USA > New Hampshire > Cheshire County > Gilsum > History of the town of Gilsum, New Hampshire, from 1752 to 1879 > Part 1
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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 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71 | Part 72 | Part 73 | Part 74
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Gc 974.202 G42h 1137057
GENEALOGY COLLECTION
E
ALLEN COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARY 3 1833 01095 9911
111
Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2016
https://archive.org/details/historyoftownofg1752hayw
1543
Hanah &M. s Vye e forthe Brookfield, eMars.
Presented by her Cunt, Sarah H. Hayward.
-
Heliotype Printing C.
.
n'Th
HISTORY
OF THE -
TOWN OF GILSUM
NEW HAMPSHIRE
FROM 1752 TO 1879,
WITH MAPS AND ILLUSTRATIONS.
BY SILVANUS HAYWARD, A. M. l
" The kindly spot, the friendly town, where every one is known, And not a face in all the place but partly seems my own."
PRINTED FOR THE AUTHOR, BY JOHN B. CLARKE, MANCHESTER, N. H.
1881.
N. B. Persons discovering mistakes, or able to supply omissions, are urgently requested to write the same to the author IMMEDIATELY.
Copyright, 1881, by SILVANUS HAYWARD.
PREFACE.
1137057
This History has grown out of the Centennial Address of 1872, (Page 116.) Begun in 1875, it has occupied more than five busy years. At the annual meeting in 1876, the town voted $500 towards an edition of 250 copies, each tax-payer having the privilege of buying a copy at a corresponding reduction in price. The town afterwards voted $80 towards the expense of general views, and $50 to secure the portraits of Capt. Hurd, Elder Kilburn, and Gen. Mack. The views were selected by a Committee, consisting of Daniel Smith, Silvanus Hayward, Will- iam A. Wilder, J. Quincy Pickering, Josiah Guillow, William L. Isham, and Solomon Mack. It was intended to secure a view of the East part of the town, but much to the regret of the Committee, no satisfactory result was obtained. Private views and other portraits have been inserted at the expense of parties interested.
National and State affairs are not legitimate to a Town History, except such occasional brief statements as may be necessary to explain some town action. Primitive habits and customs have been so fully and vividly por- trayed in other histories, as well as in the newspapers of almost every season, that it has not seemed wise to enter that beaten path wherein one could scarcely hope to overtake, much less surpass his predecessors. Hence, this work claims to be nothing more than a local record of events pertaining to this little town, during the century and a quarter of its existence.
Accuracy, completeness, brevity, and impartiality have been my aim; how nearly reached, others must judge.
The inaccuracy of traditions is surprising. Traced back to their source, a nucleus of fact will usually be found, but almost unrecognizable under the accretions of two or three generations.
It is much to be regretted that the town records for the first twenty-five years are not to be found; how lost, is uncertain. These were the most important and valuable of all our records, and the loss is irreparable.
Repetition could not be entirely avoided. For the sake of brevity, however, vital statistics are mostly omitted from Biographical sketches, and historical facts from the Genealogies. Consequently, to learn the history of any person, the name must be sought not only in the Genealogy, but also in every place referred to in the Index.
While abhorring that namby-pamby, jelly-fish goodiness that cannot be classed as belonging anywhere, or having any opinions of its own, I have, nevertheless, carefully endeavored to avoid all such partizanship in politics or religion, as can give reasonable offense to any.
The stand-point of time is the year 1879, unless otherwise indicated.
It has been found impossible to arrange the chapters in logical order of sequence. Those who are fastidious in this respect can easily satisfy their more logical minds by reading the chapters in the order of their own choice.
Part II is believed to be hitherto unique in its design; - at least, I have met nothing similar in any town history. It is an attempt to give a brief mention of the several families residing upon every spot where has stood a dwelling. Only a few wood-choppers' shanties have been purposely omitted. The record is necessarily incom plete, and at the close of each list of residents, it will generally be safe to add the words, and others.
The maps locate every road, and every residence from the first settlement to the present time, so far as can be ascertained. They represent not less than a year of solid work, being the result of a minute survey by the author, assisted by Edwin D. Hayward of Winchendon, Mass.
