said Boundaries, and their Estates are hereby made a Parish by the name of CANDIA and Ereeted into a Body Politick and Corporate to have Continuance and Sueces- sion for Ever, and are hereby Invested with all the Powers and Enfranchised with all the Priviledges of any other Parish within this Province and are Chargable with the Duty of maintaining the Poor that do or shall Inhabit within said Parish. Repairing all High Ways Within the Same; and Maintaining and Supporting the Ministry and Preaching of the Gospel, with full power to manage and transaet all Parochial Affairs as fully to all Intents and Purposes as any Parish in said Provinee may legally do.
And the Said Inhabitants are hereby Exonerated from paying any Taxes That Shall hereafter be Assessed in the said Town, With Regard to the Support of the matters and things aforesaid, but Shall Continue to Pay their Provinee Tax in the same manner as before the Passing of this Act untill a New Propotion thereof shall be made among the Several Towns and Parishes within the same.
And SAMUEL EMERSON Esq: is hereby appointed and authorised to call the first meeting of said Inhabitants Giving fourteen Days Publie Notice of the time Place and Design of the meeting. And they the said inhabit- ants at such meeting are Authorised to Choose All Neees- sary Parish Officers as at the annual meetings is done in other Parishes and such Officers Shall hereby be Invested with the Same Power of other Parish officers in this Provinee.
15
FIRST TOWN MEETING.
PROVINCE OF In the House of Representatives, Dec. 16, 1763.
NEW-HAMPSHIRE.
This Petition having been read three times-
Voted, That it Pass to Bo Enacted. H. SHERBURNE, Speaker.
In Council, Dec: 17th, 1763. This Bill read a third time And Past to be Enacted. T. ATKINSON, Jun., Secretary.
Consented to.
B. WENTWORTH.
A True Copy .- Examined. T. ATKINSON, Jun., Secretary.
The first town meoting under the new charter was held on the 13th of March, 1764. Doet. Samuel Mooers was chosen Moderator and Parish Clerk, and as it may be a matter of interest to some, the names of officers chosen that day are here given from the record. It is a very significant hint of the orderly disposition of our ancestors, that the first office filled after the organization of the meeting was that of a constable; and the worthy holders of that authority since may traco their genealogy to Winthrop Wells, who was held worthy to exercise his prerogative over the dutiful subjects of King George, in the Parish of Candia and Province of New-Hampshire. Benjamin Batehelder, John Sargent, Jeremiah Bean, Selectmen; Mathow Ramsey, Stephen Webster, Fence-
1G
HISTORY OF CANDIA.
viewers; Stephen Palmer, Moses Smart, Haywards; Theophilus Clough, Jonathan Bean, Deer Inspectors ; Stephen Webster, Walter Robie, Nathaniel Emerson, Committee to examine the Selectmen's accounts. The next vote of any importanee was to raise £150, old tenor, to hire preaching. (equal to about £7 10s. lawful money.) Meetings were held in what was called Mr. "Palmer's Lintel." This was on the place now owned by Mr. Nathaniel B. Hall, for whose present house the old mansion was removed. They raised also £100, old tenor, or about £5, lawful money, to hire schooling. This was in April, and it was voted that the preaching should commence in August following, so that the selectmen, who were made a committee for that purpose, should have time to find a suitable preacher. In October of that year (1764) was recorded the laying out of the first highway, as follows: "Begining at a Stake and Stones at the South Side of Nath! Emerson's Hause, and Running aerost Said Emerson's land By Spotted trees to a Hemlock tree marked; Then Bounding upon said Emerson's land to the Lott No. 124; then Running acrost . said Lott to the Beaver Dam, So Called; then aerost the Lott No. 125, straight to the North West Corner Bounds of the Lott No. 126, then following the Rode as it Now Runs to Moses Baker's house, then South upon said Baker's land to the Reserve, then following the Reserve to the Rode that leads from Thomas Patten's to Benjamin Rowel's. The Highway lays upon the North side of the
17
A HOUSE OF WORSHIP.
marked Trees." This is the road now leading from Mr. Freeman Parker's, by Mr. Jonathan Brown's.
