USA > New Hampshire > Strafford County > New Durham > The history of New Durham, New Hampshire: from the first settlement to the present time > Part 1
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org.
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8
Gc 974.202 N32 j 1288698
M. L.
GENEALOGY COLLECTION
ALLEN COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARY 3 1833 00055 5588
THE HISTORY C
of
NEW DURHAM New Hampshire
From the FIRST SETTLEMENT TO THE PRESENT TIME
Including
THAT PART OF ALTON WHICH WAS FORMERLY
NEW DURHAM GORE
by
ELLEN CLOUTMAN JENNINGS
New Durham
1962
Copyright 1962 by Ellen Cloutman Jennings
Printed by Fitzpatrick Printers, Inc. Manchester, N. H.
1288698
THE HISTORY OF NEW DURHAM, NEW HAMPSHIRE
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Illustrations vi Acknowledgments vii
THE BEGINNING - The road, 1722 - Mason's grant - The petition, 1748. 3
THE LAND - Settlers come. 9
HOW THEY LIVED - Report of 1770. 13
TOWN MEETINGS - Some problems and their solutions. . . 18
EARLY TAVERNS 25
THE WAR FOR INDEPENDENCE - List of soldiers from New Durham and the Gore. 29
THE NEW GOVERNMENT - Schools - The Gore becomes Alton - the Library - War of 1812. 34
THE MURDER OF PETER DROWNE. 40
THE MEETING HOUSE. 42
THE FIRST MINISTERS - Rev. John Addams - Rev. Nathaniel Porter - Elder Benjamin Randal 46
LATER MINISTERS AND CHURCHES - Elder Boodey Elder Berry - Churches. 51
MORE TOWN MEETINGS. 55
THE 1800's - Demon Rum - Stores - Railroad - Families 59
MILLS - The Powder Mill Explosion. 66
THE CIVIL WAR - List of Men from New Durham. 71
1870-1960 - Local industry - Lists of service-men and women in World Wars I and II and the Korean conflict. 74
SOME EARLY FAMILIES. 81
Text of Town Charter. 88
Selectmen of New Durham, 1765-1962. 90
Town Clerks of New Durham, 1765-1962. 93 Population Table 93.
Bibliography 94
ILLUSTRATIONS
by the author
Page
Plan of New Durham, 1750 8
Half-way House, circa 1770, in New Durham Gore 14
Tavern at New Durham Corner, circa 1762 24
Home and Tavern of Josiah Edgerly, 1793 37
The Meeting House, New Durham Corner, 1772
43
The Boodey House, New Durham Ridge 49
Free Will Baptist Church, New Durham Ridge, 1819 53
Home of Elder Edgerly in 1850, New Durham Ridge
63
Home of John Davis in 1787, on the Valley road 73
vi
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
On December 10, 1762, the Royal Governor of the Province of New Hampshire affixed his signature to a document which declared the Town of New Durham to be a "town corporate."
Two hundred years have elapsed since the first town meeting. The following brief account of the inhabitants, their local govern- ment, activities and way of life during those years is presented with the fervent hope that it will be of interest.
The most earnest effort has been made toward accuracy - the writings of earlier New England recorders having been searched diligently for factual accounts.
No town ever existed that did not have its share of tragedy, evil, crimes of passion and violence. Stories of this nature have, for the most part, been intentionally omitted.
The writer is deeply grateful to many people for many things but most of all for their interest and encouragement in this small history, the compiling of which has been an absorbing occupation.
Especial thanks go to the Board of Selectmen of New Durham, who allowed the writer to borrow the early town record books for long periods of time, and to Mrs. Cecil M. Pike and Mrs. Irene Wentworth, who cheerfully answered so many questions, offered information and loaned books, pictures and family papers.
Very pleasant personal interviews were held with Mr. Maurice Bennett and Mrs. Lester Downing of Alton; Mrs. Alexander Bill of Cambridge, Massachusetts; Mrs. George H. Jones of Rochester; and Mrs. Charles Bennett, Mr. Roy W. Berry, Mr. Richard Miller and Mrs. Walter H. Miller of New Durham.