Public invitation was given to all to furnish sketches and portraits of themselves and friends, and whatever was received in season, has been for substance inserted, so that none can complain of being slighted. Obituary notices and letters of friends and acquaintance have been freely used. Except in a few cases where I have pecu- liar facilities of a personal knowledge, the responsibility of estimates of character has been thrown upon others. It should be remembered also, that the length of a notice is no criterion of a person's relative worth or prominence. It only indicates that more particulars were communicated to the author. It would have been easy to have added a piquant flavor gratifying to many, by collecting the gossip and scandal of a century past, or by sharply sketching the prominent traits of peculiar characters. Except, however, in a few notable instances that could not well be left out, criminal records, and gross defects of character have been carefully omitted. In all cases, I have intended
4
GILSUM.
to make the record as I should wish it to be done, if each person were my own relative. Humani nihil a me alienum puto.
Part III from a small beginning, continually grew upon my hands to the last moment of going to press, and five years more of labor would hardly exhaust the field of research. It contains more than 10,000 namnes exclu- sive of ancestral records. As "king Ahasnerus laid a tribute upon the land, and the isles of the sea," so have I laid tribute upon all accessible resources, town records, family Bibles, family and town histories, gravestones, pri- vate diaries, the memory of the aged, &c. &c. Accuracy in dates is almost an impossibility. Records obtained from different branches of the same family, very rarely agree. Even dates sent by the same person at different times are frequently unlike. Add to these the cemetery and town records, and we sometimes have three different dates for the birth or death of the same person. To decide certainly between them is often impossible. I have generally taken what seemed to ine to be the best authority, but in a few instances have given a double date. Honorary titles have been mostly omitted, except where needed for identification.
Out of more than a thousand letters, about fifty have failed to reach the persons addressed. A few have re- ceived no reply. Three or four persons have declined giving any information. One only sent an insulting answer. My first thought was to print it, for future generations to see and laugh at, but remembering Uncle Toby and the fly, I forbear.
My grateful acknowledgments are due for the courtesy and helpful kindness of both strangers and townsmen. Special mention should be made of John Ward Dean the accomplished Librarian of the Mass. Historical and Genealogical Society, George Hammond of Bennet's Corners, N. Y., and Isaac W. Hammond of Concord, N. H. My elder daughter has rendered invaluable service, especially in the preparation of the Genealogies.
My work is ended, but far from finished. None can be more sensible of its defects than the author. For those who may be surprised at its mistakes, which must be many, I can only wish a personal experience of the same kind of work. S. H.
SOUTHBRIDGE, MASS., April 1881.
CONTENTS.
PAGE
CHAPTER
I. Introductory
9.
CHAPTER
II. Natural History
10.
CHAPTER
III. Indians 16. IV. Charter and Proprietorship 17. 29. .
CHAPTER
V. Formation of Surry and Sullivan
CHAPTER
VI. Vermont Troubles.
CHAPTER
VII. Gilsum in the Revolution
CHAPTER
VIII. War of 1812-15
CHAPTER
IX.
Militia
CHAPTER
X. War of the Rebellion
CHAPTER
XI. Fires and Fire Company
CHAPTER
XII. Paupers and Lawsuits
CHAPTER
XIII. Roads and Bridges
CHAPTER
XIV. Cemeteries
CHAPTER
XV.
General Finances
.
CHAPTER
XVI. Town Officers
CHAPTER
XVII. Political Parties
CHAPTER
XVIII.
Anti-slavery
CHAPTER
XIX.
Temperance
·
CHAPTER
XX. Ecclesiastical History
125.
CHAPTER
XXII.
Libraries and Lyceums
132.
CHAPTER
XXIII.
Industries
136.
CHAPTER
XXIV.
Census Returns
145.
CHAPTER
XXV.
Celebrations
149.
CHAPTER
XXVI.
Casualties
151.
CHAPTER
XXVII.
Hunting Stories
155.
CHAPTER
XXVIII.
