USA > New Hampshire > Coos County > Shelburne > History of Shelburne, New Hampshire > Part 1
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(Coos Co)
Gc 974. 202 Sh40
Gc 974.202 Sh4p 1136504
MIL
GENEALOGY COLLECTION
1
GEN
ALLEN COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARY 3 1833 01188 4258
Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2015
https://archive.org/details/historyofshelbur00peab
HISTORY
OF
SHELBURNE,
NEW HAMPSHIRE,
BY
MRS. R. P. PEABODY.
GORHAM, N. H. : MOUNTAINEER PRINT, 1882.
PROPERTY OF THE MAINE GANEALOGICAL SOCIETY, INCORPORATED 1:04.
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No. 368.
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MAINE GENEALOGICAL SOCIETY INCORPOR TED 1884
368.
1136504
HISTORY OF SHELBURNE.
BY MRS. R. P. PEABODY.
The town of Shelburne is situated in Northern New Hampshire, eighty six miles from Portland, Me .. and twelve miles from the foot of Mr. Washington .. The Audroscoggin river divide- it nearly in the centre. receiving the waters of two parallel ranges of mountains. Rat- the river is the largest tributary on the southern side. and Lead Mine brook on - the northern.
The town is only six miles square. bounded north by Success. east by Gilead, Me .. south by Bean's Purchase and west by Gorham, formerly Shelburne Addition. The intervales vary from a few rods to half a mile in width. and were formerly covered. as the encircling mountains are now. by a mixed growth of spruce, hemlock, pin- and hard wood. Mt. Moriah is the highest elevation. 4771 feet in height. A signal station was established there in 1879 with a telephonic communication with Gorham.
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All the smaller wild animals abound, while bears, fishercats and deer are occasionally seen. The-scenery is varied and lovely to those artistic enough to appreciate it. We heard; a lady, artist shy that nowhere hàn she sẽen such rich antumual coloring as in Shelburne. Sev- eral picturesque spots may be found on the Lead Mine brook. and the little flat called The Garden is used as a camping ground by tourists. On the north side of Mt. Winthrop is Moses rock. so called. sixty feet high and rising at an angle of fifty degrees. In the winter water trickles over it. torming a beautiful ice "ca-cade. Near by was the Granny Star- bird rock. where the old doctress hold her horse by the bridle through a storing night. It has since been split up for railroad bridges and underpinnings. On Peabody brook. between Red. Hill and Baldeap are Shelburne Fails. In the spring they can be seen two thirds the length'of the town, appearing like a great drift of snow. A party of gentle- men who stopped at the St. Charles House cut a path along the bank of the brook. and the Falls are one of the oh- jects of interest to summer visitors.
Baldeap. as its name implies. is a bare ledge at the top. and in height ranks next to Moriah. It is easy to ascend
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and affor Is a delightful view. A little pond of clear. cool water near the sum- mit was christened Dre un Lake by some romantic visitor. In a good season blue- berries are plenty on all the mountains on the north side of the river. furnish- ing fool for the bears. anl enough to spare for anyone who chooses to carry them off the bids.
The town was granted in 1770 by George III to Mark Wentworth and six others. and was surveyed by Theodore Ark n'on the same year. In 1820 when it was incorporated. the population was 230. In 1859 it was 480. but after the building of the G. T. R. and the estah- lishment of the machine shops and lum- ber mills at Gorham the younger people kept moving away. till by the last con- sus the population is only 259.
CHAPTER II. THE FIRST SETTLERS.
To avoid repetition and confusion. we shall only in this chapter give a brief notice of some of the older families. tracing them down to the present gen. ra- tion. and reserve an account of their in- dustries. conven ence for traveJ.churches, schools &r .. for subsequent chapters. The same spirit of narost that drove our forefathers from England to the forbid-
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ding shores of Massachusetts, urged their descendants to leave the growing towns and cultivated farms of that pros- perons State. and seek a home in the gloomy tore-ts of northern New Hamp- shire. Among the first to leave the comforts of civilized society for the dangers and privations of the wilderness was
HOPE AUSTIN.
who came to Shelburne more than a hundred years ago. and begun a char- ing on the north side of the river. near the Main . live. The snow was five feet dep when his wife walked up from Bethel carrying one child in her arms while two others clung to her skirts. With a reckless uuprovidence hardly exon-able. Mr. Austin nad neglected to provide even temporary shelter for his little family. But spruce bough- were handy. and in a short time a roof was thrown over the log cabin. some tough boards nailed together for a door. the snow shoveled out and a fire built be- tween stones or green log -. Here they lived. making occasional improvements until prosperity enabled him to build a more convenient frame house.
