USA > New Hampshire > Strafford County > Lee > Old home week, Lee, New Hampshire, August 23, 1916. Two hundred and fiftieth anniversary of settlement of the territory; one hundred and fiftieth anniversary of incorporation of the town > Part 1
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OLD HOME WEEK LEE, NEW HAMPSHIRE AUGUST 23, 1916 250th ANNIVERSARY OF SETTLEMENT OF THE TERRITORY SCALES
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M. L.
REYNOLDS HISTORICAL GENEALOGY COLLECTION
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ALLEN COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARY 3 1833 01096 4002
OLD HOME WEEK
LEE, NEW HAMPSHIRE
August 23, 1916
250-th
TWO HUNDRED AND FIFTIETH ANNIVERSARY OF SETTLEMENT OF THE TERRITORY
ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTIETH ANNIVERSARY
OF
INCORPORATION OF THE TOWN
ADDRESS BY JOHN SCALES, A. B., A. M.
98.535
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Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2015
https://archive.org/details/oldhomeweekleene1916scal
1771768
LEE, NEW HAMPSHIRE
JOHN SCALES
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:
cales, John, 1835-
Old home week, Lee, New Hampshire, August 23, 1916. wo hundred and fiftieth anniversary of settlement of e territory; one hundred and fiftieth anniversary of corporation of the town. Address by John Scales ... over, N. H., C. F. Whitehouse, printer, 1916, ¡0 p. 23°m.
.- Lcc, N. H .- Hist.
ibrary of Congress F44 1.4752. 17-3609
THE TOWN OF LEE
First Settlement 1666
Incorporated 1766
The territory of Lee was a part of the old town of Dover, which began to be settled at Dover Point in the spring of 1623, two hundred and ninety-three years ago. Just when the first settler struck this part of Old Dover is not known, but we do know that it was at a very early date. The early emigrants from England to Dover were always on the look- out for the best localities, and they found some of them in this section of it; and those good places have remained here ever since, and some of their descendants still hold posses- · sion. You speak of your town as one hundred and fifty years old, but the first settlers here antedate that number by a hundred years, so really you are celebrating your two hun- dred and fiftieth anniversary. Do you appreciate what that period of time means? Two hundred and fifty years,-No doubt the young folks who are here think a person who is fifty years old, is "old" indeed, yet the Civil war closed before such persons were born, and Lee began to be settled two hundred years before that war began. The ancestors of some of you were soldiers in the war of 1812-15, which war closed one hundred years ago, but the settlement of Lee began a hundred and fifty years before that war closed. All of you think of the Revolutionary War as a very long time ago, yet your town began to be settled a hundred years before that war began. From these illustrations I think you get an appreciative idea of the meaning of two hundred and fifty years; you have occasion to feel that your town is old. this day of celebration.
The first immigrants built their village on Dover Neck, on the hill north of Dover Point. By the way, that locality is called the " Neck " because it lies between three rivers,-
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the Newichawannock on the east,-the Pascataqua on the south,-and Back River on the west. When they had got well housed on the Neck, they commenced to branch out in business. The whole country from here to Canada was a vast forest; the trees had to be cut and the ground cleared for farms. Saw mills were the first mills to be erected, to cut logs into lumber, for which there was a ready sale in the West Indies and in England and in European countries.
In those days they did not have portable saw mills as the lumber men now have, but used the water falls to produce power; hence there was a great demand for sites for saw- mills. The town owned everything, and the people had to get grants from the town before they could set up a mill, or cut any trees for the mill. Another point should be kept in mind; Old Dover was a part of Massachusetts, being a town in Norfolk County, till 1680; there was not any " New Hampshire " till that date; so Lee is about a quarter of a century older than New Hampshire. Being under Massa- chusetts rule the authorities in Boston thought they had the right to make grants of land to its citizens; not knowing the precise southern boundary line of Old Dover, they gave a grant to Samuel Symonds, of Ipswich, Mass., of 640 acres of land at the second falls in " Lamperele " River, June 3, 1657, two hundred and sixty years ago. This was granted in the presence and with the consent of Moharimet, the Indian sagamore of this region, whose home was on Moharimet's Hill in Madbury, also called Hick's Hill.