Sincere thanks to the following for many favors: Mrs. George Black of Wolfeboro; Mr. William R. Carlton of Springfield, Massa- chusetts; Mrs. Eva Barnes, Mr. Raymond Duncan, Mr. Barton Griffin and Miss Agnes Thompson of Alton; Mr. George Foss of Barnstead; Mrs. John F. Cloutman, Mrs. Ethel Hayes, Judge Eu- gene Nute, Mrs. Frances Pennell, Mr. James E. Thayer and Mrs. Charles W. T. Willson of Farmington; Mrs. Everett Perkins of Newbury, Massachusetts; Mrs. Paul S. Rochford of Rockport, Massachusetts; Mr. George A. Selleck of the Friends Meeting, Cambridge, Massachusetts; Mrs. Harry Bickford, Mr. George Bick- ford, Mr. Carlton Chamberlain, Mrs. John Chamberlain, Mrs. Wil- liam Nehring, Rev. C. Vaughn Overman, Mrs. Clifford Smith and Mrs. Edward Smith of New Durham.
Not the least of my assistance came from a patient husband, who talked over problems, traced roads and boundaries on the map, carried books back and forth, and whose interest was never less than my own.
ELLEN CLOUTMAN JENNINGS.
vii
Nothing that was worthy in the past departs; no truth or good- ness realized by man ever dies, or can die; but is all still here, and, recognized or not, lives and works through endless changes.
- Thomas Carlyle.
CHAPTER ONE The Beginning
"In the beginning, God created the heaven and the earth," and that was about all that existed in our town in 1722. The heaven, the earth, some Indians and one road.
We would not call it a road today, nor was it much of a road even by the standards of 1722. The overgrown, rocky "wood roads," which we find in our back lands and hillsides today are far better than was this rough and winding trail. "Road" it was, however, and described thus:
"*The Indians frequently came across Winnipesaukee and down our valley in raids on the settlements at Dover and beyond, and it was proposed to erect a fort at the lake as a barrier to these forays. To establish this fort, it was necessary to open up a traversable route to the lake for soldiers and supplies.
The proposed fort was never erected; but the New Hampshire Colonial Assembly in 1721, sitting at Portsmouth, voted to cut a road from 'Cocheco (Dover) to Winnipishoky Pond'; this road was surveyed in May, 1722, and completed during that summer. The work is said to have taken but eight days, which would indicate that it was little better than a bridle path and was alluded to as the soldiers' road.
This road traversed Farmington - up Main Street - up the hill by the reservoir and along the Waldron Pond and Tibbetts Hill route. By reason of its termination at the lake, this highway came to be known as the Bay Road and to this day continues to be thus known in deeds and boundaries. Narrow and primitive as this road undoubtedly was, yet it was the first public way leading to the beautiful Winnipesaukee, preceding by a half-century the Governor Wentworth Road from Portsmouth to Wolfeboro."
In 1722, when this road was hacked out through the forests of our town, George the First reigned in England and Samuel Shute of Massachusetts was Governor of New Hampshire. Political and financial disagreements resulted in the latter being replaced by Lt. Governor John Wentworth, a grandson of Elder William Went- worth, who moved from Boston to Exeter in 1639, and is the ac- knowledged founder of the Wentworth family in New England.
Awarding large grants of land seemed to be a favorite pastime of those in governmental authority. For services rendered, or those expected to be rendered, for military valor, or for just friendship's sake, governors and lieutenant governors gave away thousands of
* Excerpts from an article published in the Farmington News, "The Old Bay Road," by Stanley P. Nute, from the papers of the late Samuel S. Parker.
[3]
acres, not forgetting to set aside a few hundred each year for them- selves. When Benning Wentworth was removed from the governor's seat in 1766, it was estimated that he had acquired about 100,000 acres of land in this way.
In October, 1737, Governor Jonathan Belcher chartered a town to be named "Kingswood," encompassing the towns now called Middleton, Brookfield, New Durham, Alton, and parts of Gilman- ton, Wakefield and Wolfeboro. This charter was given to sixty men with the usual stipulations, but the area was so large and the set- tlers so few. due to fear of Indian raids. that the project failed. Two years before Governor Belcher was removed from office, the charter was annulled.