Ot the family of five children. Mary and Judith remained single. Lydia and
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Hannah married Samuel Wheeler, James married Sally, daughter of Joseph Lary, Jr .. of Gilead, and built a handsome two- story house a little below his father's. Of his children, John and Caverno died. and Dearborn married Rose, daughter of Rev. Ezekiel Coffin, and lived at home till after the death of his father, when he moved to Gilead, and the name of Shelburne's first resident was dropped from her annals.
Mr. Hope Austin is remembered by elderly people of to-day as a pleasant- spoken old gentleman. very much bent, walking back and forth from his house to the mill. with his hands clasped behind him; and the Austins, as a family, were pleasant, hospitable and industrious.
DANIEL INGALLS
lived just across the river, and was Mr. Austin's nearest neighbor. He was much esteemed for his high moral char- acter. Religion was a part of his daily life, but he was cheerful and could even make a dry joke now and then. One spring he killed a moose and according to custom. invited his neighbors to go out and haul in what they wanted. For some reason Mr. Austin failed to go, but the next day be happened in just as the deacon's family were sitting down to dinner.
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"Won't you have a piece of roast moose meat, Mr. Austin?" inquired Mr. Ingalls, pleasantly.
"I don't care if I do," sniffing the savory steam and putting up his hand to remove a quid of tobacco.
. Well," was the unexpected response, "you can have all you want by going out after it."
Moses, his oldest son, was a sailor; energetic, resolute, and rather rough. It is said his prospective mother-in-law said to him, jocosely :
"Nancy will hold your nose to the grindstone, Mr. Ingalls."
"I'll give you leave to turn, ma'am, when she does," was his defiant answer.
He married Nancy Barker, and lived near where C. J. Lary now does. Dan- iel, his son, married Mary Barker, and cleared a farm on Ingalls' brook. where his widow now lives with her son Henry and his family. Frederick, second son of Moses, married Susan Heath, died in his prime, and his descendants moved away.
Robert. third son of Moses, married Rowena Hills, and bought the farm on Clemens brook. cleared by the Evanses. He was one of the most prominent men in the place, filling many offices with honor and ability, It is remarked of
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him, as of the late J. R. Hitchcock, "He always recognized an acquaintance, rich or poor, high or low, with the same readiness and courtesy." It is a trait of character well worth cultivating by many. flis daughter. Caroline, a most estimable lady, died at Gorham in 1870, when the typhoid fever was such a con- tagious and fatal disease. Rufus married Emeline, great-grandaughter of Capt. Joseph Lary of Gilead. She also died dur- ing the epidemic, and several years after Mr. Ingalls married Hattie McKenty. His son, Frederick, only fifteen years old, edits a small paper, called The Little Messenger.
FLETCHER INGALLS,
the younger son of Deacon Daniel, like his father. was of a very high moral nature. Every birth-day he religiously kept as a day of fasting and prayer. At a time when intoxicating liquors were free. al- most as water, he was a firm advocate of temperance. The Cold Water Army, an organization designed to embrace the youth of both sexes, was his conception, and the first temperance lecture given here was by his appointment. He mar- ried Mercy Lary. who died shortly after the birth of her child. For many years her sister kept house for Mr. Ingalls,
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and cared for his little daughter Polly, who married Barker Burbank, son of Capt. Eliphalet Burbank of Gilead. Mr. Burbank was a practical farmer, a suc- cessful merchant, and a lawyer of con- siderable ability. He built a large, hand- some house a short distance from his father-in-law, acquired a comfortable fortune, and reared a family of fourteen children. Only two remain in town. Payson married Mary Smith, and has six sons, enough to perpetuate the family name, and Martin. who married Mary, grandaughter of Capt. Joseph Pinkham, one of the first settlers of Jackson.
Judge Robert Burbank, of Boston, now owns the homestead, and has added to it till his estate is the largest in town. A more extended description of the house and grounds will be given in a chapter devoted to the stock farm. The Ingalls' have always borne a stainless name, and in wealth and social position, in age and rank. as one of the first fam- ilies of Shelburne.
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STEPHEN MESSER.
Fortune, as well as Justice, is blind and fickle, and her gifts are bestowed more by chance than merit. Although as worthy as his neighbors. Mr. Messer was very poor. and often sorely troubled to provide food for his little ones. Fortu- nately, they had a cow, and her milk gave a relish to potatoes and hasty pud- ding when nothing else, not even salt, could be obtained. Once, not a potato nor bit of meal remained. The only article of food in the house was a little pat of unsalted butter. Samuel, three or four years old, went up to the shelf and running his little fore-finger through it. put some in his month. When one of the older children directed Mrs Messer's attention to him. the poor, discouraged mother burst into tears. exclaiming : "Do let the poor little dear eat it if he can."
