USA > New Hampshire > Strafford County > Durham > History of the town of Durham, New Hampshire (Oyster River Plantation) with genealogical notes, Volume 1 > 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.
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32
Library of
RSITY OF NEW
1866
@ 189
HAN
APSHI
IR
SHI . 1923.
STATE-
Agriculture
In Technology
Liberal Arts
The University of New Hampshire
م
COL. LUCIEN THOMPSON
HISTORY
of the
TOWN OF DURHAM
NEW HAMPSHIRE (Oyster River Plantation)
WITH GENEALOGICAL NOTES
By EVERETT S. STACKPOLE and LUCIEN THOMPSON
IN TWO VOLUMES
Volume One NARRATIVE
MMFORD
AR
Rumford
PUBLISHED BY VOTE OF THE TOWN
NHarry 12 201 5161
974.62 I Most v. 1
CONTENTS
PAGE
BIRTH AND GROWTH OF THE TOWN
I
EARLY SETTLERS AND ESTATES 31
EXILES FROM SCOTLAND
75
DEPREDATIONS By INDIANS 85
MILITARY HISTORY
107
SKETCH OF CHURCH HISTORY
169
ROADS 219
BURIAL PLACES 239
SLAVERY 249
EDUCATION
257
LAWYERS AND LAW STUDENTS 277
PHYSICIANS
285
LEADERS IN THE PAST
291
SOME MEN OF THE PRESENT
315
POST OFFICE AND POSTMASTERS 331
SOME OLD HOUSES .
337
LISTS OF TOWN OFFICERS
361
FIRST CENSUS OF THE UNITED STATES, 1790 371
MARRIAGES
379
BAPTISMS
391
DEATHS
395
INDEX OF PLACES AND SUBJECTS
399
INDEX OF NAMES
405
ILLUSTRATIONS
PAGE
Col. Lucien Thompson
Frontispiece
Shankhassick, or Oyster River
4
Durham Village as Seen from Broth Hill
18
Davis-Smith Garrison, Lubberland 34
37
Mouth of Long Creek .
42
Shore of Little Bay
44
Map of Oyster River Plantation
48
Comfort Mathes Camp
51
Goat Island .
61
Bunker Garrison
62
Bunker Garrison
63
Head of Tide Water, Oyster River
70
Upper End of College Reservoir, in "Follets Marsh
72
The Major John Demerit Residence, Madbury
120
Gen. John Sullivan
I34
Sullivan Monument
I36
Newtown Battlefield Monument .
I 39
Gen. Alexander Scammell .
140
Scammell Grange
I42
Lieut .- Col. Winborn Adams' Inn
145
Survivors of the Civil War
161
Major Daniel Smith
163
Samples of Durham Scenery
188
Rev. Curtis Coe
202
Rev. Federal Burt
205
Rev. Alvan Tobey, D. D. .
208
Congregational Church
209
Congregational Church, Interior
210
Congregational Church
212
The Parsonage
214
Lamprey River, Second Falls
220
Residence of the Late Deacon John E. Thompson
222
Oyster River Freshet
224
The Road to Bagdad
226
Spruce Hole .
234
Pascataqua Bridge .
235
Relics of Pascataqua Bridge
236
Boston & Maine Railroad Station
237
School Houses at Packer's Falls
258
Village School House
263
New Hampshire College
266
Adams Point, First Called "Matthews Neck
vi
ILLUSTRATIONS
PAGE
Thompson Hall .
268
Houses now or once Used by College Fraternities
Edward Thomson Fairchild, LL. D. 270
272
Residence of the College President
273
Dean Charles H. Pettee, LL. D. .
274
Hon. James F. Joy .
283
Alphonso Bickford, M. D.
