USA > New Hampshire > Hillsborough County > Mason > History of the town of Mason, N. H. from the first grant in 1749, to the year 1858 > Part 1
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HISTORY 1
I
OF THE
TOWN OF MASON, N. H.
FROM
THE FIRST GRANT
IN 1749, TO THE YEAR 1858.
BY
JOHN B. HILL.
BOSTON : LUCIUS A. ELLIOT & CO. D. BUGBEE & CO., BANGOR, 1858.
PRINTED BY SAMUEL S. SMITH, BANGOR, ME.
PREFACE.
IT has been my object in the preparation of this work, to exhibit all the steps in progress, by which a New England town and church are built up and constituted, from the earli- est beginnings to their full establishment in independent existence and power. These institutions are, both in church and state, the purest and most absolute democracies the world has ever seen. They are the genuine out-growth, the ripened fruit of the puritan development in England. Their basis is a perfect equality of rights, without a shadow or trace of aristocracy. Free use has been made for this pur- pose of whatever has been found in the annals of the pro- prietary, the town and the churches, worthy of note, as illus- trating the incidents, manners, and character of the age and people. The mode adopted has been as far as practicable, to exhibit the actors in full life, and let them tell their own story, in their own words.
The proprietary, the municipal, and the ecclesiastical his- tory of the first half century of their existence, occupy a large share of the work, both on account of the greater interest of the incidents, and because the facts of that period are fast passing away from all living memory, into the region of dim and shadowy tradition, illuminated only by a few imperfect records, which, in themselves, are liable by daily impending accidents, totally to perish. For this part of the work, the authorities principally relied on, have been the proprietary, the town and the church records, all of which, are in good preservation, and more perfect than will in most cases be found; and all these records have been carefully searched and examined, with a view to this work. The
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PREFACE.
records of deaths, marriages, family registers, and statistical tables, &c., are sufficiently explained in the chapters in which they are found. Most of the biographical sketches of per- sons recently deceased, have been furnished by other hands. The sketches of the village churches, and of the Christian church, are by the pastors of those churches.
Important aid has been derived from the History of New Ipswich, Butler's Groton, Shattuck's Concord, and the New England Genealogical and Historical Register. Dr. Thomas H. Marshall, and Mr. Charles P. Richardson, of Mason, and Mr. Frederic Kidder, and Mr. Lucius A. Elliot, of Boston, have rendered very important aid and encouragement, in the preparation of this work. My brother, the Rev. Joseph B. Hill, has contributed much to the value of the work, in the preparation of statistical tables, and of the list of early settlers.
BANGOR, May 1, 1858.
J. B. HILL,
HISTORY OF MASON.
CHAPTER I.
Captain John Mason ; Grants to him of Lands in New Hampshire; Settle- ments commenced by him ; Controversies with Massachusetts respecting the title and jurisdiction ; how settled ; Title vested in the Masonian proprietors.
THE town of Mason is situated in the county of Hillsbo- rough, in the State of New Hampshire. It lies upon the southern border of the State, about midway between the eastern and western extremities of its southern boundary. On the south it bounds upon Townsend and Ashby, on the west upon New Ipswich, on the north upon Temple and Wilton and on the east upon Milford and Brookline. It is in that portion of the State of New Hampshire which was granted by the council of Plymouth in 1621 to Capt. John Mason. As the town derives its name from that gentleman, and the title to the soil therein is in fact derived and claimed under this grant to him, and sundry subsequent grants in confirm- ation thereof, and as the State is also indebted to him for its name, it being derived from that of the county of Hampshire, in England, of whose principal town, Portsmouth, Mason was at one time governor, a brief sketch of his life and of the titles granted to him, and of the various and long-continued controversies to which the uncertain and indefinite descrip- tions of the boundaries of the original and subsequent grants gave rise, and of the manner in which they were finally set-
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HISTORY OF MASON.
tled, will not be deemed an inappropriate introduction to these memorials of the place and its people. For the facts stated, the authority mainly relied on, is Belknap's history of New Hampshire.