Salmagundi
159.
CHAPTER
XXIX.
First Settler
169.
CHAPTER
XXX.
Proprietors
171.
CHAPTER
XXXI.
Professional and Literary
176.
CHAPTER
XXXII.
Residents in District Number Three
188.
CHAPTER
XXXIIL.
Residents in District Number One
196.
CHAPTER XXXIV.
Residents in District Number Six
208.
CHAPTER
XXXV.
Residents in District Number Four
211.
CHAPTER XXXVI.
Residents in District Number Two .
218.
CHAPTER XXXVII.
Residents in District Number Seven
236.
CHAPTER XXXVIII. Residents in District Number Five
245.
Genealogies
253. 426.
Miscellaneous Addenda
431.
Appendix
435.
General Index
451.
Index to Genealogies
463.
41. 43. 46. 50. 53. 62. 79. 80. 86. 88. 91. 97.
CHAPTER
XXI.
Schools
.
Genealogical Additions and Corrections
32. 34. 40.
CHAPTER
ILLUSTRATIONS.
Gilsum Village from the Southwest . Frontispiece.
Silvanus Hayward 7.
Residence of Charles W. Rawson 218.
Bearden
10.
Claudius B. Hayward 221.
Vessel Rock 12.
Residence of George W. Newman
223.
Daniel Smith
43.
N. O. Hayward 225.
Isaac W. Hammond 44.
Amherst Hayward
227.
Hammond or Polley Bridge
60.
Sarah F. Hayward
227.
Aaron D. Hammond
80.
Ezra Webster
231.
Daniel W. Bill 81.
Newman's Store and Buildings 234.
Group of Representatives 85. 90.
Luther Hemenway
96.
Solomon Mack 240.
Old Meeting House and Stone Bridge 103.
Israel B. Loveland 241.
Madam Fish 106.
Ezra Adams
114.
James Downing 249.
Horace Wood .
116.
Hartley Thurston
128.
Village from Northeast with Granite Mill .
139.
Moses Fish 307.
Willard Bill.
149.
Whitney D. Foster 308.
Group of Citizens
167.
Elisha W. Gunn 319.
Residence of E. W. Gunn
170.
J. E. W. Hammond 320.
David Kilburn 176.
K. D. Webster
182.
Samuel Isham, Jr. 343.
Theron Howard
Harvey A. Bill
185.
Luther W. Mark . 360.
371.
Elijah Gunn
188.
Residence of Daniel Smith
392.
Samuel Woodward
191.
Residence of C. B. Hayward 416.
420.
Robert Lane Hurd
194.
H. M. Hayward
433.
David Bill
197.
George W. Hammond . 441.
Dudley Smith
200. .
Elisha S. Fish 446.
David Fuller
201.
Maria T. Dart 450.
Mark W. Fuller
202. .
Lot Map 24.
Lower Village
204.
Map Explanations 168.
John Hammond
208.
Town Map Pocket.
Hammond Hollow
210.
Village Map . . Pocket.
Residence of Amherst Hayward 323.
184. Isaac Loveland 355.
Oscar A. Mack
186.
Newman Family
Residence of Lansing W. Wilder
192.
Eseck T. Willson
Residence of Daniel W. Bill . 266.
Stephen Collins 289.
Ebenezer Jones 237.
A. W. Kingsbury .
Chilion Mack 238.
A. P. Hemenway 242.
Residence of Levi Mansfield 216.
Silvanus Hayward.
HISTORY OF GILSUM.
PART I. HISTORICAL.
FACTA PATRUM.
"Say not thou, what is the cause that the former days were better than these ? for thou dost not inquire wisely concerning this. "
ERRATA.
Before reading the book, please make the following corrections with pen or pencil.
Page 13. Eighteenth line, - omit larch.
Page 26. Fifth line, - for map, read table.
Page 59. Nineteenth line, - for Brigham, read Bingham.
Page 81. In list of Selectmen, - for Briggs, read Griggs; after Samuel Whitney, 1788, insert 1792,-4,-6,-7, 1800,4,-6,-8,-9,-10,-3,-4,-5; for Bawson, read Rawson.
