USA > New Hampshire > Carroll County > Sandwich > Sandwich, New Hampshire, 1763-1963 : bi-centennial observance, August 18 through August 24. > Part 1
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ALLEN COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARY 3 1833 03584 8594
Gc 974.202 Sa57b
Sandwich, New Hampshire, 1763-1963
J
ACPL
DONATED TO THE ALLEN COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARY
GIFT OF MIKE MC CARTHY & FAMILY FORT WAYNE, IN JULY 1999
John - Earl of Sandwich For whom our Town is Named
SANDWICH
NEW HAMPSHIRE
Bi- Centennial
1763 - 1963
1763
OUR BICENTENNIAL 1963
Nestled in between the Mts - Blessed with farmland - lake and dell - Is the township known as Sandwich, A pleasant place to dwell. You will find a modern village, Tho' the pace is not too fast - Where the people still recall with pride - The history of the past.
Now in days of yore when travel By a stage-coach was the style - The stop at "Lower Corners" - Would ease the weary miles - Or perchance you liked the water -
You could sail right up the bay - To a place called Sandwich Landing - Most any summer day.
We have plenty more to tell you - About Sandwich old and new - How friendly neighbors live each day, A life that's good and true. Makes no difference what the season - Summer - winter - spring, or fall - You will find a cordial welcome - When 'ere you chance to call.
Now listen to our History And learn the story well, Then shout it from the mountain top And sing it thru the dell - How Old-Sandwich Town was chartered In 1763 - By brave and hardy pioneers - Come Northward from the sea.
They cleared the land And tilled the soil Built homes - a church and school - And left for us a heritage Of law by Freedoms' Rule. You may shout it from the mountain top - And sing it thru the dell - That we are proud to celebrate - "Our Bicentennial".
Mrs. Charles J. Woods Squam Lake Road.
SANDWICH
NEW HAMPSHIRE
1763 - 1963
Bi-Centennial Observance
August 18 through August 24
DEDICATION
This booklet is gratefully dedicated to those courageous pioneers who braved untold hazards and hardships 200 years ago, to explore and develope the town of Sandwich a place of unequaled beauty.
Compiled and edited by
Hon. Mary Senior Brown Maybelle Forristall
-
His Excellency, Gov. John W. King
STATE OF NEW HAMPSHIRE Concord
To the Citizens of Sandwich:
On behalf of the people of New Hampshire, it is a pleasure to congratulate you on your town's Bi-Centennial.
The world has seen many changes since 1763, and through these two hundred years Sandwich has acquired a distinctive and honorable history. You may well be proud of your town and of its contributions to our State and Nation.
I should like to add my personal best wishes on this festive occasion. May your achievements in the future be as notable as those you com- memorate today.
Sincerely, JOHN W. KING
Allen County Public Library 900 Webster Street PO Box 2270 Fort Wayne, IN 46801-2270
Governor of New Hampshire
UNITED STATES SENATE Washington, D. C.
To The Citizens And Friends Of Sandwich :
I am delighted at this opportunity to extend my congratulations and warm good wishes to the Town of Sandwich on its 200th birthday.
Extending as they do, from the ox-carts of provincial days to the Mercury capsules of the space age, these two centuries of Sandwich his- tory reflect with accuracy the history of our country. It is true indeed that the past is prologue, and that our strength for the future will be drawn from the foundations well laid by the dedication and toil of those who have gone before. In this, Sandwich may look back with pride and to the future with confidence.
I think no New Hampshire community better exemplifies the spirit and the sinew which makes our American fabric the strongest on earth. May this always be true.
NORRIS COTTON U. S. Senator
UNITED STATES SENATE Washington, D. C.
May 31, 1963
Mr. John R. Taylor Sandwich Bi-Centennial Committee
RFD Center Harbor
New Hampshire
Dear Mr. Taylor:
Congratulations to all the citizens of Sandwich on the occasion of the 200th anniversary of this fine New Hampshire town.
It is the old, small towns such as Sandwich that make up the back- bone of America, and I am proud to come from a State that boasts such communities. The history of Sandwich is long and honored, and I know its accomplishments in the future will match those of the past.
My best wishes for an enjoyable and successful celebration-one that will be remembered for many years to come.
TM:ns
Sincerely yours,
TOM MCINTYRE
United States Senator
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CONGRESS OF THE UNITED STATES
May 27, 1963
Honorable Mary Senior Brown
Mr. Grant A. Floyd
Mr. John R. Taylor Co-Chairmen
Sandwich Bi-Centennial Committee
R.F.D. Center Harbor, New Hampshire
Dear Co-Chairmen :
In a Nation as young as the United States, the fact of a bi-centennial standing alone is indicative of the great seniority of the community so honored. In the case of the Town of Sandwich, the Town's practical achievements have added to its deservedly high reputation, nationwide.