CAPT. JOHN MASON was born in Lynn Regis in the county of Norfolk in England. Of his parentage and carly life little is known. The year of his birth is not stated by the histo- rians. It must have been not far from the year 1570, in the midst of the stirring times of Queen Elizabeth. His first en- gagement in active life, was as a merchant in London. After- wards he entered the naval service, and served as an officer in the fleet in the war between Spain and the Dutch republics. After the peace of 1609, by which the independence of Hol- land was secured, he was appointed Governor of Newfound- land. This island was discovered by Sebastian Cabot in 1497. It was taken possession of, in the name of Queen Elizabeth, by Sir Humphrey Gilbert, August 5th, 1583. The fisheries upon the banks became, at an early period, an import- ant business, the tendency of which was to foster and promote voyages of discovery to the continent. At the time Mason was appointed its governor, this island was one of the most valuable English possessions in North America. In this post he remained long enough to become acquainted with the country ; and he formed so high an opinion of its future destiny, as to induce in him a willingness to adventure his fortune in advancing its settlement. This led him on his return to England, into a close intimacy with those who were engaged in discoveries in the new world. He was, after his return, appointed Governor of the town of Plymouth, in the county of Hampshire ; and upon a vacancy happening in the council of Plymouth, he was elected a member of that body, and was chosen their secretary. He was thus placed in the front rank of those who were actively engaged in promoting discoveries and encouraging settlements in North America. He gave to these enterprises, not only his countenance and advice, but he was willing to embark his fortunes in the bus-
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CAPT. JOHN MASON.
iness, and to devote to it his time and means. With that intent he procured from the council of Plymouth, in March, 1621, a grant of " all the lands from the river Naumkeag," now Salem, "round Cape Ann to the river Merrimack, and up cach of those rivers to the farthest heads thereof, then to cross over from the head of one to the head of the other, with all the islands lying within three miles of the coast." This district was called Marianna. This was the first terri- torial grant made by the Plymouth council. It bears date March 9, 1621. Those to Plymouth colony are dated in 1621 and 1623; that to Massachusetts, March 19, 1627, all sub- sequent to Mason's. Of these last, cach was granted to a company or association, or to an individual in trust for a company. Mason undertook his enterprise alone and single handed. No individual can be found, who exhibited more courage and perseverance in the cause, or more confidence in its ultimate success, or who expended his means with a more liberal hand, or in larger amount, in promoting the settlement. of the country.
In 1622, another grant was made to Gorges and Mason jointly, " of all the lands between the rivers Merrimack and Sagadahock, extending back to the great lakes and river of Canada," and this was called Laconia. The points of com- mencement of the first of these grants were wholly within what is now Massachusetts. The territory included is partly in New Hampshire and partly in Massachusetts. The second grant included a large part of New Hampshire, a portion of Maine and of Canada. The knowledge then possessed of the country, and of the courses of the rivers, was imperfect and uncertain, and consequently, these bounderies were found to be uncertain and indefinite. Settlements were by Mason attempted to be made, at a place called Little Harbor, in Portsmouth, where salt works were erected; and a house called Mason Hall, was built at Dover. In 1629, he procured a patent under the common seal of the council of Plymouth, for the land " from the middle of Piscataqua river, and up the
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HISTORY OF MASON.
same, to the farthest head thereof, and from thence northward, until sixty miles from the mouth of the harbor were finished ; also, through Merrimack river, to the farthest head thereof, and so forward up into the land westward, until sixty miles were finished, and from thence to cross over land to the end of sixty miles, accounted from Piscataqua river, together with all the islands within five miles of the coast." This tract was called New Hampshire, a name derived from that of the county of Hampshire, in England, of whose principal town, Portsmouth, Mason was governor. Under this charter the towns of Portsmouth, and Northam, afterwards called Dover, Hampton, and Exeter were laid out.
The attempts at settlement were not prosperous. The views of those engaged in the enterprise, were chiefly turned to the discovery of lakes and mines, the cultivation of grapes and the advantages of trade and fishery. Little regard was had to agriculture. They often complained of their expenses, and might with reason, for they had not only to pay wages to their colonists, but to supply them with provisions, clothing, utensils, medicines, articles of trade, implements for building, husbandry and fishery, and to stock their plantations with cattle, swine and goats. Bread corn was either brought from England in meal, or from Virginia in grain, and then sent to the windmill at Boston to be ground. Very little improvement was made on the lands, the lakes were not explored, the vines planted came to nothing, no mines were found but those of iron, and those were not wrought ; three or four houses only, were built in the first seven years; the peltry trade with the Indians was of some value, and the fishery served towards the support of the inhabitants, but yielded no profit to the adven- turers, who received but inadequate returns in lumber and fish. They, seeing their interests sinking and withering away, grew dispirited, and the greater part of them either abandon- ed the enterprise, or sold their shares to Gorges and Mason, who were more sanguine than the rest, and who thus became either by purchase or by tacit consent of the others, the
9
CAPT. JOHN MASON.