But their scanty allowance did not seem to shorten the lives or weaken the constitution of the hardy family. Per- haps, like Dr, Tanner, when they got something to eat they made up lost time.
John. one of the sons, married Sally Peabody, and always worked out, dying at a good old age as poor as in his child-
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hood. Luck. good or bad, runs in the blood. like consumption or scrofula, and a man is no more to blame for being poor than he is for being bald headed or near sighted. Uncle John, as he was familiar- ly called. was a great hunter, or rather was fond of hunting. for one of his old acquaintances says he was so cowardly he'd climb an alder bush with his snow- shoes on if he saw so much as a flock of wild ducks. One spring he went out deer-hunting in company with Enoch and Allan Peabody. They went as far as success. and Allan, who was suffer- ing with sick headache, wanted to stop over night at Ben Bean's; but Mr. Mes- ser insisted on returning. It was grow- ing dark; the crust was like glare ice. and presently Uncle John's snow-shoes went out from under him, and away he went down the hill, shouting at the top of his voice,
"I'm gone, I'm gone, sartin as crea- tion !"
Sticking their axe in the snow, the young men let themselves carefully down the steep incline. Directed by his loud lamentations they soon found the clumsy old gentleman hung up in a spruce top. With some difficulty he was set to rights, and then the axe was lost. and Allan was too sick and cold to care
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if the whole party had been lost. Evident- ly they could not go on till daylight, and Enoch started a fire and tended it all night with such fuel as he could find and break up.
Nancy Messer, a daughter of Stephen, married Amos Peabody. and after living in Gilead and Randolph came to Shel- burne and settled on Peabody brock, where three of their children, Aaron, Nancy and Allan, still reside. Four others. Hannah. Esther, Bathsheba and Elmira, died of consumption while in youth. Stephen married Hepzibeth Evans and cleared the adjoining farm. He was intimately connected with the town business, and also with the affairs of the church. He was never very strong but lived to the age of fifty, when he (lied with that scourge of his family. consumption. His widow lived on the home farm with her son Roswell till her death last December. Enoch. another son of Amos Peabody. married Judith Wheeler and lived for several years next farm to his brother Stephen. Then he moved to Berlin and subsequently to Stark. In the cellar over which his house stood is growing a white birch tree, four feet in circumference.
Betsy Messer, daughter of Stephen
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Messer. went to Andover to live with an aunt, where she met and married
THOMAS HUBBARD.
They lived at Andover, Dracut and Bradford before they came to Shelburne. Mrs. Hubbard rode from Massachusetts on horse-back, and the rough log house on the hillside must have looked very uninviting. They reared a large family of children. experiencing all the discom- forts that usually fall to the lot of peo- ple with limited means and a growing family. Afterwards they lived on the farm now owned by John Head. and finally settled near the top of what is now known as the Great Hill. Of their children. Erastus and Rufus married daughters of Abraham Wilson and re- moved to Whitefield. Enoch and Leon- ard married daughters of Amos Peabody. Jefferson married a daughter of George Green and for twenty-five years was station agent of the G. T. R. at Shel- burne. No other proof is needed of bis honesty and fidelity. Maria Hubbard married Joshua Kendall, and her daugh- ter Pamela is the wife of Dr. Green of Portland.
We were shown a looking-glass and warming-pan that formed part of the household goods of Mr. & Mrs. Thomas Hubbard, and were brought from Mass-
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achusetts nearly three quarters of a century ago. The names of Messer, Peabody and Hubbard are closely en- twined, and their descendants comprise a large proportion of our present popu- lation.
THOMAS GREEN.
Some people have a faculty for mak- ing money under the most adverse cir- cumstances, while in others this faculty is wholly lacking. Although Mr. Green began a home in the heart of the forest, by good calculation and economy he not only made a living, but laid up consider- able property. In his old age his mind became feeble and disordered, and though worth enough to bny half the town, he was haunted by a fear of starva- tion. One evening in early spring he came out of his room. with slippers on, and went out at the back door. He was never seen again. His footsteps were followed across the intervale on to the river. The dark, swift-flowing water told the rest. Whether he meditated suicide or wandered aimlessly on, un- thinking of the open channel, will never be known.