Blessed by a uniquely scenic setting, the people of Sandwich have improved the Town, contributed to the State and Nation, and maintained throughout a rugged, respectable individualism that is a great credit to the Granite State.
I wish to extend my sincere congratulations to Sandwich on the occasion of the celebration of its Bi-Centennial.
With best wishes, LOUIS C. WYMAN, M. C.
LCW:dd
TOWN OF SANDWICH
June 4, 1963
Mr. John R. Taylor
Sandwich Bi-Centennial Committee
Sandwich, New Hampshire
Dear Mr. Taylor:
On behalf of the Town of Sandwich, Massachusetts, we wish to extend congratulations to the Town of Sandwich, New Hampshire on the two hundredth anniversary of its founding in 1763.
We trust and hope that your Old Home Week Bi-Centennial cele- bration will be a successful and enjoyable occasion for your residents and friends.
Old Home Weeks are a pleasant experience, renewing old friend- ships and recalling days of yesteryear. With the added Bi-Centennial celebration many past experiences and historical items of present day interest will be factors of appreciation to all.
Again congratulations and best wishes.
Very truly yours, BOARD OF SELECTMEN ALFRED E. HOEY GILBERT F. SMITH A. JOHN MacQUADE
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THE MAYOR'S PARLOUR THE GUILDHALL SANDWICH, KENT
7th June 1963
Dear Sir,
I am delighted to have been given this opportunity to send to you on behalf of the Borough Council and all the Townspeople of the Ancient town and Cinque Port of Sandwich, Kent, England, our most hearty good wishes at this historic time when you celebrate the bi-centennary of your foundation.
Steeped, as we are here, in history and tradition I know full well how great an event this is for your own life. In these days of speed and space exploration it is good for us to stop a while and dwell on the greatness of the past on which, after all, all that we now do has been founded. If only we of this present generation can be so well thought of in 200 years time as we now think of our forebears we should be well satisfied.
I am sure that you will not take it amiss when I tell you that we here in Sandwich, England, tend to regard you in Sandwich, New Hampshire, as rather in the relationship of Mother and Daughter and I think it is splendid that we can think of ourselves in this family context both in a civic way and, if I may say so without presumption, in a national one.
May your people and ours continue to go from strength to strength in brotherly love.
Yours very sincerely, ALLAN H. JUTSON Mayor
John R. Taylor Esq.
Chairman of the Sandwich, New Hampshire Bi-Centennial Committee,
RFD, Center Harbor,
New Hampshire, U.S.A.
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PROVINCE OF NEW HAMPSHIRE
LS
GEORGE the Third, by the Grace of God of Great Britain France & Ireland King Defender of the Faith &c.
To all Persons to whom these presents shall come, Greeting.
Know ye, that We of our own special Grace certain Knowledge and meer motion for the due encouragement of settling a new Plantation within our said Province, by and with the Advice of our Trusty and wellbeloved Benning Wentworth Esq. our Governour & Commander in Chief of our said Province of New Hampshire in New England, and of our Council of the said Province; HAVE upon the Conditions & Reservations herein after made, given and granted, and by these Present, for us, our Heirs & Successors, dc give and grant in equal shares, unto our loving Subjects, Inhabitants of our said Province of New Hampshire, and our other Governments, and to their Heirs & Assigns, forever, whose names are entered on this Grant, to be divided to and amongst them into seventy two equal Shares, all that Tract or Parcel of Land situate lying and being within our said Province of New Hampshire, contain- ing by admeasurement 23040 Acres, which Tract is to contain Six Miles square, and no more; out of which an allowance is to be made for High Ways and unimprovable Lands, by Rocks, Ponds, Mountains, & Rivers, One Thousand and Forty Acres free, according to a Plan & Survey thereof made by our said Governor's Order and returned into the Secretary's Office, and hereunto annexed, Butted & Bounded as follows Viz Beginning at the North East Corner of New Holderness, & from thence running East Six Miles, then turning off and running North Six Miles, then turning off again and running West Six Miles, then turning off and running South to the North East Corner of Campton then by Campton to the North East Corner of New Holderness the Bounds begun at. And that the same be and hereby is Incorporated into a Township by the Name of Sandwich. And the Inhabitants that do, or shall here- after Inhabit the said Township are hereby declared to be Enfranchized with, and Intitled to all and every the Priviledges & Immunities that other Towns within our Province by Law exercise and enjoy: And further that the said Town as soon as there shall be Fifty Families resident and Settled thereon, shall have the liberty of holding Two Fairs one of which shall be held on the
And the other on
which Fairs are not to continue longer than the respective
annually,
following the said and that as soon as the said Town shall consist of Fifty Families, a Market may be open'd and kept one or more days in each Week as may be thought most advantageous to the Inhabitants. Also, that the first Meeting for the choice of Town Officers, agreeable to the Laws of our Said Province shall be held on the
which said Meeting shall be Notified by
who is hereby
appointed Moderator of the Said first Meeting which he is to Notify & Govern agreeable to the Laws and Customs of our said Province; And that the Annual Meeting forever hereafter for the Choice of such Officers for the said Town shall be on the Second Tuesday of March Annually. To HAVE and to Hold the said Tract of Land as above expressed, together with all Priviledges &c Appurtenances, to them and their respective Heirs & Assigns forever, upon the following Conditions Viz 1: st That every Grantee, his Heirs or Assigns shall Plant and Cultivate Five Acres of Land within the Term of Five Years for every Fifty Acres contained in his or their share or proportion of Land in said Township. and continue to improve and settle the same by additional cultivations, on Penalty of forfeiture of his Grant or Share in the said Township, and of its reverting to us our Heirs and Successors, to be by us or them, regranted to such of our Subjects as shall effectually Settle and cultivate the same.