principal, if not the sole proprietors. They prosecuted the settlement with zeal, but met with many hindrances, among which were claims made by the Virginia company to have their charter revoked. Mason finally succeeded in procuring a new charter in 1635, extending from Naumkeag to Piscataqua, and sixty miles northward within land. He did not long survive the issuing of this patent. He died Nov. 16th, 1635. In his will, he disposed of his immense estate, as follows : To the corporation of Lynn Regis in Norfolk, the place of his nativity, he gave two thousand acres of land in New Hamp- shire, subject to the yearly rent of one penny per acre to his heirs, and two-fifths of all mines royal, on condition that five families should within five years be settled thereupon. To his brother-in-law, John Wollaston, three thousand acres, sub- ject to a yearly rent of one shilling. To his grandchild, Ann Tufton, ten thousand acres at Sagadahock. To Robert Tuf- ton, his grandson, he gave his manor of Mason Hall, on con- dition that he should take the surname of Mason. He also gave his brother Wollaston in trust one thousand acres for the maintenance of " an honest, godly and religious preacher of God's word," and one thousand acres more for the sup- port of a grammar school; each of these estates to be con- veyed to ffeoffees in trust, and their successors, paying an- nually one penny per acre to his heirs. The residue of his estate in New Hampshire, he gave to his grandson John Tuf- ton, he taking the surname of Mason, and to his lawful issue ; or, in want thereof, to Dr. Robert Mason, Chancellor of the Diocese of Winchester, and his lawful issue, and to his own and other right heirs, forever; provided that it should not go out of the name of Mason. The residuary legatee was required to pay five hundred pounds out of the estate to his sister Mary, and all the grandchildren were to relinquish their right to one thousand pounds due from the estate to their father, Joseph Tufton. The estate in America was valued in the inventory, at ten thousand pounds sterling. It is under this will, that the title to the soil of the town of Mason is
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HISTORY OF MASON.
derived ; and it is not a little remarkable, that so far as is now known, this town is the only representative of the name of Capt. John Mason in the State.
The little legacy of five hundred pounds given by the will to the sister of John Tufton, would, if put and kept at inter- est and compounded, from the year 1635, when the testator died, up to the present time, 1858, amount to a greater sum than the total inventory and valuation of the real and per- sonal property of the whole State of New Hampshire at the last valuation. Let those who doubt it try the figures, and let all who are paying interest for money borrowed or sums due, learn that unless the business or investment in which it is employed, is yielding more than six per cent. per annum, they must be sadly going behind hand.
It will be seen that Capt. Mason was particularly solicitous to perpetuate his name by attaching it to the ownership of his land in New Hampshire. He bestows it finally upon his " right heirs forever, provided it shall not go out of the name of Mason"; but of all his vast estate, it is not probable that a single acre is now owned by any of his descendants, or that his name is now connected with any portion of the territory, except that of this town.
In 1638, after the death of Capt. Mason, his widow and excentrix, Mrs. Anne Mason, sent over Francis Norton as her " general attorney," to whom she committed the whole man- agement of the estate. But the expense so far exceeded the income, and the servants grew so impatient for their arrears, that she was obliged to relinquish the care of the plantation, and tell the servants they must shift for themselves ; upon which they shared the goods and cattle. Norton drove above one hundred oxen to Boston, and there sold them for twenty- five pounds sterling per head, which it is said was the current price of the best cattle in New England at that time. These were of a large breed imported from Denmark, from whence Mason had also procured a number of men skilled in sawing plank and making potashes. These Danes were the pioneers
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CAPT. JOHN MASON.
of the great lumber business, which has engrossed so much of the capital and enterprise of New Hampshire and Maine. Having shared the stock and other materials, some of the peo- ple quitted the plantation ; others of them tarried, keeping possession of the buildings and improvements, which they claimed as their own. The houses at Newichwannock were destroyed by fire, and thus Mason's estate was ruined. These events happened between 1638 and 1644.