289
Judge Valentine Smith
296
Hon. Stephen Demeritt
297
Benjamin Thompson
299
Hamilton A. Mathes
300
Miss Mary Pickering Thompson
301
Deacon John Thompson
303
Deacon John Emerson Thompson
304
Deacon Albert Young
305
Mills at Wiggin's Falls
306
Thomas H. Wiswall
307
Wiswall's Paper Mill
308
Hamilton Smith
310
Ebenezer Thompson
311
Mark H. Mathes
312
Gen. Alfred Hoitt
313
Hon. Joshua B. Smith
316
Forrest S. Smith
317
Hon. Jeremiah Langley
318
Hon. Daniel Chesley
32I
Charles Wentworth
322
Col. Arioch W. Griffiths
323
Albert DeMeritt
325
Charles E. Hoitt
326
Valentine Mathes
327
Charles S. Langley .
328
George W. Ransom 329
Joseph William Coe
333
George D. Stevens . 335
Residence of Gen. John Sullivan 338
Inn of Master John Smith 339
Residence of Miss Margaret B. Ffrost
340
Interior of Residence of Miss Margaret B. Ffrost
342
Residence of Mr. and Mrs. George H. Mendell
343
Red Tower, Residence of the Late Hamilton Smith
344
Residence of the Late Judge Valentine Smith 346
Residence of Ebenezer Smith . 347
House Built by James Joy
348
Residence of Albert DeMeritt
350
Woodman Garrison
352
Woodman Garrison in Flames
353
ILLUSTRATIONS
vii
PAGE
Residence of Col. Lucien Thompson .
354
Library of Col. Lucien Thompson Residence of Forrest S. Smith
355
358
Summer Camp of Elisha R. Brown
359
Interior of Mr. Brown's Camp
360
FOREWORD
The movement to publish a History of Durham was begun in 1885 by a vote in town meeting, authorizing the appointment of a committee by the selectmen for that purpose. The committee so appointed consisted of Joshua B. Smith, Winthrop S. Meserve and Lucien Thompson. In 1886, in response to a petition signed by this committee and by James W. Burnham, Benjamin Thomp- son, Hamilton A. Mathes, William P. Frost, Samuel H. Barnum, Henry B. Mellen, Albert DeMeritt, Joseph C. Bartlett, Ephraim Jenkins and John W. E. Thompson, the town voted an appropria- tion of $900 to assist in the publication of a History not to cost over $5 per copy, and added Ephraim Jenkins and Joseph W. Coe to the above mentioned committee. The committee had power to fill vacancies and was authorized to collect material and secure the publication of the history with such aid as they thought best. Printed circulars were issued, stating the scope of the proposed history, and also there were distributed five hundred cir- culars full of questions, especially soliciting genealogical informa- tion. To this circular there were but few replies. In 1887 Albert Young was chosen a member of the committee to take the place of Joshua B. Smith resigned. In 1889 Hamilton A. Mathes was chosen to fill a vacancy caused by resignation of Joseph W. Coe. Conferences were held with the Rev. Alonzo H. Quint, D. D., and Miss Mary P. Thompson relative to the preparation of the history. Dr. Ham of Dover offered all possible assistance. Thus the records close,-to be reopened over twenty years later.
In 1911 the matter was taken up again. Messrs. Albert De- Meritt, Arioch W. Griffiths and Charles Wentworth were added to the committee, in place of some who had resigned or passed away. These conferred with the Rev. Everett S. Stackpole, D. D., who agreed to write the proposed history. In 1912 the town voted anew to raise $150 for preliminary expenses, and the Hon. Lucien Thompson, who had been gathering material for a score of years, became interested as associate author of the proposed history. The money requisite for the printing of the History was voted by the town at its annual meeting, March 1913. At the request of Mr. Stackpole the name of Dea. Win- throp .S. Meserve was added to the title page of the second volume, as associate author of the genealogical part.
·
BIRTH AND GROWTH OF THE TOWN
All truths, all facts and all men are related. To know com- pletely a part of a system one must know the whole. The history of a town is woven into the history of the world. To separate it is like tearing off a piece of a garment. Since to know the whole is forever impossible, we must content ourselves with partial knowledge and with probabilities. To understand well the history of Durham one needs to know the first discoveries of the region of the Pascataqua, the causes that led to its settlement, the antecedents and ancestry of the first settlers, the ends they sought, the religious and political state of Great Britain espe- cially at that time, as well as the deeds the colonists performed. All this cannot be unfolded in a town history. Such matters properly belong to a general history of New Hampshire, or of Maine.