Page 85. In list of Justices, - after Samuel Isham, insert Jr.
Page 96. Last line, - after Adolphe for F. C., read C. F.
Page 99. Thirteenth line, - for Bliss, read Blish.
Page 101. Tenth line, - for wfe, read 'wife.
Page 119. Eighteenth line, - after James, insert W.
Page 131. Eighth line, - for 1846, read 1816.
Page 154. Eleventh line, - for below, read above.
Page 175. Second line, - for 2 Lots, read 2nd Lots.
Page 180. Thirteenth line from bottom, - before Fisherville, insert afterwards to.
Page 184. Third line, - before grandson, insert great.
Page 185. Fourth line, - before grandson, insert great.
Page 190. Tenth line, - for Boileau, read Bolio.
Page 191. Fourteenth line from bottom, - for Titraut, read Titraux.
Page 192. Twenty-third line from bottom, - for Titraut, read Titraux; fifth line from bottom, -after Davis, omit H.
Page 196. Twentieth line from bottom, - after Thomas, omit D.
Page 198. Twenty-third line, -for - Stamford, read Willis Stanford.
Page 204. Fourteenth line, - after Herbert, for E., read C.
Page 216. Twelfth line from bottom, - after Moses, for G., read E.
Page 224. Nineteenth line from bottom, - for Eli, read Hilaire; after Herbert, for D., read C.
Page 227. Sixteenth line, - for he soon left, read he left after two years.
Page 236. Seventh line, -for A. F. C., read A. C. F. ; tenth line, - after Herbert, for E., read C.
Page 241. Sixth line, -after Israel Loveland, insert Jr.
Page 247. Thirteenth line from bottom, -for Maturin, read Marturin.
Page 439. Twentieth line from bottom, - at end of line, add down.
GILSUM.
CHAPTER I.
INTRODUCTORY.
FEW enterprises can be of greater importance or more absorbing interest than to trace the present condition of families or communities back to its sources, and record the various influ- ences which have molded the character of individuals, or villages, or towns, or nations. To portray not only events, but the causes out of which they grew and the results to which they tend, is the office of the historian. Launching his canoe upon the wide stream of the present, he must urge it upward to the mountain ranges of the past, and under the shadows of its aneient forests, through tangled thickets and up rocky defiles, on foot and alone, lie must press on, till he can bring back the story of each brook and rill, whether oozing from the mire of gloomy swamps, or crawling from stagnant pools, or springing in fresh beauty amid the moss of crystal springs. Thence returned, he must spread the sails of some larger craft, till, borne swiftly down the resistless river, he reaches the shoreless sea of the great humanity of the future. This were indeed a noble task. This, to the extent of his ability, the historian of state or nation is privileged to perform. But sundry limitations hedge about the town historian, not so much restraining his feet from the paths of exploration, as forbidding his lips to divulge the secrets he may have learned. The historian of New Hampshire may express his judgment of the charae- ter and influence of measures, or parties, or individuals, with the utmost freedom. He may be criticised and controverted, his opinions may not be aeeepted, but no one will accuse him of transcending the legitimate provinee of an historian. But not so in writing a town history. It is only in very general terms that opinions, or even facts, otherwise than favorable eoneern- ing individuals or families, can be recorded. Very many faets must be entirely suppressed by the town historian, or both himself and his book will be swept away in a storm of indignation. From the influence of a single individual, from the coming in of a certain family, from the preaching of a certain system of doctrines, from the circulation of certain books or newspapers, from the prevalence of certain political ideas, the character and real history of almost every town have been greatly controlled ; its business prosperity, its tendencies to virtue or vice, its elevation or degradation, have been determined. But the circumstances of the case forbid the historian from making the record. He must nearly follow the old maxim, " Nil de mortuis nisi bonum." He cannot contribute to social science the true story of " The Jukes" of his native town, nor mount upon the pillory of disgrace the names of his neighbors deemed worthy of that bad eminenee. He is often, also, restrained from expressing all his convictions in reference to the good accomplished by eertain men, or measures, or principles. People are apt to be jealous of hearing others highly extolled. The state historian ean compare both men and measures, and pass judgment upon each in the light of results and by the application of examples gathered from other states and from other times. But nowhere more than in town history is felt the force of the saying, " Comparisons are odious." Thus limited, the town historian eannot illuminate his work with philosophical speculations, or embellish it with poetical fancies, or even adorn it with the graces of rhetorie, but only rehearse, in plain language, the simple record of unvarnished facts.