When the Selectmen of Dover found this out they pro- tested, on the plea that the falls were in their town, and that none but the town had any right to make grants of land within its boundaries. But Mr. Symonds held posses- sion ten years, or more. Probably he had a mill there, but I do not know. Dover kept on protesting against the action of the Boston authorities for making a grant of their terri- tory; the result appears in the Dover Town Records, as follows :
May 3, 1669, Robert Wadleigh was received as an inhabi- tant in the town of Dover, " according to ye tenure of ye
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last inhabitant received." At the same town meeting he received the grant of what has ever since been known as " Wadleigh's Falls," being the same that Massachusetts had granted to Mr. Symonds, which shows the town regarded the Symonds grant as of no legal value. The grant reads as follows :
"At a general town meeting held in Dover, March 3, 1669,-Given and granted unto Robert Wadleigh, as accom- modation for the erection and setting up of a saw mill, or mills at the uppermost falls upon Lamperele River, common- ly called by ye name of ye Cleland falls ; with an accommoda- tion of timber thereunto belonging, ye bounds of ye timber are as follows: Yt is to say,-all ye timber on ye south side above sd falls as farr as ye towns bounds doth goe, and on ye north side all ye timber yt is within the River above sd falls as farr as ye Towne bounds doth goe, with one hun- dred acres of land on ye south side of ye sd River and twenty acres of land on ye north side of ye sd River adjacent unto ye sd falls, on both sides; all which falls, timber and land is granted unto ye sd Wadleigh and his heires, executors, and adminst. and assigns, provided it doth not intrench upon any former grant, either in part or whole. In consideration of sd grant of ye falls, timber and land, ye sd Robt. Wadleigh doth engage himselfe, heires, executors, and adminstr. to pay, or cause to be paid unto ye Towne of Dover ye sum of ten pounds per an. in merchanta. pine bords at price currant at the ordinary landing place on Lamperele River lower falls, as long as he or they doe keepe possession there, of which payment is to begin ye last of August next insueing this instant, to be made unto ye Selectmen of Dover, or their order, and further it is agreed and ordered that if any pt. thereof be taken away by any former grant then ye Towne is to abate of ye rate proportionally. And alsoc ye Towne doth reserve free egress and regress for any transportation of timber, either by land or water; and ye Inhabitance have ye same Liberty in sd Grant as they have in other Mill grants."
Soon after the town grant was made the authorities of
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the Massachusetts Bay Colony confirmed the grant to Mr. Wadleigh, and he had a saw mill running there that year ; in due time there was a gristmill, and mills have been there ever since. In the old Dover records Wadleigh's falls are frequently mentioned, in land transfers and otherwise. There has been a settlement there two hundred and fifty years, perhaps that is the oldest place in Lee; there is much interesting history connected with it, which cannot be mentioned at this time.
Old Dover included all of the present city and Somers- worth, Durham, Newington, Lee, Madbury and Rollinsford. For a hundred years all of the town meetings were held on Dover Neck, and the town business was transacted there; the courts were held there; there was the jail, the stocks, the whipping post, and meeting house, to which the people had to travel when they attended church. When the settle- ments in other parts of the old town grew large they estab- lished parishes, in which religious meetings could be held, but they all had to go to Dover Neck to attend town meet- ings. When the parishes grew in inhabitants, they were granted town privileges, for convenience in the management of local affairs. Newington was the first to be granted the rights of a town, in 1714; up to that time it was called " Bloody Point in Dover." Durham was the next to be cut off and made into a town; that was in 1732; up to that time it was called "Oyster River in Dover." That, you under- stand, included Lee. Somersworth was made a town (which included Rollinsford) in 1754. Madbury followed in 1768 Thus Old Dover was reduced to its present limits.
Lee remained a part of Durham till 1766, when, after a lot of preliminary legislation, on January 16, the act for the new town of Lee became a law, and the new town was born. The petitioners did not give it that name, in fact they did not suggest any name; it was probably the gift of Governor Benning Wentworth. The reasons for the division of Dur- ham were the same as those which led to the incorporation of the other towns; that is to afford better accommodations for the management of local affairs.
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Why did Governor Wentworth select the name "LEE " for this town ? He named a large number of new towns, and gave them very appropriate names, but none better than this excellent town has borne for one hundred and fifty years. There is no record of his reason for so naming it. In selecting the English town names he took those in which his friends and acquaintances lived, the residences of dis- tinguished persons. I guess, but do not know, that he took the name Lee from the town of that name on the River Lee, now in greater London.
During the hundred years, from the first settlement at Wadleigh's Falls, about 1666, to the time the territory was set off from Durham and made a town, a great deal of business was done in this territory; there is a record of some things, but a great many more have no record, only tradition. Let us consider some of them, and thus see how the territory grew to be a town.