We are obliged to plunge into the stream of history somewhere, not too far back, and to float down with the current. We care mainly for men; their deeds interest us only as they show forth the character of the actors or influence the lives of their successors. When we know well and interpret rightly our antecedents, we may with some degree of safety forecast the future and make wise plans therefor.
The first settlers left but few records. They had little idea of the historic importance of their undertaking. They foresaw not the many thousands of descendants that would rejoice to find scraps of information about their origin in the old countries beyond the great sea. Perhaps many came as a temporary ven- ture, thinking to return home soon. They stayed either from stern necessity or because they learned to love the new country and foresaw something of its future prospects. They sought not so much religious and political liberty as to better their material conditions. The gift of fifty or one hundred acres was a mighty inducement to many, who could never hope to acquire a small piece of land in any of the old countries. The desire of some leaders to found great manorial estates in the new world was rudely disregarded by men who had tasted of civil and industrial freedom. We laugh now at the folly of trying to wrest away by
I
,
2
HISTORY OF DURHAM
process of law the farms of the first settlers and restore them to the English heirs of Capt. John Mason. Any effort to enforce such a claim would have brought on the Revolution earlier than it came. The King of England claimed all the land discovered, just as William the First claimed and distributed all the lands of England at the time of the Conquest. His grantees could not hold them. A handful of men got together and formed a town without any charter and then they made grants of land to them- selves and to others whom they wished to join them. Some trifles were given to the Indians to quiet their claims, and so the lands were seized, to have and to hold.
The fisheries, that had for rendezvous the Isles of Shoals for many years, first attracted settlers to the mainland. They combined fishing with agriculture. The Pascataqua and its tributaries were full of salmon and sturgeon, that gave their names to waterfalls and creeks. There was abundance of lumber for ship-building and commerce. The settlers searched in vain for mines of gold and silver, and iron ore was obtained with dif- ficulty in small quantities. Wild game filled the forests, and the fur trade brought revenues to some. But agriculture, the great- est and most necessary industry for man, soon came to be the principal occupation, and swarming children pushed in further from the shores, to which the first settlers clung cautiously and for the only means of communication. Every settler was almost of necessity a boatman, fisherman, hunter, carpenter, mechanic and farmer. The women could spin, weave, make garments of every sort, cook marvelously, and manage a dairy. Necessity made the weak strong.
How much we would like to know the number and names of the men and women who came with David Thompson, in 1623, from Plymouth, England, to Odiorne's Point and helped him build his fish-weir near a point of land a little south of the mouth of the Cochecho River, which has ever since borne his name. Who besides Thomas Roberts came with Edward and William Hilton from London to Hilton's Point in the same year? What were the names of the eight Danes and twenty-two women who came with Capt. John Mason's colonists from the south of England to Strawberry Bank and Newichawannock between 1631 and 1634? Who were all those that came from Bristol with Capt. Thomas Wiggin to Dover Neck in 1633 and gave the name Bristol
3
HISTORY OF DURHAM
to the little city they there attempted to found? These companies were the real pioneers of the Pascataqua region. We know the names of a few of them; we are well convinced that certain others must have been among them. Of Capt. John Mason's company Ambrose Gibbons, Francis Matthews, John Ault, and John Goddard settled in Oyster River Plantation, while James Nute lived on the west side of Back River, within the present limits of Dover. Among the companions of Capt. Thomas Wiggin were probably Elder Hatevil Nutter, Richard Pinkham, Thomas Leighton, Richard York, William Williams, William Beard, Thomas Beard, Thomas Stevenson, Samuel Haines, John Heard, John Dam, George Webb, Philip Chesley, William Pomfret, William Storer, Thomas Canney, Henry Tibbetts, George Walton, William Furber, and the Rev. William Leveridge. At least all these lived on Dover Neck within a few years of Capt. Wiggin's arrival, and they were joined not long after by Anthony Emery from Newbury, Joseph Austin from Hampton, John Tuttle who came in the Angel Gabriel, Job Clement from Haverhill, Ralph Hall, John Hall, Philip Cromwell, "Mr. David Ludecas Edling," Capt. John Underhill and the Rev. John Reyner.