Edward, a son of Thomas, married Nancy Birdin. Twenty-one of his fam- ily reside in town. Three children, Ly-
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man, Darius and Manson, ten grand- children and eight great-grandchildren.
George, another son of Thomas, when he became of age, received one hundred dollars in cash, and a piece of land on the Magalloway. Not liking to settle so far from his friends. George sold this land and bought a lot just across the river from home. Unlike some young men who begin at the top and tumble down, Mr. Green began at the bottom and climbed up. . He built a tiny house containing only a kitchen and bedroom, took a boy by the name of Abial Walker, and set up housekeeping by himself. Three or four years after he married Hannah Lary, a younger sister of James Austin's wife. As fast as his means al- lowed he built additions till in 1817 it was a long. two-story house, with large, square rooms above and below. It was now furnished for a tavern, and for more than fifty years afforded accommodation for the traveling public. People from Lancaster (Upper Coos) on their way to Portland, frequently fifteen or twenty double teams at once, stopped here to bait their horses and take something to comfort themselves. Of course it was dreadful wrong, (taking something, we mean, not baiting the horses) but why was it any worse to step up to the bar
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before a whole roomful, toss down a glass of sweetened water. or anything else, than it is now to wink to ones bosom friend, go round A's barn, drink the same stuff, only nastier, from a little black bottle, and come back with such an absurd look of innocence and uncon- ciousness ? Let us be consistent, and not hold up our hands in holy horror at the motes in our ancestors' eyes while the beam remains in our own.
When the Grand Trunk railroad was built, the glory of Green's tavern de- parted. Mr. Green was an honest, plain- spoken man. It is said of him that know- ingly; he would not defraud a person of a single cent. His two daughters mar- ried and lived near, and his widow died in 1879, at the advanced age of eighty- two years.
Jonas, youngest son of Thomas, was a hard-working, stern, and rather unsocial man, but his life's history is invested with a romance worthy the skillful pen of an accomplished novelist. His first choice for a wife was Rachel Lary, The day was set for the wedding, and part of her things had been carried to the new home, but Death suddenly appeared and claimed the bride for his own. After a suitable time, Mr. Green transferred his affections to her sister Mercy, and mar-
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ried her. She died in a few years, and their only child, a little daughter, was also taken, leaving Mr. Green again alone. He afterwards married the youngest sister, Susannah, who survives him. His oldest son, Thomas, married Colossia Coffin, and was killed at Naples, Me .. by the falling of a chimney. Last. summer, Oliver, the youngest son of Jonas, bought the Green tavern stand and remodeled it for a summer boarding house. He is an experienced hotel pro- prietor, and reported wealthy.
Mr. Jonas Green lived on the home place till the death of his parents, then on the farm now owned by Charles Phil- brook, and finally on the Jewett farm. His last sickness was very distressing. but he bore it as he did the many disap- pointments and perplexities of his life, with patience and fortitude, feeling as- sured of unbroken rest and happiness in eternity.
Eunice Pratt was a sister of Thomas Green's wife. and came with them from Massachusetts. During the twenty years that Mrs. Green suffered with consump- tion Aunt Eunice faithfully cared for her and attended to the housework. She lived to see two generations grow " up around her. and the forest give place to fertile farms. She died on the home
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place, of cancer, nearly thirty years ago.
SAMUEL WHEELER
was an old revolutionary soldier, and dearly loved to recount the dangers he had passed and the privations he had en- dured. One of his stories was this: A squad of about forty Continentals were fired upon by a party of Tories, lying in ambush. With ready presence of mind the commanding officer ordered one hun- dred to keep the road, and the rest to scour the woods. Thinking they had more than met their match, the Tories fled in confusion, firing their guns in the air. "I did hate" said the old man, "to see them waste their powder so." When we remember what difficulty the Cou- tinental army had to get ammunition. the force of his remark will be appreci- ated. Mr. Wheeler's clearing was on the Ingalls brook close to the base of the mountains, where the sun lay warm- ly till past noon. and the cold. north- west wind could not strike. In the cold season of 1816, when snow fell every month of the year, he was the only one whose corn got ripe enough to grow again. The next spring he sold it for two dollars a bushel. His daughter Lucy kept his home many years, and after- ward lived with her brother Amos, who
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married Lydia Gould and moved to Milan. He made spinning wheels and regulated clocks.
. Samuel, Jr., was a licensed preacher, and in the absence of a regular minister conducted the religious exercises of the place. He married the Austin sisters, Lydia and Hannah. The children were Austin. Joseph, Samuel, Anna, Margaret and Judith.