1
10
GILSSUM.
CHAPTER II.
NATURAL HISTORY.
" To him who in the love of Nature holds Communion with her visible forms, she speaks A various language."
THE forty-third parallel of north latitude crosses the southern extremity of the town of Gilsum, and the seventy-second meridian west from Greenwich passes about twelve iniles cast of the village.
Gilsum is in form somewhat like a boot, or a carpenter's square, having the village at the instep of the boot, or the inner angle of the square. It is bounded north by Alstead and Mar- low, east by Stoddard and Sullivan, south by Sullivan and Kecne, and west by Surry. The Ashuelot * River flows through the town in a south-westerly course from Marlow to Surry. Into this river run many brooks from all parts of the town, as shown on the map.
Gilsum has two small natural ponds or lakes. Cranberry Pond, situated near Marlow line, is about twenty rods long and fifteen wide. Its outlet is the brook that enters the Ashuelot some forty rods above the residence of Josiah Guillow. The other pond contains only a few square rods, and is not known to many persons. It is, however, a permanent pond and contains some fish. It is situated on the south-west part of David A. Roundy's farm.
Geologically, Gilsum was formed in what Prof. Hitchcock calls the " Atlantic or Gneissic Period," and suffered no special change till the " Mica Schist Period," when its eastern half was covered with the new forniation. The scratches of the " Glacial Period " lie in a south-east- erly direction. They can be very plainly seen on the ledges east of the Deacon Mark place. The surface is hilly, or almost mountainous, the village being about 780 } feet above sea level. The lowest point is where the river enters Surry, about 162 feet # lower than the village street. The highest point is probably near the east end of the town, next to Stoddard line, about 700 feet above the village. The summit of the hill east of the town line, near the south end of Surry Mountain, is nearly the same height, and the top of Mansfield hill and the height in C. B. Hayward's pasture, south-east of the Converse place, do not fall fifty feet below. The west line ver of the town, crossing the near the foot-bridge below William Kingsbury's, runs along the eastern slope of Surry Mountain, passing a little west of the summit at the south end.
The early deeds speak of Surry Mountain as " a great Mountain." It extends about four miles in a north and south direction. Near its center there is a notch in which lies Lily Pond. This is west of the present Gilsum line, and is specially remarkable for its great depth, sound- ings of eighty feet having been tried without reaching bottom. Near the east line of the town, next to Sullivan, is a remarkable ledge facing the west, called " Bearden " in the earliest known records. From the perpendicular, and in some places overhanging, ledges at the summit, some tremendous force has rent huge masses of rock and thrown them one upon another in every con- ceivable form of disorder. Under and among these rocks are numberless holes and dens, some of considerable size, now populous with hedgehogs, but formerly furnishing shelter to wolves and bears, especially the latter. The rocks are mostly irregular in shape, as well as in size and posi-
* This is the original Indian name, and is said to mean a collection of many waters. (Keene Annals.)
t Hitchcock's Geology of N. H., Vol. I., p. 385, says 926 feet, but the later contour maps from the same authority give it as above.
# Taken in the road, the river being some eight feet lower.
BEARDEN.
