USA > New Hampshire > Merrimack County > Warner > The history of Warner, New Hampshire, for one hundred and forty- four years, from 1735 to 1879 > Part 1
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M. L
GENEALOGY COLLECTION
ALLEN COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARY 3 1833 01188 5453
EN
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Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2015
https://archive.org/details/historyofwarnern1735harr
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Stop Passengers as you frank by, As you are now to once was I, As I am now 20 you must be, Prepare for death and follow me.
American Bank Note Co Boston
THE
HISTORY OF WARNER,
NEW HAMPSHIRE,
-FOR-
ONE HUNDRED AND FORTY-FOUR YEARS,
1
From 1735 to 1879.
-BY-
WALTER HARRIMAN.
CONCORD, N. H .: PRINTED BY THE REPUBLICAN PRESS ASSOCIATION. 1879.
-
E
PREFACE.
1164590
Most intelligent people have a desire to know something of their country and of their forefathers. Edmund Burke, the great English statesman, says,- "They who never look back to their ancestors, will never look forward to futurity." To rescue the early history of Warner from oblivion, and to perpetuate a knowledge of it in the generations to come, has been my purpose in this undertaking. Records become dim with age, and are destroyed; the traditions of events which occurred in the preceding century are rapidly fading from memory. It has been a hundred and forty-four years since the first grant of Warner was made. The last surviving original grantee of the township has been dead ninety years. All the first settlers, and all their children, long since departed this life, and it is felt that the writing of a history of the town has been delayed too long.
In July, 1878, I decided to undertake this task, a task in which I have expended a large sum of money beyond any expected remuneration, and thrown in my personal services as a gratuity. My labor has been a "labor of love." Warner is my native town, and there cluster all my earliest and fondest remem- brances. Every brook and rock and tree that I knew
1
4
HISTORY OF WARNER.
in my childhood is still dear to me, and, if my wishes are regarded, Warner will be the place of my final rest.
I have travelled nearly 2000 miles in gathering materials for this book; have searched the province records at Boston and at Concord; the county records of old Hillsborough at Nashua, and of Rockingham at Exeter ; the Masonian records at Portsmouth, and the town records of Amesbury, Salisbury, Newburyport, Haverhill, Bradford, Andover, and Ipswich, Mass., and of Concord, Hopkinton, Boscawen, and Sutton, N. H.
Remembering the injunction, "neither give heed to fables and endless genealogies, which minister ques- tions, rather than godly edifying which is in faith," I have made this work not a genealogical register, but a history of the town.
Names of individuals have been written strictly in accordance with the letter of the record, and when- ever quotations from ancient documents have been made, the original orthography, capitals, abbrevia- tions, punctuation, &c., have been preserved.
The XXXVIth and last chapter embraces an ad- dress which the author gave, in 1878, on the Bound- aries of New Hampshire. As no student of history within the state can fail to be interested in the angry and prolonged controversies which grew out of this boundary question, and as the inhabitants of Warner must be specially interested in those controversies, that address has been deemed a fitting close to this volume. At one time it was supposed that the terri- tory of Warner would constitute a part of Massachu- setts ; at a subsequent period it seemed probable that
5
PREFACE.
Warner would make the fractional part of a great and noble state extending westward to Lake Champlain, and embracing the whole of the present New Hamp- shire and Vermont ; and at a still later day there was danger that the town would stand on the very bor- ders of a despoiled and dismembered state, embracing only the meagre territory which constituted the grant to Capt. John Mason.
The small, rough map which accompanies this book is intended, mainly, to represent the outlines of War- ner, and its mountains and streams .. Entire accuracy (particularly in regard to the roads) is not claimed for the map.
Omissions and inaccuracies of various kinds will of course be found in this volume. Several of these have already been noticed since the body of the book was printed. By the merest accident the name of R. Eugene Walker, son of Abiel, is not included in the list of college graduates, nor in that of lawyers. Mr. Walker graduated at Brown University in 1875 ; read law with Sargent and Chase, and was admitted to the bar in August, 1878. He opened an office at Concord the next month, and is now in practice there.