After the failure of "Kingswood," there remained in this area the heaven, the earth, Indians and the road, with a few settlers at distant locations, and nothing disturbed this serenity for many years.
What is New Durham like today? Travelers passing through on the ancient road see a pretty town. Lining the main street at spacious intervals are a little white church, the dignified Town Hall, a school, the fire station, stores and a post office. Lilacs nod by the doorways of pleasant homes, old-fashioned roses climb painted trellises, and geraniums bloom in sunny windows.
To the southwest are hills and valleys spotted with comfort- able, elm-shaded farmhouses. To the north is Merrymeeting Lake, one of the most beautiful small bodies of water in New Hampshire. Clear, cold streams run through our forests.
A great deal has happened since the road from "Cocheco to Winnipishoky Pond" was laid out through our town. Great deeds have been performed by brave and noble men; wars have been fought, battles won and lost, peace treaties made, huge cities built. These events all made history.
People made history, too. The circumstances concerning the lives of ordinary people, their families and homes, the trades or professions in which they earned their living, their diligence in in- dustrial development, their striving for justice in the government and growth of a small American town such as ours, have formed an enduring background in the fabric of the history of this nation.
Our citizens today are ordinary people. We go to the polls, pay our taxes, support the church of our faith, serve on committees when necessary for a good cause and attempt to keep our lives and property in good order. Our form of government, like every other small New England town, follows a pattern which took shape over three centuries ago and has changed but little since.
We take for granted our electric and telephone services. Our smooth highways in winter are cleared of snow with great ma- chines. We can purchase all manner of good food at our local
[4]
stores. We enjoy radio and television, automobiles and washing machines. This is the 20th century.
What was it like in the beginning? What kind of people came here to settle, where did they come from and why did they choose this particular location? What was the manner of their living?
In seventeen hundred and forty-eight, this area was still a vast wilderness. There was nothing here at all. Nothing at all, except a faint track through the rough plain, a dusty indication that a party of Indian scouts or a cart drawn by oxen had passed this way. The forests abounded on all sides with no access therein, except Indian trails over which few men would dare to travel.
Northwest lay Winnipishoky Pond, farther north rose the great White Hills, through which no road would be built for an- other thirty-five years. Most of central and northern New Hamp- shire was a huge and often terrifying wilderness, for the Indians were still a very real threat, especially to isolated villages.
A treaty of peace had been concluded between England and France in 1748, ending "King George's War," which had been car- ried on to protect and retain the north and western boundaries of New England - France having been ably abetted by the Indians. This peace was short-lived, however, for in 1754 the Indians re- newed their vicious raids with burnings, scalpings, and abductions on the frontier towns. Small wonder that new settlements grew slowly, for the inhuman and fiendish Indians were a horrible threat to a family in a lonely farmhouse.
The western boundaries of Massachusetts and New Hampshire and what was to be Vermont were dotted with forts manned by New England and New Hampshire men. Among them was Major Thomas Tash of Newmarket, who later was to play such a promi- nent role in the government of our town. These locations were the scenes of some of the most stirring events in the history of New Hampshire.
Tracts of land were being granted, however, all during the fifteen years of the "French and Indian War." Peterborough, New Boston, Warner, Sutton, Dublin, Fitzwilliam, Dunbarton and many others were being opened up in these years. Middleton was granted to 80 petitioners in 1749, settlers took up land in Gilmanton and Wolfeborough in the 1760's.
After the fall of Quebec in 1760, peace returned to New Hamp- shire, and men could go ahead about the business of homesteading and farming with greater ease of mind.
The granting of lands for townships was in the hands of twelve or more men at Portsmouth, known as the "Masonian Pro- prietors." The account of the Masonian element in New England is too long and complicated to relate here, but briefly, it is this: a Colonel John Tufton Mason claimed inheritance of many hundreds
[5]
of thousands of acres of land in Maine and New Hampshire which had been awarded to his ancestor, Captain John Mason, by King James I. This was not the first such claim - as we said, the story is a long one.