It seems to have been the design of Capt. Wiggin to found a city or compact town on the hill-top of Dover Neck, giving to each settler three and a half or four acres for a home lot, while out lots or farms and pieces of marsh were assigned on the shores of Little and Great Bays and their tributaries, which they could easily reach by boat. Probably this was thought necessary at first for mutual defence, as well as to avoid insufferable loneliness. After land had been cleared and log houses built and flocks and herds began to multiply, it became quite necessary to quit Dover Neck and remain permanently on the farms. Thus by the year 1640 much of the best land along the shores and up to the head of salt water in the Shankhassick, as the Indians called Oyster River, was in the recognized possession of settlers, and clearing had well begun. The first comers got the best land. To him that had was given. Big grants went to the big men, and some fami- lies soon became prominent because their emigrant ancestor was fortunate enough to get possession of fertile land easily cultivated, while those who settled on poor and rocky soil and stayed there remained poor and of little account.
4
HISTORY OF DURHAM
There were from the very beginning some order and recognized authority. There is no reason to suppose that Capt. Wiggin allotted lands, or that he was in any sense a Governor. He was the agent of a land company, and Ambrose Gibbons was as much a Governor of Maine as Capt. Thomas Wiggin was of New Hampshire. The company under the leadership of Capt. Wiggin were in effect from the start a democratic republic and regulated their own internal affairs much as the Pilgrims did at Plymouth. They assumed to be a town and did the chief busi- ness of a town at that time by granting lots and purchasing lands
SHANKHASSICK, OR OYSTER RIVER
of the Indians. William Hilton, in 1641, sold land that had been granted to him by the inhabitants of Dover. This was at the head of Oyster River. "The inhabitants of Dover alias Northam" granted land to the Rev. Thomas Larkham between the years 1639 and 1642. Darby Field was in quiet possession of Oyster River Point earlier than 1639. Ambrose Gibbons, Thomas Stevenson, William Williams and William Beard, all of Oyster River, had lands assigned to them by common consent before 1640. On the 18th of the 8th month, 1652, John Ault made a deposition as follows:
The deponent sayth that in the yere 1635, that the land about Lamprile River was bought of the Indians & made use of by the men of Dover & myselfe both for planting & fishing & feling of Timber.
5
HISTORY OF DURHAM
John Ault and Richard York made oath to this statement before George Smyth, and to similar effect testified Hatevil Nutter and William Furber. See depositions in N. H. Prov- ince Papers, Vol. I, p. 204. The original depositions may be seen in the archives of Massachusetts, 112-14.
In the above statements "the men of Dover" and "the inhabi- tants of Dover" are mentioned collectively as having power to purchase lands of the Indians and to grant lands to individuals as early as 1635. This was the beginning of town business, though it was not till 1648 that they assumed to assess rates and became a full-fledged town.
The Exeter Combination of 1639 was signed by two men of Oyster River, namely, Darby Field and Francis Matthews, and it is noticeable that these did not sign the Dover Combination of the following year. Indeed, none of the settlers at Oyster River signed that compact. It has been called Dover's Magna Charta rather inappropriately, since it was no concession wrung from a reluctant king, but a voluntary agreement of forty-two inhabi- tants of Dover Neck, Cochecho and what was afterward Newing- ton. It is a formal statement of what had been informally agreed to from the beginning of the settlement of Capt. Wiggin and company on Dover Neck, in 1633. If "two or more persons banded together to do good make a church," as I once heard a Canon of the Church of England publicly declare, then two or more settlers in a new country banded together for mutual pro- tection and self-government make a town, and such a church and such a town need no higher authorization. The Combination was as follows:
Whereas sundry mischeifes and inconveniences have befaln us, and more and greater may in regard of want of civill Government, his Gratious Ma'tie haveing hitherto setled no order for us to our knowledge:
Wee whose names are underwritten being Inhabitants upon the river Pas- cataquack have voluntarily agreed to combine ourselves into a body politique that we may the more comfortably enjoy the benefit of his Ma'ties Lawes together with all such Orders as shal bee concluded by a major part of the Freemen of our Society in case they bee not repugnant to the Lawes of England and administered in the behalf of his Majesty.