The book has been open to all who were willing to contribute portraits to embellish its pages, and I am grateful to Mrs. Abner Woodman and Benjamin E. Badger, for the portrait of Benjamin Evans; to Mrs. George H. Witherle and L. Willis Bean, for that of their father ; to Mrs. Herman Foster, for that of her husband ; to Abner D. Farnum's family, for that of Franklin Simonds ; to John E. Robertson, for that of his father ; to the officers of the bank at Warner, for
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HISTORY OF WARNER.
that of Joshua George ; and to the sons of Asa Pat- tee, for that of their father. To those who have furnished portraits of themselves, I am also under special obligations.
I am indebted to Levi Bartlett, whose recollection of early incidents and historical events is remarkable, for many facts herein set forth ; to the late H. H. Harriman, whose knowledge of the topography of the town,-of its roads, of its divisions and sub-divisions into ranges and lots,-excelled that of any other man ; to Mrs. Hardy, of Hopkinton, an intelligent old lady, 94 years of age, the mother of Col. Tyler B. and Geo. B. Hardy ; to Charles Davis, of Davisville, S. S. Bean, L. W. Collins, Rev. Wm. H. Walker, and others, for valuable items found in this work.
In conclusion, I can only express the hope that the reading of the book will afford the people of Warner (and others) as much satisfaction as the publication of it has afforded the author.
June 24, 1879. W. H.
1
TABLE OF CONTENTS.
PAGE.
CHAPTER I .- Grants ; Township Number One 11
CHAPTER II .- Description of township Number One ; Its boundaries ; Its soil and productions; Its ponds and streams ; Its mountains. 24
CHAPTER III .- Proprietors' records ; A new start ; First saw-mill; The inevitable tax. 41 CHAPTER IV .- First meeting in the township; Dam and flume ; First proposals to settlers ; Troubles accumulate ; New Hampshire appealed to ; No re- lief ; Indian depredations ; The Masonian propri- etors ; Further encouragement to settlers ; Grant to Rye. 50 CHAPTER V .- A new epoch ; Settlement of the town ; Daniel Annis ; Reuben Kimball ; The first child 65 CHAPTER VI .- Proprietors' record ; Efforts for colo- nization ; Gift lots ; Settlers' bond ; Early settlers 78 CHAPTER VII .- Early settlers, continued ; Boat on the Contoocook ; Second saw-mill. 92
CHAPTER VIII .- The Rye grantees ; Records of Ames- bury proprietors; First meeting-house ; Hedged in ; The Potash ; The old tavern ; First grist-mill 111 CHAPTER IX .- The Masonian proprietors ; A new grant ; Organizing under it. 129
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HISTORY OF WARNER.
PAGE.
CHAPTER X .- Delinquent rights ; Second meeting-house ;
Another town ; Trespassers ; Running the lines ... 141 CHAPTER XI .- Settlement of first minister ; Steps towards incorporation ; A church organized ; The survey ; First bridge ; Proprietors' records. . . .. 151
CHAPTER XII .- Proprietors' records; The Rye grantees ; Board of arbitrators; Their award ; " Parmer" again. 158
CHAPTER XIII .- The town incorporated ; Mills at great falls ; More trouble with Rye; Burying-yard and Parade ; Captain Francis Davis ; Nearing the end ; Final meeting. 165
CHAPTER XIV .- The intermediate state ; First meeting of the settlers ; Fast day ; Rev. Mr. Kelley called ; His salary; His ordination ; The first juryman ; Town charter. 176
CHAPTER XV .- Name of the town; Daniel Warner ; Col. Seth Warner ; His character and services .... 190 CHAPTER XVI .- Warner's first meeting ; Town records ; War-notes ; The census; Sage tea; The crisis at hand; Convention of the people; Governor Went- worth. 211
CHAPTER XVII .- The Exeter convention ; Not a col- ony, but a state ; First representative ; Town and class records. 224
CHAPTER XVIII .- Constitutional conventions ; Town and class records ; President of the state ; Loca- tion of meeting-house. 237
CHAPTER XIX .- The federal constitution ; Half-shire town ; Court's committee ; Court-house ; A pro- test ; Town records ; House under the ledge .. .... 253 CHAPTER XX .- Town records; Half-shire again; Anti- pedobaptists; Gen. Aquila Davis; The first pound 270
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TABLE OF CONTENTS.
PAGE.