Austin was a Freewill Baptist minister. talented and well educated. Judich mar- ried Enoch Peabody and moved to Stark, where two of her daughters, Mrs. James Dodge and Mrs. James Larrabee still reside.
Anna was Mrs. Reuben Hobart, and Margaret. or Aunt Peggy, as she was familiarly called. lived with Samuel, and died single.
Samuel married Eliza, daughter of Lite Burbank, by whom he had four children. Years after when his second wife died leaving a family of four little ones, his daughter Betsy, only sixteen or seventeen years old, took charge, and with a patience and self-abnegation rare- ly equalled, stayed with the orphan children till the youngest sister was capable of managing her father's house. A few years ago Mr. Wheeler bought the Austin farm, where he now lives, and
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his son Ellery owns the home place. This is the only farm in town that has descended from father to son in a direct line for four generations. We wish more pride of ancestry were felt in this coun- try, and farms redeemed from the forest might be bequeathed to children for centuries, a priceless legacy entailed by love, if not by law.
EVANS AND CLEMENS.
Jonathan Evans and Benjamin Clem- ens came to Shelburne at the same or nearly the same time. They were both soldiers of the Revolution, and probably both stationed at Fort Ticonderoga. Daniel Evans, son of Jonathan, married Phila Clemens, and cleared the farm owned by Otis Evans. He was a man of influence and wealth. owning what is now four farms. He injured himself while fighting fire, and for several years before his death was a mental and physi- cal wreck,
Jonathan Evans, Jr. married Mary Lary and lived on the Charles Philbrook farm. He was a large. portly man, and his three sons, Hazen, Jabez and Augus- tus, living at Gorham. resemble him in this particular. Since writing the above we heard of the death of Mr. Augustus Evans, He was all ready to go into the
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woods to work. and on retiring set the alarm on the clock that he might rise early. At about the time he intended to rise he was found in a dying condition by his housekeeper.
Sarah. a daughter of the elder Jona- than, was left behind when the rest of the family moved here, and owing to imperfect communication was lost sight of. Many years after, a person from Coos county happened to be at Plainfield and stopped at the house of a Mr. Gates. Incidently he mentioned the Evans' of Shelburne. Mrs. Gates was interested at once. and after learning their names and antecedents, was convinced that they were her own folks. The next year, in company with her son Jefferson, she sought them out. The reunion must have been more sad than pleasant. Her parents, whom she had last seen in the prime of lite. were bowed down with age ; the little brothers were middle-aged men. and she herself a gray-haired. wrinkled woman. Eventually her hus- band, Bazeleel Gates, moved here with his family. and bought the farm owned by William Newell. Caleb, the young- est son, married Bathsheba Porter and remained at home. They had four child- ren, Woodbury, Cass, Matilda and Frank. Matilda died at Newburyport about ten
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years ago. Woodbury married a dangh- ter of Hazen Evans, and owns a meat and grocery store at Gorham.
Jefferson Gates married Maria Porter. and lived on the farm adjoining his brother Caleb's. His widow survives him. and remains on the home farm with her son Henry and his family.
Simeon Evans was a brother to Jóna- than. and came from Massachusetts about the same time. Ezekiel, Elijah, Lydia and John were his children. Speaking of his cousin Daniel, Ezekiel said : "Daniel has got a corn-fed wife. but I'm going to get one fed on ginger- bread." So he went back to Massachu- setts, won his wife and brought her here on horse-back. The most conspicuous article among her wedding finery was a lilac silk bonnet, which was the envy and admiration of all her neighbors. They lived just below Mr. Hazeltine's, in the ruined, deserted house still stand- ing, and raised a large family of child- ren. Only Mrs. Moses Hazeltine remains in town. Parker Evans, one of the grandchildren. is a highly esteemed and efficient engineer on the G. T. R.
Elijah. another son of Simeon. lived on the Hitchcock intervale. His son Henry married Joanna Leighton. and built the Hitchcock cottage, where he
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lived several years. Afterward he bought the place now owned by his son-in-law. Trustem Minard.
John Evans. a third son of Simeon, died while at work on Thomas Green's house. The frame was partly up, and standing on the top, Mr. Evans reached down to lift up a heavy stick, and pitch- ed headlong into the cellar. It was sup- posed he broke a blood-vessel from over- exertion. He left seven little children, among whom were Mrs. Abraham Wil- son and Mrs. Palmer, twins.
Mr. Clemens had a large family, but none of his descendants are now in town except those connected with the Evans'. John married Dolly Jackson and had eleven sons and one daughter; enough, one would think. to keep a man from dying dependent on the town, as he did.
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