He offered to sell these lands to the Assembly of the State, but urgent and critical events delayed consideration of the offer for so long that in 1746 he sold all his rights to twelve of the leading citizens of Portsmouth for 1500 pounds. These men split up fifteen shares, selling to associates and relatives; it is worthy of mention that most of the group were related by blood or marriage.
These "leading citizens" were men of wealth and influence, and there were many such in the old seacoast town of Portsmouth. The government of the Province of New Hampshire was seated there, its head of state being Benning Wentworth, the royal governor from 1741 to 1766. He was a former merchant, who, in his exalted position, pleased neither the people nor his King.
Only the rich could acquire an education in those days, and the educated citizenry were highly esteemed. It was this group who made the laws, sometimes for the benefit of the people, but oftener for their own profit. They made fortunes in shipbuilding, shipping and trading, which was attended with not a little smuggling, and they managed the lumbering operations that provided masts for His Majesty's navy. They lived in fine houses, furnished with choice English silver, Irish linen, French porcelain and elegant furniture. When they rode out, they went in painted coaches driven by liveried coachmen.
Not far from Portsmouth there were other settlements includ- ing Durham, Exeter, Newmarket and Greenland in the Great Bay region off the Piscataqua River, and it was in these villages that the men lived who petitioned the Masonian Proprietors for a grant of land north of Rochester. Most of them were of English descent their forebears, in some cases, having come to the colonies as early as 1631. They worked at many trades - wheelwright, joiner, black- smith, logger, mason, saddler, cordwainer, tailor, fisherman, and tanner. Many had seen military service. There were none of great wealth or formal education. They were, for the most part, ordinary men who worked hard, raised large families and, from time to time, gathered at the local tavern where they could discuss the events of the day over a tankard of ale.
In 1748, Captain Jonathan Chesley and Ebenezer Smith drew up a document which read as follows:
"Prov of New ) To the Hon The Purchasers and Proprietors of Hampshire Mason's Right (so called)
The Petition of Jonathan Chesley and Ebenr Smith of Durham Gentn Humbly Shews - That your Petitioners are appointed Agents
[6]
for and on behalf of a number of ye Freeholders and other Inhabi- tants of Sd Durham who are desirous of having a certain Tract of Land granted them within Said Masons Sd Right and being con- vinced (upon ye best Information we can get) that ye Property is yours and consequently that you can give us a Title to what we desire Therefore We Humbly pray that we and our Constituents may have ye Grant of a Township bounding upon Rochester Head Line and Barnstead upon Such Terms as Shall be most likely to promote your and our interest."
Such was the very beginning of the town of New Durham.
[7]
Wenne pe sockee
Pond
Bay
80
81
79
42
41
37
84
1
2
83
78
77
73
38
4
37
85
76
75
35
36
6
74
48
34
33
1
49
3/
92
10
70
52
11
12
68
53
27
95
/3
65
56
98
25
15
16
63
57
24
18
17
59
60
21
22
81
80
79
19
22
21
60
59
17
24
23
68
57
15
26
25
66
14
13
28
27
72
12
11
30
70
51
10
94
93
49
96
47
98
35
45
46
63
3
38
43
2
6/
1
40
4/2/ 39
41
SW
$
SE
Plan of New Durham
1750
53
92
91
29
69
9
32
68
50
8
7
48
33
65
5
6
36
97
64
4
37
62
99
100
First division
Merrymeeting
86
3
46
45
5
73
47
8
72
50
32
9
69
5
29
93
54 67
28
96
14
66
55
26
97
64
58
23
62
61
82
20
19
20
84
77
86
76
75
16
88
87
73
74
55
89
90
54
71
52
3/
67
34
/66
95
83
78
18
85
Second divisi
99
100
8%
90
71
91
30
94
87
88
82
CHAPTER TWO The Land
It would be far more colorful if we could relate that the migra- tion from the Great Bay towns took place all at once, a cheering band of pioneers starting the perilous journey north into the wilder- ness to found a new settlement, somewhat like the wagon trains heading westward a hundred years later. But it did not happen that way at all.