Lumber and the fisheries seem to have been the great objects in view in Mason's enterprise. These branches of business, though important in connection with other pursuits, form. too narrow a basis for the foundation of a commonwealth. Per- sons who engaged in these employments, in those early times, did not possess that persevering industry and frugality re- quired for the successful building up of a state. The charac- ter and manners of the fishermen of that day, are most vividly and happily painted in the following extract from Josselyn's two voyages, in Thornton's Ancient Pemaquid. The lum- bermen would present a companion picture. Mr. Thornton says :- "Josselyn, who left Black Point for England in the sum- mer of 1671, describes the people of Maine after several years' residence among them. He classifies them as " Magistrates, Husbandmen or Planters, and Fishermen ; of the Magistrates some be Royalists, the rest perverse Spirits, the like are the planters and fishers, of which some be planters and fishers both, others mere fishers; there are but few handcraftsmen, and no shopkeepers ; English goods being kept by the Massa- chusetts merchants, here and there, on the coast, at a profit of cent. per cent., in exchange for fish." " They have a custom of taking Tobacco, sleeping at noon, sitting long at meals, some- times four times in a day, and now and then drinking a dram of the bottle extraordinarily; the smoaking of Tobacco, if moderately used refresheth the weary very much, and so doth sleep" ! The fisherman of that day he paints to the life. He says, " to every Shallop belong four fishermen, a Master or steersman, a midshipman, and a Foremastman, and a shoreman
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HISTORY OF MASON.
who washes it out of the salt, and dries it upon hurdles pitcht upon stakes breast high and tends their Cookery ; these often get in one voyage Eight or Nine pound a man for their shares, but it doth some of them but little good," for there comes in "a walking Tavern, a Bark laden with the Legitimate bloud of the rich grape"; "the conclusion of which is the costly sin of drunkenness." Thornton's Ancient Pemaquid. See Col. Maine Hist. Society, Vol. 5. pp. 234, 235.
If such was the character of Mason's planters and servants, no one can be surprised that his enterprise, though prosecuted with all his energy and perseverance, should prove to be a failure.
The character and objects and results of Mason's efforts, are with much truth and pertinency thus summed up in Bar- stow's History of New Hampshire :- " In the midst of his fond anticipations of better fortune, Captain Mason was removed by death. This happened near the close of the year. (1635.) He had accomplished none of the great pur- poses for which he came to this wilderness world. He em- barked with vast expectations of boundless wealth and gran- deur. *
* Golden visions hovered round him to the last, in spite of the light of experience. He had no religious views in the purchase and settlement of New Hampshire. His whole energies were absorbed in the discovery of wealth, and the aggrandizement of himself and his family. His dar- ling scheme was the introduction of the feudal system into New Hampshire ; by which his family were to be the lords, and the people tenants of the soil. For this he labored; for this he sacrificed his all; still dreaming of the profits of dis- covery, and the glory of founding a state. But though a dreamer, he was at the same time a man of action. * Nothing daunted him. Nothing deterred him. Though ad- versity might cloud his prospects, it never depressed his spir- its. The frustration of his efforts and the frequent wreck of his hopes only seemed to display the indestructible vigor of his mind. Amidst disappointment and discouragement he
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CAPT. JOHN MASON.
continued to attempt the foundation of a feudal empire, until death interrupted his toils and left him only a reputation for attempting impossible things. *
Well was it for posterity that the unnatural eyes of Adventure, alone, could discern mineral wealth in the hills of New Hampshire. Fortunate was it that the soil was, for the most part, reserved for men who should settle upon it with no chimerical and vain hopes of treasure; but men viewing human life and society in a true light-not building the castles of avarice; but living by their industry-expect- ing only the rain and dew upon the seed they had sown- hoping for health and competence-and laying the only sure foundation for a great and flourishing country in intelligence and public virtue-good schools, good morals, government. and sober industry. These are the strength of a state." [Barstow's New Hampshire, pp. 33,-37.