II That all White and other Pine Trees within the said Township fit for Masting our Royal Navy, be carefully preserved for that use, and none to be cut or felled without our special Licenie for so doing first had and obtained. upon Penalty of the Forfeiture of the Right of such Grantee, his Heirs and Assigns to us our Heirs and Successors, as well as being subject to the Penalty of any Act or Act of Parlia- ment that now are, or hereafter shall be enacted.
III That before any division of the Land be made to and among the Grantees, a Tract of Land as near the center of the said Township as the Land will admit of, shall be reserved and marked out for Town Lotts one of which shall be allotted to each Grantee of the contents of one Acre.
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IIII Yielding and paying therefor to Us, our Heirs and Successors for the space of Ten Years, to be computed from the date hereof, the Rent of One Ear of Indian Corn only, on the twenty fifth Day of December Annually if Lawfully demanded, the first payment to be made on the Twenty fifty day of December 1763.
V. Every Proprietor Settler or Inhabitant, shall Yield & Pay unto us our Heirs and Successors Yearly and every Year forever from and after the expiration of ten Years from the abovesaid Twenty fifth day of December, namely on the 25th day of De- cember which will be in the Year of our Lord 1763, One Shilling Proclamation Money for every Hundred Acres He so Owns settles or possesses and so in proportion for a greater or lesser Tract of said Land; which money shall be paid by the respective Persons abovesaid their Heirs and Assigns in our Council Chamber in Portsmouth, or to such Officer or Officers as shall be appointed to receive the same, and this to be in Lieu of all other Rents & Services whatsoever.
In Testimony whereof We have caused The Seal of our said Province to be hereunto affixed. Witness BENNING WENTWORTH Esq- Our Governor and Commander in Chief of Our said Province the 25 Day of October in the Year of Lord Christ One thousand seven hundred & sixty three and in the Fourth Year of our Reign
By His Excellency's Command
With advice of Council
B. WENTWORTH
T. Atkinson jun Secty
Province of New Hampshire October 25th, 1763
Recorded in the Book of Charters Book 3. Page 70-71
Thos Atkinson jun Secty
NAMES OF THE GRANTEES OF SANDWICH
Samuel Gilman jun Esq
Andrew Gerrish
Wadley Cram
Capt. Nath'l Folsom
William Odlin
Nehemiah Cram
Thomas Parsons
Peter Coffin
Thomas Runolds
Capt. Samuel Folsom
James Thurstin
Benjamin Atkinson
Enoch Poor
Nath'l Folsom jun
Joseph Atkinson
Thomas Odiorne
Jonathan Folsom jun
Ebeneser Ingals
Nich. Gilman
John Chipman Esq
Daniel Gilman 3d
John Folsom
Eliphalet Coffin
Capt. Somersbee Gilman
Joseph Gilman
Moses Perkins
John Bowden
Benjamin Rogers
Jonathan Folsom
John Taylor Gilman
Josiah Folsom
Richard Sinkler
Thomas Potter Joseph Roberts Joshua Young
John Ward Gilman
John Nelson Andrew Hilton Enoch Clark
Moses Thurstin
Samuel Harris
Caleb Thurstin
John Wadley Daniel Poor
Josiah Gilman 3d
Samuel Moody
Col. Robert Hale
Samuel Davis
Jacob Longfellow
Nath'l Bachellor
Trueworthy Folsom
Clement Moody
Owen Runolds
John Folsom 3d
Edward Bean
Rev. Mr. John Chipman
)
Hon. Theodore Atkinson
)
Marks H. G. Wentworth
Nath'l Barrel
)
James Nevin
)
This Mark Hunting Wentworth ) was a brother of Gov. Benning, )Esq. a son of the first Gov. John Wentworth father of the last Gov. John.