After the petition of Chesley and Smith had been sent in, the list of subscribers to the petition was completed and presented to the Proprietors at Portsmouth. This was accepted, and the Pro- prietors presented them with a charter, or land grant, which was a wordy contract similar in context to those of other towns, out- lining, in some 2,000 words, the conditions and limitations to which the new town was bound.
The area, six miles square, in the shape of a rhomboid running north and south, was marked into two divisions having 100 lots in each. The lots in the first division were to be one hundred acres each; those in the second division identically numbered, to have "all the land belonging to each share respectively." This plan was to be drawn up within a year and the lots to be drawn in the customary manner.
There was a lot reserved for the "first minister of the Gospel" and a lot "for and towards the support of the Gospel Ministry there forever," these lots to be placed conveniently near the lot reserved for the Meeting House. There were to be six acres of land reserved for "a Meeting House and School house, Training field, a Burying place or other public use."
Each lot owner was to build a house at least sixteen feet square. There should be forty families settled within five years after a peace was proclaimed between the English, French and Indians; in ad- dition to the house as described, each family should have three acres cleared for mowing or tillage. The Meeting House must be built within six years, and a saw mill within five years.
The lots should be laid out as equally as possible; the highways between the ranges four rods wide and those between the lots, two rods wide. And " ... all white pine trees fit for His Majesty's use for masting ye Royal navy be ... reserved." After stern warnings of forfeiture and confiscation if these conditions were not met, the contract concludes:
"And it is to be understood that the number of years mentioned herein for the Grantees to do and perform the Several articles Mat- ters and things aforesaid is to be so many years free from the Impediment and Interruption of an Indian War."
[9]
In the Spring of 1750, the land was surveyed and a plan or map of numbered lots was drawn up. In May, at Ann Slayton's house at Portsmouth, the numbered names of the petitioners and the num- bers of the lots were drawn together and a list of the results made known. As was the custom, a certain number of shares were re- served for the grantors, or Proprietors, free of tax and charges. These, as many as are known, are marked with a "P".
Minister's Lot No. 9
Joseph Wheeler 22
Ministry Lot 10
Joseph Bickford 36
Thomas Packer, Esq. 72 P
Daniel Pierce & 21 P
P
Richard Denbo and Caleb Wakeham 59
Ebenezer Smith 63
Robert Kent 35
John Edgerly
62
Joseph Smith, Jun 34
Eleazer Bickford
27
Thos Wallingford, Esq. 60 P
Richard Wibird, Esq.
68 P
Daniel Rogers
24
Jeremiah Burnam 13
Winthrop Burnam & Ichabod Denbo
97
Eliphalet Daniel 58
Joseph Jones 8
John Bennick &
11
John Elliot
John Andros &
7
Jonathan Chesly
73
John Johnson &
23
Nathaniel Frost
Joseph Dude, Jun 43
John Footman & 67
Thomas Stevenson, Jun
Benjamin Mathews 48
School Lot
33
Benjamin Smith
66
John Bickford
64
Benjamin Bennick & 69
John Mason
Joseph Chesly 37
Francis Durgan
John Tufton Mason P
& John Tomlinson, Esq. 98 P
Jotham Odiorne, Esq. 76 P
Benjamin Jenkins 42
Jeremiah Drisco & 28
Peter Mow
Joseph Burnam 50
Lemuel Chesly 15
Joseph Sias 80
Jonathan Durgan 100
Simon Randel 57
Volentine Hill 4
Miles Randel 85
Joseph Drew & 82
John Drew
Abraham Mathews
39
[ 10 ]
38 P clerk 6
Theodore Willey &
John Bickford, Jun Joseph Smith 55
Philip Chesly 53
Jonathan Chesly, Jun
95
Joshua Pierce, Esq . 83 P
John Durgan &
17
16
Nath, Meserve Esq.