As already mentioned the first settlement in the future 1 town was at a saw mill, at Wadleigh's Falls. The money making propositions then consisted chiefly of the lumber business ; saw mills were necessary for cutting the trees into plank, boards, and dimension timber; all the large timbers of houses, and buildings in general, were hewn by skilful workmen with broadaxes. You older men here remember how it was done; they snapped a chalk line from end to end of the log, and then hewed to the line, straight as an arrow. So saw mills were built wherever there was a water fall; there were several of them in the territory of Lee. The second one appears to have been built on the first fall of the river that is the outlet of Wheelwright's Pond: the last I heard of it they said it was Layn's mill. But at the begin- ning of things there, 250 years ago, or more, it was Jemi- son's mill, and not long after that the locality around it was known as New Town; if I am not mistakened, it is so called at the present time. The saw mill was placed there not long after Symonds had his mill at Wadleigh's Falls. It is a matter of record that the town of Dover, October 17, 1663, granted Patrick Jemison 120 acres of land, about a mile and
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a half from Wheelwright's Pond, down the river on both sides, and including the falls. So New Town in Lee is 250 years old. A few years after that the town of Dover had a mast road cut through the woods to New Town, for the accommodation of the lumbermen all along the route, in get- ting the pine trees for masts from their lots to Back River in Dover, down which they were floated to Portsmouth and placed on ships and sent to England, for use in the ship building in general, and in the King's navy in particular. The old Dover records have frequent mention of New Town.
For example,-31 May, 1721, sixty acres of Jemison's grant were laid out to Captain Samuel Emerson, and in de- scribing the bounds it says,-" Beginning below New Town orchard, at a red oak on the south side of Oyster River, etc." That shows the place had an orchard, hence had been settled a long time. Captain Emerson bought it of John Webster and wife, Bridget, of Salisbury, Mass. Webster sold the other half of the Jameson grant to Nathaniel Randall, 27 January, 1720; in the description of it the record says it was " along side of the Mast Path," leading through Madbury to Dover, at Wingate's slip, at Back River.
Nathaniel Lamos had forty acres of land laid out to him 17 May, 1729, " Beginning at Oyster River a little above the mill called New Town mill." A high way " From New Town mill up into the woods," is mentioned 20 October, 1735, when twenty-five acres were laid out to Robert Huckins. William Clay conveyed to his sons, Samuel and Joseph, 23 October, 1742, " One full quarter part of a saw mill situated in Dur- ham, upon ye stream, or river called New Town River, being ye uppermost mill standing upon ye sd stream, and is next to ye pond called Wheelwright's Pond, out of which sd stream issues." Also " a quarter part of ye running geer, dam, stream, and privileges there unto belonging." Various other land transfers might be mentioned in which Newtown mill is mentioned. About 1800 it began to be called Layn's mill, from its then owner, Captain John Layn, who was a resident of Durham as early as 8 March, 1760, when he enlisted in Captain Samuel Gerrish's company, Col. John
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Goff's regiment, for the Canada expedition. "John Layn of Durham, gunsmith," in a petition 26 May, 1761, states that he was employed as armorer for that regiment and furnished his own tools, but had received no extra pay for his service, hence he petitioned for it, and was allowed four pounds sterling. In the Revolutionary war he was captain of a company in Col. John Waldron's regiment that served in the siege of Boston, being stationed at Winter Hill in 1776. He acquired land at Newtown in 1763, and again in 1766. He has honorable descendants who bear the name.
Newtown Plains have a unique history in connection with the mill. It is a sandy and not very prolific part of your good town; it is loose wheeling for teams that occasionally pass through there, on business, not for pleasure. Frequent mention of the plains is made in the old town records. No doubt some of you know a good deal more about it than I do. The Clay family gave it much fame in the 19th century.
Other saw mills and grist mills were built elsewhere in the territory before it became a town. Wadleigh's Falls are in the southwest part of the town, at the south end of the " Hook " in Lamprey river. The river, below the falls turns and runs southwesterly three-fourths of a mile, where it strikes a high hill of gravel and hardpan; this obstacle turns the water almost at right angles and it flows in a northeast- erly direction almost a half mile, where it strikes the foot of another hill, and is curved in a northerly direction a mile and a half, through a fertile valley until it strikes the foot of the historic Lee Hill, and is diverted in a large circle, flowing easterly out of Lee into Durham. This valley through which the river forms the "Hook," has some of the finest farms in Strafford county.
Little river runs into Lamprey river about a quarter of a mile above Hill's bridge, and a like distance from the town house ; on Little river are two falls, in Lee, which were much used in the centuries before the territory became a town. It is frequently mentioned in the early records of Dover and Durham. Its source is Mendum's Pond in Barrington. These mills with that on Lamprey river, at the foot of the
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hill, made business lively, which in time made the village on the Hill, here; men do not build villages where there is no business going on.