His Excellency Benning Wentworth Esq. a Tract of Land to contain five hundred Acres as marked BW in the Plan which is to be accounted two of the within Shares, One whole Share for the incorporated Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts, One whole Share for a Glebe for the Church of England as by Law established, One Share for the first settled Minister in said Town, and One Share for the benefit of a School in said Town forever.
Province of New Hampshire October 25, 1763 Recorded in the Book of Charters Book 3.
Page 72
by Theodore Atkinson, Secty.
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John Bowden jun
James Sinkler
Sachwel Rundlet
Benjamin Bachellor
John Folsom jun
Increase Wilson
THE INDIAN ERA
The story is told that when, sometime around 1764, the surveyor, Daniel Beede climbed Red Hill and looked over the expanse of country to the north that comprised the new grant called Sandwich, he noted for his report: "No where in the prospect ahead is there a piece as big as the palm of my hand that is not covered with forests."
Even before the French and Indian Wars hunters had penetrated the wilderness to the White Mountains and the Pemigewasset valley, and had found it a paradise for game. From a fort built near Sanbornton in 1746 as a picket post against increasing Indian forays, restless soldiers in winter quarters and under lax discipline, spent much of their time on fishing and hunting excursions, extending them even as far as the Sand- wich Range. They brought back glowing accounts of the countryside, which lost none of their lustre when other bands of soldiers explored the entire basin of Lake Winnipesaukee. About 1755, before there were any settlements north of Concord, a party of men used to come from Exeter and Newmarket every fall to hunt in the area that later became Sandwich. One of these was Israel Gilman who later joined Daniel Beede in surveying the territory for the provincial governor.
The Indians, too, knew of the game and the fishing in these valleys and foothills. There were a number of tribes in the area, each preserving its name and traditions but belonging, with all other New England tribes, to the great Algonquins. These local sub-divisions included the Aben- akees (the Northern Light people whose totem sign was the Great Bear) ; the Ossipees on the north shore of the big lake; the Pequawkets in the Saco valley; the Pemigewassetts in the river valley of that name; and the Sokokis for whom the Saco was named. The latter, with the Ossipees, lived nearest to the Sandwich grant. Their burial mounds have been found, and many an arrow was turned up in earlier days as farmers plowed their fields.
It is said there were not many Indian trails thru the Sandwich forests, but the great trail between Canada and the Plymouth Plantation passed along the north edge of Squam Lake, tracing as nearly as can be figured now, the route of the present Holderness Road, north thru Center Sandwich to the Bearcamp valley, and joining there that other great trail which ran between Canada and the sea. The Algonquins, a marauding force for the French, used it, and possibly too, the fierce Iroquois of New York whom the British, with great difficulty, tried to keep in check on their side.
The French and Indian Wars kept all these tribes stirred up intermit- tently from 1690 to 1760 when the fall of Quebec put an end to them. But even before the battles in Canada, the English governor of New Hampshire declared most of the Indian tribes "enemies, traitors and rebels" and offered high bounties for scalps and prisoners. With the passing away of these broken bands from within the province, the fear of the savage disappeared from western and northern areas in the state, and almost immediately this vast region was opened to civilized settling. However, as late as 1776 Sandwich was considered a frontier town.
History has it that in the very early days of settlement here there was a house on an old road near Bearcamp Pond, built of logs, with an
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overhanging second story-in other words, a blockhouse. The owners are said to have kept several yoke of oxen and stored their yokes and cther teaming equipment under the second story. Evidently they were cutting pines, which grew tall and straight in the plains stretching north from the river, and hauling them downstream until they could be floated down the river to the coast. (Such a trip has been made by canoe in more recent years.) Probably they were marked with the King's arrow and eventu- ally became masts and spars in the British navy. The important point, however, is the type of the old house, indicating it was built against attack by Indians, and also that it possibly served its purpose in those earlier years before colonizing had begun. It is one of the few recorded links we have showing that Indians were once active in Sandwich.
THE SANDWICH GRANT
With people in the towns near the seacoast all agog about the rich lands to the west, a colonizing fever broke out, and grants were being sought from the Provincial Governor in great numbers. The applicants were business men of substance; for undertaking to settle a wild area then was something like developing a real estate tract today, but the land was much cheaper and the settling much more difficult.