& others
David Davis 94
James Smith 89
Philip Cromett
George Jaffrey
Mary Moor
Volentine Mathews 84
John Moffatt, Esq 14 P
Benmore Dude & 40
Nicholas Dude
Francis Drew &
65
William Jackson, Jun 47
30
Thomas Chesly, Jun 79
Thomas Chesly
96
Jeremiah Burnam Jun
93
John Cromett
51
Samuel Wille
71
John Wille, Jun
44
Benjamin Jackson
52
Law Lot No 1
96
Sam Solly and
86 P
Robert Burnam
5
Clement March, Esq.
P
Joseph Weeks
50
Thomas Langley
88
Abraham Bennick Jun
20
Job Runnells, Jun
81
Stephen Jones, Jun 90
Joseph Thomas
32
John Addams, minister
41
Theodore Atkinson, Esq 46 P
Samuel Sias &
92
78 P
Solomon Sias
William Weeks
12
Samuel Chesly
1
Thomas York &
19
Abednego Leathers 3
Law Lot no 2 61
Samuel Stevens & 75
Walter Brient 74 P
James Thompson
John Burnam
77
Nicholas Perryman, Esq 2 P
Mark Hunking Wentworth, Esq
87 P
Ichabod Chesly 25
Trueworthy Durgan 91
Thomas Young
45
Thomas Wille Jun 70
Ebenezer Jones 49
Thomas Tash
99
James Drisco
54
John Wentworth, Jun., Esq
William Bruce 29
Mark Hunking Wentworth, Esq 31-P
William Durgan
surveyor
Samuel Addams 18
It is perhaps surprising to find that only about two percent of the petitioners actually came to the new settlement at once, ac- cepted their lot and started a homestead, but there were reasons for this. The whole scheme was a huge real estate development which would be known as a corporation today, the "owners" giving away free land to whoever would sign up for it. Many men applied for land who had no intention of ever coming here. They did so as an investment, with the chance that their lots might be desirable enough to sell later on. The scheme was profitable to the Proprietors, too - more land opened up meant more masts for the King's navy, plus the 200 or so acres that each Proprietor received, tax-exempt.
Many shares were kept in the family - an elderly father would turn it over to a son or nephew who had more strength and courage than he. Many of the names on later lists of residents are those of men whose elders originally signed up for land and thus disposed of it. Some of the original petitioners did come later and take up their lot for a home. Some made a trip of exploration in anticipation and left in disgust when they found their lot to be a stony hillside or a damp and moldy swamp.
[ 11 ]
Abraham Stevenson
Samuel Smith, Jun
Moving a family from Durham to New Durham in the 1750's was an achievement fraught with danger and extreme physical hardship. We, who can drive an automobile over smooth wide roads to Durham in less than an hour, find it almost impossible to imagine the conditions under which these hardy families made the journey.
It is likely that, as in other settlements, the man of the family made a preliminary trip to his lot, accompanied by a strong and able friend. They cut a rough trail for others to follow, felled some trees, built a rude shelter, and after a few weeks' work, rode back to Durham.
Then came the tears of parting from friends; the apprehension deep in the hearts of the women folk, who knew not what dangers might overtake them in the wilderness; the rounding-up of the children, while the patient oxen stood with their cart loaded high with household goods, the horses saddled and waiting.
The road from Durham to Dover and Rochester was well- traveled and probably did not give them too much trouble. But north of Rochester, the road was no more than a horse trail, which was rough and hazardous. Some must walk and carry the littlest children, while the men went ahead to cut bushes and trees that impeded their progress. Streams and rivers must be forded, for there were no bridges.
Sometimes the trip was undertaken in the winter months, or early spring (which is often worse than winter in this area). Then they wore snowshoes and hauled their goods on wooden hand-sleds, the women carrying the children.
We do not know how many men, women and children came in the years between 1750 and 1762, or who they were. We can only surmise, from the ancient records, that some of the earliest settlers bore the names of Allard, Bennett, Berry, Bickford, Durgin, Dow, Davis, Glidden, March, Rogers and Young. Family by family they came, and for months and years worked every daylight hour of every weekday to establish a home.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.