11
NATURAL HISTORY.
tion, but in some places are wedged together almost like masonry. Onc obelisk, some twenty feet long and three and a half square, and nearly as regular as if wrought by the stone-cutter, was apparently caught while falling, and remains with one end held fast by overlying rocks, while the other extends some twelve feet horizontally, almost like a bcam projecting from the side of a building. Huge rocks, of hundreds or even thousands of tons, are found with the shelving under side hollowed into countless'cavities, with the appearance of having been long subjected to the action of falling water. In these holes birds' nests arc sometimes found. At the foot of Bearden lies a small swamp, the principal source of the Beaver Brook, which runs thence in a. southerly direction through Keene. About forty rods south-west from the Bearden ledges, where precipitous rocks rise on either hand, it falls over beds of green moss, forming a cascade much smaller, but perhaps more beautiful, than the well-known " Beaver Falls " of Kcene, five miles below on the same stream.
The Hemenway Brook furnishes another fine fall, just above the river road, half a mile from the village. It flows in an almost continuous cascade from the Hemenway placc to the river.
Thirty or forty rods below the stone bridge, on the north side of the river, in the face of the perpendicular cliff, is an inaccessible notch or seat, called " The Devil's Chair." Though this has no great interest in itself, yet the narrow defile below, through which the river dashes and winds and twists among enormous bowlders, is, in picturesque beauty, scarcely inferior to the scenery of White Mountain glens.
Along the banks of Beaver Brook are many gravelly ridges of an artificial appearance. They are called " kames," and are supposed by geologists to have been deposited from melting ice .* The longest of these is below the old Bridge place in Keene, where the road runs along its top for more than a mile. Others similar to this, but of small extent, lie between the road and the Mark meadow. At the upper end of the meadow, on the east side of the brook, arc found others of the same gravelly character, but, instead of lying parallel to the general course of the stream, they are arranged in a series of connected circles, or rather ovals, giving to the unscientific eye an almost irresistible impression that they were erected by the hand of man for purposes of defense. The largest extends about twelve rods from north to south, and six from east to west. On the north-west is an opening about three rods wide. The ridge itself is from two and a half to three rods wide at the base, and raised from eight to fifteen fect above the swamp on either side.
About a mile south-west of this, on the farm of Capt. David Bill, is a spot called " Cranberry Hole." This is a circular opening in the woods, about ten rods in diameter, apparently a bed of moss, but over which one cannot walk except in winter. It was doubtless once a pond, but gradually filled with moss, till no water is visible above the surface. Blueberry bushcs and other shrubs crowd its edge, and the cranberries, which gave its name, have mostly disappeared. It may have been originally a beaver pond. (Page 15.) From it, on the east, flows a small stream, which, uniting with another from the south, forms what is known as the Fish Brook, one of the principal tributaries of Beaver Brook.
Like other hilly regions, Gilsum is not wanting in variety of minerals. The prevailing rock is a coarse granite, interspersed with smaller specimens of the stones common to such a forma- tion. Crystals of tourmaline and quartz are frequently met with, and occasionally small speci- mens of beryl. Garncts are abundant. After a shower, the village street, as well as many other roads, is noticeably red with innumerable garnets of the finest quality, but so minute as to be unavailable for the jeweler. Mica has been extensively quarried a short distance
* Hitchcock's Geology of N. H., Vol. III., p. 12, et sq.
.12
GILSUM.
north of the town line in Alstead, and abounds in many of the Gilsum roeks. Hornblende and actinolite are not rare. On the " minister lot " in the south part of the town is a large quartz ledge, whenee fine specimens of rose quartz 'have been taken. Other smaller " white ledges " are found in several parts of the town.
Surry Mountain has always been thought to be rich in ore. There have been many traditions of finding pure lead there. It was said the Indians obtained bullets by simply cutting off picees of lead from a ledge, of which they alone knew the locality. It is a family tradition that Capt. David Fuller, while erossing the mountain to his work, found lead which he cut off with his ax, and afterwards run into bullets, but that he never could find the plaec again. Nearly ninety years ago, after long-continued fires in the woods on the west side of the mountain, plaees were seen where little streams of molten lead had run down the roeks. Lead and silver are certainly to be found there in considerable quantities, and recent explorations have brought to light both gold and copper. Attempts at mining have been often made, but without profitable results. In 1878, a vein of silver mingled with lead and gold, was opened at the north end of the mountain. Speeimens of the ore are said to compare favorably with those from Arizona.
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