The next year the amount raised for preaching and the support of schools was nearly doubled, and there was some talk about building two school houses. Our ancestors seem to have had much of that regard for things saered common to the early settlers of New-England. The old Lintel proving too small to accommodate the increasing numbers who resorted to it, they resolved, after having in some measure provided for their temporal necessities, to build a convenient place of worship. No privations could deter them from this, and it is to be feared that if our modern societies were compelled to sacrifice so much of their time, labor and money, in comparison to their means, as did our Fathers, that places of worship would be few. At a meeting of freeholders, held September 8th, 1766, Mr. John Clay, Walter Robie, Esq., Mr. Benjamin Cass, Mr. Moses Baker, Mr. Jonathan Bean, Nathaniel Emer- son, Esq., and Mr. Abraham Fitts, were chosen as a - committee to see that the meeting house frame be built; and for this purpose £60, lawful money, was to be assessed on the inhabitants of the Parish, in lumber, or labor at 28. 6d. the day. If any refused to perform a just share, the committee were to report the contumacious individual to the seleetmen, and the amount was to be collected by the constable in money.
The frame was to be commeneed on the 22d of Sep- tember, and finished by the last of October. It was voted
3
18
HISTORY OF CANDIA.
that the house should stand on the north-west corner of the Parsonage lot. There had been from time to time previous to this, labor laid out on the lot, the income of which was devoted to the support of a minister, and here the location was chosen for a house of worship. Then the work began in right good earnest; the oaks were cut in the forest and hewn to a proper shape. The labor- ing oxen, from many a rude path, drew their heavy loads, urged on by the gods of their stout drivers, whose shouts awakened echoes from hill and dale. There was labor to be done, and strong hands and willing hearts to do it. In October another meeting was called and the selectmen empowered to assess a sum of money sufficient to finish the frame, and in contemplation of that great event, "a raising," it was voted that codfish, potatoes and butter be provided for supper. Here was a feast indeed. Our fathers no were ascetics; they undoubtedly recognized the fact that men who work must eat. Potatoes were then scarce, and in our infant settlement, butter was deemed an extravagant thing, a banquet prepared by kings could have given no better enjoyment. It might be called in some sort a munificent act of the town thus to indulge themselves.
At length the eventful time arrived, a pleasant October morning, and long ere the rays of the sun had penetrat- ed the boughs of the chestnut trees, which shaded, in various places, the hill, or illuminated the autumnal richness of the forest, the workmen were on their way.
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THE RAISING.
Indeed, there was hardly a man, woman or child, in the parish, whose eyes were not open on that morn, a full hour earlier than usual, albeit there were few laggards at any time ; but this was surely an extra occasion- one might not see a meeting house raised above once in a life time. From every dwelling they came, men hardy and vigorous in form, with their better halves, and blushing daughters bright in the morning dew of health and happiness. The utmost skill of the rustie toilet graced the fair wearers on this day, and, incited by their presence, the young men, with as much ardor as ever urged on knight of yore, doubtless achieved huge feats of labor and strength. Near the destined spot, the tim- bers lay scattered about, each tenon fitted, each mortise cut, with the greatest care. The old men with broad axes are already shaping the pins of oak and hewing off the ends of the braces, while others by dozens and half dozens, lift at huge beams, straining themselves into very red faces as they step cautiously over chips and stones. No one seems idle or uninterested; even the dogs with great elamor treeing imaginary game in the adjacent woods, enjoy it. The master builder with rule in hand, and a grave face denoting the immensity of his eares, inspeets everything, gives a thousand directions, and hastens about as though the fate of a nation were on his shoulders. The committee of direction, each early on the spot, oversee the builder, the framers, the hewers, and every body else. The sills are in their places, and at
20
HISTORY OF CANDIA.