CHAPTER XXI .- Town records ; Pauper sale ; Hon. Henry B. Chase ; First school committee ; A new pound ; Hon. Benjamin Evans. 287
CHAPTER XXII .- Town records ; The cold Friday ; War of 1812; Rev. John Woods ; A cold season ; Masonic ; Divorce of church and state ; Heresy ; Quaker women whipped 300
CHAPTER XXIII .- Town records ; The tornado 318
CHAPTER XXIV .- A new county ; The nation's guest ; Town records ; Cattle show. 327
CHAPTER XXV .- Town records ; Presidential election ; Henniker celebration ; First poor-farm. 342
CHAPTER XXVI .- Town records ; Second poor-farm ; Farmers' and mechanics' library ; Cranberry and hoop-pole parties. 357
CHAPTER XXVII .- Town records ; New town hall ; Railroad opening ; The banks ; Constitutional con- vention ; Homestead exemption. 374
CHAPTER XXVIII .- The war; State aid ; Bounties to Soldiers ; Raising the bid ; Bounty-jumpers ; More men ; The army moves 394
CHAPTER XXIX .- End of town records ; Mountain road ; Warner High School ; River-Bow Park ; Road and reservoirs ; Funding the debt ; Constitu- tional convention ; County buildings ; Under the new constitution 403
CHAPTER XXX .- Kearsarge Gore; The Masonian pro- prietors ; The curve line; Survey of the Gore ; Wilmot incorporated ; The Gore records. 429
CHAPTER XXXI .- Post-masters; Deputy sheriffs ; Law- yers ; Physicians ; College graduates ; High-school teachers ; Debating clubs ; Literary men and women 445
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HISTORY OF WARNER.
PAGE.
CHAPTER XXXII .- Military history of Warner; The Revolution ; Alarm at Coos; War with France threatened ; War of 1812; The Rebellion ; State militia. 477
CHAPTER XXXIII .- Ecclesiastical history of Warner ... 500 CHAPTER XXXIV .- Local names ; Population of War-
ner ; Four-score years and ten ; Manufactures .... 521 CHAPTER XXXV .- Fatal casualties ; Suicides ; Priva- tions ; Woman lost; Wild beasts ; Witchcraft .... 535
CHAPTER XXXVI .- The Boundaries of New IIampshire : An address by Gen. Walter Harriman, delivered at Canterbury, N. H., May 3, 1878. 550
ILLUSTRATIONS.
PAGE.
PAGE.
Walter Harriman J see p. 404.
"frontispiece, 7
Joshua George
382
Map of Warner. 26
Ira Harvey .
387
Orison Hardy 105 Harrison D. Robertson .. 392
George Runels
123
Franklin Simonds. . 410
Daniel Barnard.
136
Nehemiah G. Ordway ... 423
Asa Pattee. 257
Alonzo C. Carroll. 447
Benjamin Evans. 298
Albert P. Davis
452
Gilman C. George. 313
Herman Foster
455
Ezekiel A. Straw 331
Levi Bartlett 469
Daniel Bean, Jr.
354
John C. Ela.
494
Robert Thompson.
361
Isaac D. Stewart.
515
George A. Pillsbury.
375
Walter Scott Davis
532
CHAPTER I.
GRANTS-TOWNSHIP NUMBER ONE.
HE English claimed the whole of North America, from Labrador to Florida. They claimed it by virtue of its discovery by the Cabots, in 1497, and of subsequent explorations, and efforts to colonize it. They found their claims, however, interfered with, to some extent, by the occupation of Canada by the French, and of New Netherland (now New York) by the Dutch.
By the English constitution, the title to all the lands of the natives was vested in the king, and he might grant them when, to whom, and for what con- sideration he pleased. His grants might be absolute, or they might be conditional.
The grants of the king, with corporate powers, con- stituted what were denominated charter governments. Such were the grants to Massachusetts, Connecticut, and Rhode Island. Then there were royal govern- ments,-governments in which the king, untrammeled by grants of the soil, still retained his original author- ity. They were presided over by a governor, who
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HISTORY OF WARNER.
was appointed by the Crown, and who was removable at the king's pleasure. The governor was assisted by a council, generally recommended by himself, but appointed by the king, and he had a negative upon the proceedings of any assembly of the people, with power to prorogue or dissolve it whenever he saw fit. To the governor, also, was committed authority to grant, in the name of the king, any unchartered lands in his province. Such was New Hampshire.
King James the First chartered "The Council of Plymouth" on the 3d day of November, 1620. To give a clear understanding of what this council was, a paragraph from its charter is here introduced : " There shall be forever, in our town of Plymouth, in our county of Devon, a body corporate, consisting of forty persons, with perpetual succession, called by the name of the Council established at Plymouth, in the county of Devon, for the planting, ruling, ordering, and governing of New England in America."