And this wee have mutually promised and concluded to do and so to continue till his Excellent Ma'tie shall give other Order concerning us. In Witness whereof wee have hereto set our hands the two and twentieth day of October in the sixteenth yeare of our Sovereign Lord Charles by the grace of God King
6
HISTORY OF DURHAM
of Great Britain France and Ireland Defender of the Faith &c. Annoq Dom. 1640.
John Follet
Thom. Larkham
Robert Nanney
Richard Waldern
William Jones
William Waldern
Phillip Swaddon
William Storer
Richard Pinckhame
William Furber
Bartholomew Hunt
Thos. Layton
William Bowden
Tho. Roberts
John Wastill
Bartholomew Smith
John Heard
Samuel Haines
John Hall
John Underhill
Abel Camond
Peter Garland
Henry Beck
John Dam
Robert Huggins
Steven Teddar
Fran: Champernoon
John Ugroufe
Hansed Knowles
Thomas Canning
Edward Colcord
John Phillips
Henry Lahorn
Tho: Dunstar
Edward Starr
James Nute
Anthony Emery
Richard Laham
William Pomfret
John Cross
George Webb
James Rawlins
The original of the above is in the Record Office at London. The clerk in copying may have made some mistakes. Edward Starr is doubtless Elder Edward Starbuck. Tho: Dunstar is probably Thomas Dustin, afterward of Kittery, whose son Thomas lived in Haverhill. Thomas Canning is Thomas Canney. Henry Lahorn may be Henry Langstaff. Hansed Knowles is the Rev. Hansard Knollys.
Why did no man in Oyster River Plantation sign that Combina- tion? Already that section of ancient Dover began to feel itself separate from and independent of the rest of the town. It was geographically distinct and soon began to clamor for parish and township rights. Local convenience made this almost a necessity.
In the above Combination no name is given to the town. It was yet undecided whether it should be called Bristol, Northam or Dover. The last name became fixed about the year 1642.
There is another reason why nobody from Oyster River signed the so-called Dover Combination. At this time the inhabitants of Exeter were claiming that the northern limit of their town was the Oyster River or a mile beyond, by virtue of a deed obtained by Parson Wheelwright from an Indian chief. In the first allot-
7
HISTORY OF DURHAM
ment of land in Exeter, December 1639, it was declared that the meadows "from Lamprey river to the head of Little Bay should be equally apportioned into four parts." This is all the region of Durham afterward known as Lubberland. Under date of 12 November, 1640, it is recorded in Exeter thus:
It is agreed upon y+ Mr. William Hilton is to enjoy those two marshes in Oyster River weh formerly he hath possession of & still are in his possession and the other marsh woh Mr. Gibbies [Ambrose Gibbons] doth wrongfully detayne from him with the rest of those marshes wch formerly he hath made use of soe far forth as they may be for the publique good of this plantation, and so much of the upland (adjoining) to them as shall be thought convenient by the neighbores of Oyster River, weh are belonging to this body.
This must refer to William Hilton's eighty-eight acres at the head of salt water in Oyster River, where the public school building in Durham now stands, and to the two hundred acres belonging to Ambrose Gibbons, that formed later the Burnham farm, on the south side of the river. The inhabitants of Oyster River were wavering between allegiance to the Exeter Combina- tion, that two of their number had signed, and to the so-called Dover Combination. Commissioners decided that the southern limit of Dover extended down to Lamprey River. The boundary was long disputed. [See Bell's History of Exeter.]