The inhabitants of these towns finding it difficult to main- tain any stable government, were with their consent, received into the jurisdiction of Massachusetts, about the years 1641, '42. The union continued about forty years. This extension of the colony's jurisdiction could not fail of being noticed by the heirs of Mason; but the distractions caused by the civil wars in England, were invincible bars to any legal inquiry. The first heir named in Mason's will dying in infancy, the estate descended after the death of the executrix, to Rob- ert Tufton, who was not of age till 1650. In two years after this, Joseph Mason came over as agent for the executrix, to look after the interests of her deceased husband. He found the land at Newichwannock occupied by Richard Leader, against whom he brought actions in the county of Norfolk, a county which then included the northeasterly part of Massa- chusetts and the New Hampshire towns. A dispute arose whether the lands in question were within the jurisdiction of Massachusetts, and the court of Norfolk judging the action not to be within their cognizance, recourse was had to the general court at Boston, which on this occasion ordered an
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HISTORY OF MASON.
accurate survey of the northern bounds of their patent to be made. A committee of the general court, attended by John Sherman and Jonathan Ince, surveyors, and several Indian guides, went up the river Merrimack, to find the most north- erly part thereof, which the Indians told them was at Acque- dochtan, the outlet of the lake Winnipiseogee. The latitude of that place was found to be 43º 40' 12", to which three miles being added, made the line of the patent, according to their construction, fall within the lake, in latitude 43º 43' 12". The same latitude was marked on an island in Casco bay, and an imaginary line drawn through these points from the Atlantic ocean to the South-sea, as the Pacific ocean was then called, was supposed to be the northern boundary of Massa- chusetts. This line included the whole of Mason's claim by his last patent. The committee of the general court to establish the line, were Capt. Edward Johnson, author of the History of New England, and Capt. Simon Willard, after- wards an assistant and a commander of a portion of the Massachusetts forces, in the Indian war of 1675. The expe- dition took up nineteen days in the months of July and August, and the whole expense was not less than eighty-four pounds. The following is a copy of the report of the sur- veyors :
" The answer of John Sherman, Sergeant at Watertown, and Jonathan Ince, Student at Harvard College in Cam- bridge, to Capt. Simon Willard and Capt. Edward Johnson, Commissioners of the General Court, held at Boston, May 17, 1652, concerning the latitude of the northernmost part of Merrimack river.
Whereas we, John Sherman and Jonathan Ince, were pro- cured by the aforesaid Commissioners to take the latitude of the place above named, our answer is, that at Aquedahcan, the name of the head of Merrimack, where it issues out of the lake Winnapusseahit, upon the first of August, one thou- sand six hundred and fifty-two, we observed and by observa- tion found, that the latitude of the place was fourty-three
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CAPT. JOHN MASON.
degrees fourty minutes and twelve seconds, besides those min- utes that are to be allowed for three miles more north wch run into the Lake.
In witness whereof, wee have subscribed our names, this nineteenth of October, one thousand six hundred and fifty- two.
JOHN SHERMAN, JONATHAN INCE,
Jur. coram me,
JOH. ENDECOTT, Gubr."
Having settled this matter, the Court were of the opinion that some lands by agreement of Gorges, and by purchase of the Indians, and by possession and improvements, were properly claimed by Mason, and they ordered a quantity pro- portionable to his disbursements, with a privilege of the river, to be laid out to his heirs.
The agent, finding it hopeless to prosecute the claim any farther, left the country. During the Commonwealth and the Protectorate of Cromwell, there could be no hope of relief; as the family of Mason had always been attached to the royal cause. On the restoration of Charles II. Tufton, who had taken the surname of Mason, petitioned to the king for restoration of his rights. The petition was referred to Sir Geoffrey Palmer, the attorney general, who reported, that "Robert Mason the grandson and heir of Capt. John Mason had a good and legal title to the province of New Hamp- shire." Nothing effective was done to restore to him his rights. Edward Randolph who was a kinsman of Mason, was sent over with the king's letter to the government of Massa- chusetts, requiring them to send over agents within six months, to answer to the complaints which Mason and the heirs of Gorges had made, of their usurpation of jurisdiction over the territory claimed by them : all the answer he could get from Govenor Leverett and the council, was that "they would see about it." The matter was pursued in England. Lieut. Gov. Stoughton and Peter Bulkley, the speaker of the house of deputies, were sent to England in behalf of Massachusetts. The subject was referred to the judges. They reported that
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