John Thompson, Sr., had a grant of land from the town of Dover, April 21, 1694, which included the " Little River Falls," where the first mill was built, soon after. Mr. Thomp- son mentions the saw mill in his will, 12 April, 1733. This mill was at the foot of the high and steep hill, on the sum- mit of which was the home of the Thompson family from two centuries ago to the present time. What is now known as the "Mast road " from the State College to Lee Hill was built about that time to accommodate the lumbermen, and extended to Little River mill.
23 June, 1701, three score acres of land were granted to Jethro Furber, by the town of Dover, " adjacent to Lam- pereal Little River; " this was laid out 2 Feb., 1726-7, as follows,-" Beginning on the northeast side of said Little River, above the old mast way." It was called "mast way," because the large pine trees for masts were hauled over it to Oyster River Falls, and then floated down to Pascataqua River and on to Portsmouth, or wherever needed. This grant of land, or part of it, has remained in possession of the Furber family more than two hundred years. The road from The Hill, by Furber's place to Wadleigh's Falls, was laid out 31 July, 1753, but communication with Little River was opened more than two hundred years ago, and log houses, for the lumbermen, began to be built here on the Hill. What is called the North River road, from Little River falls to the falls in North River, where Lee joins Notting- ham, was laid out about 1740, but there was a path up over the Thompson hill, and along by the Cartland farm several years before that. It was the old fashion to build the houses first and then build the roads later. That is why so many of the old roads in New Hampshire go over steep hills, · instead of in the valleys, around the hills.
A short distance below Little River Falls are what were, in early times, called Thompson's Falls ; Jonathan Thompson
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had a gristmill and fullingmill there, and in his will, 10 Sept., 1756, he gave these and an acre of land to his son Joseph, who, May 3, 1774, sold them to Josiah Bartlett of Haverhill, Mass .; the sale included his dwelling house and one acre of adjoining land, and four acres between the fullingmill and the Little River sawmill. Mr. Bartlett lived near his mills and carried on the business there for many years. He was one of the enterprising business men and influential citizens of the town; he had a family of several children, sons and daughters. One of his brothers was Col. Thomas Bartlett of Nottingham, the distinguished patriot of the Revolution- ary War, and whose grandson, Hon. John C. Bartlett, of this town needs no introduction to this audience. He is the only surviving grandson of Col. Thomas, who died on Nottingham Square 111 years ago.
Lee " Hook " has no duplicate in New Hampshire, in the windings of any of its rivers. The first "Hook " sawmill was probably built about 1700. The inventory of George Chesley's estate, of Durham, 27 August, 1724, mentions part of the mill "at ye Hook of Lampreel River." It is called the " Hook mill " in a deed of 1728, Ephraim Foul- sham, 4 Dec., 1742, conveyed to his son, John, sixty acres of land in Durham, bought of Major Peter Gilman, 8 Dec., 1739, " Lyinge next to ye highway below ye Hook mill, be- ginning twenty rods above ye second brooke from ye house, formerly Captain Gilman, his house, towards ye Hook mill." 2 May, 1749, Peter, John, Samuel, and Noah Gilman con- veyed to Joseph Smith 190 acres "at a place commonly called The Hook, beginning by the side of Lampreel river, in the turn below the falls, where the Hook mill stood."
The Durham grants of land at the Hook conflicting with the Gilman claims, Samuel Smith and Capt. Jonathan Thompson were appointed agents of the land proprietors in Durham, 28 Nov., 1748, to agree with Col. Peter Gilman and others, about " the parcel of land in Durham on the south side of Lampreel River, commonly called and known as the Hook land." John Thompson of Durham, "one of ye pro- prietors of ye Hook land, and ye proper owner of one whole
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share," conveyed his share, 30 August, 1748, to Abner Clough of Salisbury, Mass.
The " Hook road to Northwood" is mentioned on the State map of 1803. It runs from Newmarket through the Hook, and crosses Lamprey river at Hill's bridge near the falls, where have been the Hook mills. This bridge was so called because Capt. Reuben Hill settled near there about 1750 and owned a sawmill and gristmill at the falls. He built, about 1760, and lived in, the house on the hill, south of the bridge, now known as the Israel Bartlett house. Capt. Hill was one of the leading men in Lee for many years. His mills are mentioned in the records of the town, as also his bridge. He was one of the selectmen several years and performed other official duties. Capt. Hill died in 1794, and his heirs sold the water privilege at the Hook in the first decade of the 19th century, but the bridge still retains his name; let it be forever "Hill's bridge."