length one huge broadside is ready. The stout old oaken frame is no trifle to be hoisted in mid air. With the word of the master, it is raised from the ground ; it is up on all their hands ; the strong pike poles are applied ; it creaks and groans as it moves slowly upward, and the anxious crowd, for a moment hushed as the sight greets their eyes, give utterance to a deep breathing sound of relief as it settles surely into its proper place. Then in their turn come the heavy timbers of the end, and then the last broadside, while the lookers-on watch with eager interest the runners on the dizzy spars, or laugh as the whizzing pins fly over the heads of those who fail to catch them. Ere the setting of the sun all is right; - the sills, the posts, the beams, the braces, the rafters, the ridge-pole. And the master builder - a glad man is he that day, as he wipes the sweat from his sunburnt brow, thankful that nor witch, nor wizard, or worse than this, a careless hand, had wrought him mischief. Here posterity must regret the loss of the speech which, according to the custom of our ancestors, was undoubtedly delivered from the ridge- pole, but no word of it remains. The winds floated it afar over the wild forest, and no man can decipher their phonography. 'Twas of course worthy of the occasion, and considered as the first sermon delivered from this ticklish rostrum, probably it had traits of genuine origi- nality.
Now all are ready and impatient to do justice to the supper-the codfish, potatoes and butter. How they
21
SALE OF THE PEWS.
ate, and laughed, and joked until the old mansion of Col. Carr fairly rung with merriment; while the hostess with flushed face and bustling air did the honors of the house, and (as she lived to tell often since,) "melted the elear butter for 'em, with not a drop of water in it;" what a height of culinary extravagance.
In February, 1767, ground for the wall pews was sold at auction. This ground was divided into lots, and sold before the pews were finished. At first long seats were placed in front of the speaker, the men sitting on one, and the women on the other, side of the aisle. Our fathers however had perhaps some misgivings about this tendeney to Quakerism, for soon after we find it recorded in a solemn vote, that the "men and women's seats shall be moved two inches nearer together;" although some do assert that the record means simply, that the men's seats shall be moved two inches nearer together, and also the women's seats. If this interpretation be believed, then all room for controversy respeeting the sectarian tendeney of the thing vanishes, and the peg on which an ingenious historian might hang a long disquisition, is driven out of sight. Be this as it may, ground enough was sold to clapboard and shingle the house, and an additional assess- ment was laid on the members of the parish for the purpose of glazing the windows. For this objeet liberty was given each man to cut oak timber from the Parsonage lot and make hogshead staves, for which he should be
22
HISTORY OF CANDIA.
allowed 18 shillings per thousand, provided they were brought to the meeting house before the 16th day of February.
The first call to the work of the ministry, was given to Mr. Tristram Gilman, Sept. 1st, 1768, and it was voted that for the first year he should receive &40, lawful money, with the addition of £2 10s, each year after- wards, until the salary amounted to £60. He was also to have the improvement of one half of the Parsonage lot; and the Parish furthermore engaged to bring twenty- five acres of the above half, under good cultivation in six years from that time, and to build a house suitable for the minister to dwell in as soon as convenient.
It seems that these terms did not satisfy Mr. Gilman, and it was voted to increase the salary yearly until it should reach £70, and to give him the improvement of the whole Parsonage lot, but he did not accept their offer. In the meantime a Parsonage house was commenced, a well dug, and one hundred apple trees set out on the farm, which was rented to the highest bidder for im- provement. A call was then given to Mr. Jonathan Searle. This, also, was unsuccessful, and finally after a day of fasting and prayer, appointed by the committee, as the record has it, they pitched on Mr. David Jewett, with an offer of £50 for the first year, and £5 more each year afterward, until the stipend should be £65. Mr. Jewett's letter of acceptance was as follows :
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