In 1652 the Commissioners appointed to determine the bounds of Dover reported that
They have thus agreed that the uttmost bound on the west is a creek on the east side of Lamprell river, the next creek to the river, and from the end of that creek to lamprell river first fall and so from the first fall on a west and by north line six miles,
from nequittchewannock first fall on a north and by west line fower miles,
from a creeke next below Thomas Cannes his house to a certaine Cove near the mouth of the Great Bay called hogsty cove and all the marsh and meadow lying and butting on the great bay with convenient byland to sett there hay. Mass. Archives, 112. 53
John Alt, "aged about seventy-three years," deposed, 2 March 1677/8, that Robert Smart, senior, of Exeter did own and possess all the meadow on the southwest side of John Goddard's Creek "and ye said Smart did possess it twelve years before Dover was a township and he did possess it sixteen years together." How shall this be interpreted? When did Dover become a township? According to this deposition it was not in 1640, the time of the Combination, for twelve years before that date would carry us
8
HISTORY OF DURHAM
back to 1628, some years before John Ault arrived in Dover, or Robert Smart in Exeter. The latter was a resident of Hingham, Mass., in September, 1635, and probably came the following year to that part of Exeter which is now Newmarket. He needed marsh grass for his cattle and so took it where he could find it most con- veniently. Twelve years after his arrival, that is, in 1648, the first taxes were levied, according to an order of Court at Boston. Was the authority of the Town of Dover then first recognized by the inhabitants of Oyster River Plantation, among whom was John Ault? There are certainly records which speak of the town of Dover as early as 1642, but then Oyster River Plantation was debatable land. Selectmen were chosen in 1647 and Ambrose Gibbons of Oyster River was one of them.
In 1639 a committee of three persons from Dover appeared at the General Court in Boston, proposing that Dover come under the jurisdiction of Massachusetts. Their offer was eagerly accepted and the terms were all that Dover desired. They were to have their own court at Dover like the courts at Salem and Ipswich; they were "exempted from all public charges other than those that shall arise among themselves or from any occasion or Course that may be taken to promote their own proper good and benefit"; they were to have all the privileges of towns, and church membership was not required to make inhabitants freemen, though this was the rule in Massachusetts. In fact the General Court granted everything for mere supremacy. May 10, 1643, the County of Norfolk was formed, with Salisbury as the shire town. Sessions of the court were held annually at Dover, and the records of the same are now at Concord, N. H. Norfolk County ceased to exist 8 September, 1679, when the territory lying between Massachusetts and Maine was made a separate royal province, in order to try the claims of Capt. John Mason's heirs to the improved lands of New Hampshire farmers. The claims seem to us ridiculous but were founded upon laws made for the benefit of the privileged class. The courts allowed the claims, but the attempt to collect rents was unsuccessful. Some Oyster River settlers were by legal process dispossessed of their estates, but practically they continued to possess them and to transmit them to their heirs.
Whatever records once existed of town proceedings in Dover until 1648 have been lost, except a few unimportant leaves. In
9
HISTORY OF DURHAM
1647 William Pomfret was chosen recorder, or as we now say town clerk, and thereafter the records are of great historical importance. "Dicesimo Septimo die Iomo, 1647, it was ordered concluded and agreed upon that the inhabitants of Dover should condescend unto a form of levying rates and assessments for raising of public charges according to an order of court made and held at Boston." Funds for the ministry and other public ex- penses must have been raised before that time by voluntary con- tributions. We have the first rate list, which has been repeatedly published. We here copy only the names of those who lived in Oyster River Plantation.
The Towne Rate Made the 19th 10th mo [16] 48.
£ s. d. 0046:00:00
£ s. d.
George Webb, Rated and to pay 4d pf is John Goddard, Rated and to pay 4d p£ is
0129:10:00
0002:02:02
Richard Yorke, Rated and to pay 4d p.£ is
0072:08:00
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.