The hamlet here at Lee has been a place of business two hundred years, at least. Much that I have been telling you happened before Lee became a town, by itself; hence as I have already remarked, you are celebrating a 250th anni- versary, as well as the 150th, of historic events,-one the first settlement, and the other the incorporation of the town.
THE INCORPORATION OF THE TOWN, 1766
When a century had passed, from the first settling of the town territory, at Wadleigh's Falls. the farm holdings had become quite numerous, and the farmers were complaining of having to travel to Durham Falls to attend town meet- ings; they had a minister and a meeting house; the time had come to have their own town meetings; following is the first step taken in 1764; the record is:
" Province of New Hamp. at a Publick Town meeting, (Legally Notified) held at the Meeting house at The Falls in Durham, on Monday the third day of September, A. D. 1764,-Joseph Atkinson, Esq., was chosen Moderator, for the well Regulating Said Meeting,-Voted that there should be a Committee Chosen to run Line across said Town of Durham, from Paul Chesley, his house, near madbury line, to the house of John Smart upon Newmarket Line, being according to the request of Sundry of the Inhabitants of Said Town, requesting that,-All the upper, or Western End of said Town, above the aforesaid line may be voted to be Sat off as a Parish.
" Voted that Lieu. Joseph Sias, mr. Miles Randel, and mr. Nicholas Duda of the Petitioners and Capt. Benjamin Smith, Capt. Stephen Jones and mr. Thomas Chesley, of the lower Part of the Town, be the Persons to be employed as a Com- mittee for the aforesaid Purpose.
" Voted likewise, if the said Committee Don't Think the Line Petitioned for to be Suitable (then) to fix any other Line that they may Unanimously agree upon and make Report thereof Accordingly, to the Town on the 24th inst.,- The meeting then adjourned to the 24th day of September, instant, to 2 of the clock in the afternoon.
" Met according to adjournment, Sept. 24th and the Com-
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mittee made the following Report, in writing, under their hands, To the Town:
" Whereas, we, the subscribers, were chosen at a Publick Town meeting of the Inhabitants of Durham, the 3d inst. to run a line across said Town, agreeable to a petition, Ex- hibited to said Town by Sundry of the Inhabitants Request- ing the Western Part thereof, to be Sat off into a Parish, it was likewise voted,-That if we the Subscribers Don't Think the line Petitioned for proper, to Fix Some other Line, that we might agree upon, and make Report to the Town accordingly. Pursuant Thereto we have Run the Line Petitioned for, and indeavored to View, and inform our- selves, into the Circumstances of said Town, and do Unani- mously agree that a Straight Line (be run) : Beginning one hundred and twenty-four Rods above the dwelling house of Paul Chesley, on Madbury Line, and so to Run a Straight Point across to Newmarket Line, to one mile and a half above the dwelling house of John Smart, may be a suitable Line.
"N. B. It is the intent of the above Resolve that the line fixed upon, Run from the house of Paul Chesley, North 6 degrees East, to Madbury Line & then to measure up 124 rods, by said Madbury Line.
Stephen Jones, Benjamin Smith,
Miles Randel, Joseph Sias,
Nicholas Duda, Thomas Chesley,
Committee.
" The meeting adjourned to the 8th day of October, next, to 2 of the clock in the afternoon,-October 8th, met ac- cording to adjournment, and Voted: That Capt. Benjamin Smith, and Lieut. Joseph Sias, be appointed to draw a vote for the Western Part of the Town to be Sat off as a Parish, and bring it to the Town at some Publick Town meeting .- The Town meeting Dissolved.
" November 18, 1765 .- At a Publick Town meeting (Le- gally Notified) of the Inhabitants of Durham, held this day at the falls in Durham-Joseph Atkinson, Esq., Chosen mod-
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erator for Said meeting - Capt. Benjam. Smith, Esqr., and Capt. Joseph Sias Brought the following Vote to the Town in Writing,-That the Western End of said Town of Dur- ham, be voted, to be Sat off as a parish, Agreable to the Result or the Report of a Committee (Chosen and appointed for that purpose) and brought into Publick Town meeting the 24th day of Septmr., 1764 - with this addition thereto, that the said parish (when an act may be Obtained for that Purpose) shall take Their proportionable Part of the Poor now supported by the whole Town, and Likewise That the Said Parish shall not in any Respect Interfere with any Lands belonging to the Proprietors in said Town -Voted that the above Vote, Brought by Capts. Smith and Sias, is agreeable to the Sense of the Town, and that it be Recorded accordingly.
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