The Sandwich grant was applied for by a group of men in Exeter, whom Benning Wentworth, Royal Governor of the Province of New Hampshire, was pleased to hear favorably. Five hundred acres in any new grant always accrued to the Governor, and doubtless there were other emoluments. The new charter conveyed the land now within the limits of Sandwich, and also certain powers to the grantees, called Pro- prietors, making them a kind of corporation well adapted for the purposes of colonizing. The grant specified, as did most, an area six miles square, with an allowance for highways and unimprovable lands, accord- ing to a plan and survey made at the Governor's command. It stated that the name of the township should be Sandwich, which followed a habit of the Governor in naming places in the New World for his friends back in England. The name derived from the Fourth Earl of Sandwich, (John Montague), a rather dissolute character, who was First Lord of the Admiralty at the time of the American Revolution and who, it is said, so mismanaged the navy that it was almost useless to England during the entire war. His greatest claim to fame is his invention of the sandwich during one of his gaming parties.
Under the grant five acres of land had to be cultivated within five years for every fifty acres contained in a grantee's share. Other con- ditions concerned preserving all pine trees fit for masting for the Royal Navy, marking out town lots in the center of the tract; and the annual payment for ten years of one ear of Indian corn; thereafter, one shilling proclamation money for every hundred acres owned or settled. Although the codicil was added giving Benning Wentworth his accustomed five hundred acres, be it said to his credit that in Sandwich he never seems to have claimed it.
The grant further provided one share each for the Society for the
9
Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts and for the Glebe (or Church of England) ; also for the first settled minister in town, and for the benefit of "a school in said town forever." The document was dated "25th day of October in the Year of Lord Christ one thousand seven hundred and sixty three"-the fourth year of the reign of George the Third.
The first meeting of the Proprietors was at the house of Capt. Samuel Folsom, innholder, in Exeter, April 10, 1764. After the election of a clerk and a collector, action was taken looking toward the settlement of the new township; and a committee of four elected to lay out the town, see to its settling, and assess the Proprietors in equal portions for the expense thereof.
Evidently a survey followed, for on September 5, 1764, at the grantee's plea, Governor Wentworth made an additional grant "to offset the inac- cessable mountains and shelves of rocks on the northerly and westerly sides." This was described as a mile wide, more or less, on the south side and two additional miles on the east. Today we reckon Sandwich as being ten miles square.
As the expected rush for lots in the wilderness did not materialize; or possible the Proprietors were not all active enough in pressing their campaign, Orlando Weed of Gilmanton was secured as a settling agent. In October, 1765, the Proprietors voted to give him 700 acres in any part of town he chose for making the first seven settlements in Sandwich; also, seventy pounds "lawful money" and seven cows; he to clear forty-two acres, build seven houses, and settle seven families in the township within three years, there to remain for six years. A similar offer was made to "any eight of the Proprietors" but on a smaller scale.
On February 8 and 9, 1768, the Proprietors met again at Capt. Fol- som's inn, realizing they stood to lose their charter and all their invest- ment because Sandwich was simply not getting settled and the five-year time limit was running out. True, a group of seven Proprietors, which included Daniel Beede himself, had carried up a number of men the pre- ceding November (1767) and built each a sufficient house; but that was far short of what the grant prescribed. So certain of the Proprietors themselves undertook "to perform a settlement" in return for certain lots of land.
In October, 1768, the first families arrived in Sandwich. They had come from Exeter to Gilmanton and across Lake Winnipesaukee to the Moultonboro shore, thence northward over what was no more than a trail, to the part of Sandwich now known as Lower Corner (so called because it was the lower corner of the map).
It seems likely that these were the settlers which Orlando Weed had promised the proprietors he would have in Sandwich three years from the date of his meeting with them on October 29, 1765. Apparently he kept his contract almost to the day promised. As proof, records indicate that he had a grant about three quarters of a mile wide running north from the Moultonboro line and beyond Little's Pond.
One of the first acts of the Proprietors after settling was to have the town surveyed and laid out in lots of convenient size. To this job
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they appointed Daniel Beede. He did most of the township in 1769, laying out range lines, each range containing a given number of lots of convenient size with allowances for roads and ponds. In 1788 he had another such assignment. Range lines, we understand, were double lines, clearly defined and in many cases with stone walls. The space between could be used by all abutters for getting about, but even today it is said no one can cut the pine that grows in a Range line. Lumbermen especially learn to recognize range lines as they come across them, even in wild country. We have no authority for this except hearsay, but we believe it is true, knowing of one clearly defined and well taken care of bit of range line in adjoining Moultonboro.
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