To this council was granted by the king a broad extent of territory, reaching nearly to the mouth of the St. Lawrence river on the north, to considerably below the southern limit of New England on the south, and from the Atlantic to the Pacific ocean. The language of the charter is, "all the lands from forty to forty-eight degrees of north latitude, from sea to sea."
This Plymouth Council, on the 7th day of Novem-
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GRANTS.
ber, 1629, granted to Capt. John Mason, of the county of Hampshire, England, "All that part of the main land in New England, lying upon the sea-coast, begin- ning from the middle part of Merrimack river, and from thence to proceed northwards along the sea- coast to Piscataqua river, and so forwards up within the said river, and to the furtherest head thereof, and from thence north-westward until three-score miles be finished from the first entrance of Piscataqua river. Also, from Merrimack, through the said river, and to the furtherest head thereof, and so forwards up into the land westwards, until three-score miles be finished ; and from thence to cross over land to the three-score miles end accounted from Piscataqua river."
This is the state of New Hampshire in its incep- tion, and Warner is included within the limits of this grant. But this is not the state of to-day. These boundaries have been extended, and the domain has been doubled in amount.
The king in his grant, and the council in theirs, were not entirely unselfish in the performance of their deeds. They made valuable reservations. They were actuated, in large degree, by the hope of gain. When King James chartered the Council of Plymouth in 1620, and when the council, in 1629, made the grant of New Hampshire to Capt. John Mason, it was believed ยท that immense quantities of gold and silver existed in these mountains. This country was compared to
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HISTORY OF WARNER.
Mexico and Peru, from which plunderers had re- turned laden with the shining dust. Indeed, "all Europe began to dream of America as a land where the sands sparkled with gold, and the earth was paved with glittering gems." So, in the charter of King James aforesaid, a reservation is made of one fifth of the gold and silver; and in the grant of the Council of Plymouth to Mason, one fifth is reserved for the king, and another fifth for the council, and these two fifths were to be taken from the whole amount " brought above ground, to be delivered above ground."
Governors of provinces made grants in the name of the king, to individuals and companies, for various considerations. Innumerable cases occurred in which they granted lands for actual or supposed service to the king or to his local governments. Especially were such grants made for military service. Many who had been engaged in the French and Indian wars were affectionately remembered in this way. Grants were also made with valuable reservations of land and timber, the reservations being worth, after the settling and opening up of a locality, more than the whole of the territory granted was worth before. Grants were also made for stipulated sums of money ; and in some instances the grantees simply paid cer- tain incidental expenses. Such was the case with the proprietors of Warner.
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GRANTS.
It is not known that the grantees of Warner had rendered any particular service to the king, or to his provincial government of Massachusetts. Only a small number of the sixty had been engaged in any military service, except in the "home guards." They gave nothing for their township of land, as has al- ready been stated. But at the time this and many other grants were made, the boundary line between Massachusetts and New Hampshire was in controver- sy. Massachusetts claimed the territory of Warner, and all the country between the Merrimack and the Connecticut, to a line far north of Warner. New Hampshire, of course, claimed the same territory. The dispute had been warm and long continued. To gain ground in the contest, Massachusetts used every endeavor to induce men to accept grants of townships. It had become apparent that the line between the provinces must soon be settled, and the government of Massachusetts feared that their claim might be greatly restricted. In this apprehension, the general assembly of that province, under the recommendation of the governor, commenced granting the lands in controversy to actual settlers from their own province, in order that, if she should lose jurisdiction over the lands, her people would have the fee in the soil. Ac- cordingly, in 1725, Penacook (Concord) was granted to actual settlers from Andover, Bradford, Haverhill, and other towns in that vicinity. Pembroke was
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HISTORY OF WARNER.
granted in 1726, and in the course of a few years, Amherst, New Boston, Bedford, Boscawen, Hillsbor- ough, Keene, Swanzey, and Peterborough were grant- ed. About the same time it was proposed in the legislature of Massachusetts to grant two tiers of townships from the Merrimack to the Connecticut river, under the pretence of having a line of settle- ments on the frontier as a protection against the Ind- ians, but in reality to secure the lands to the people of that province, and, if possible, to forestall the deci- sion of the boundary question. Hence, grants were made with rapidity, and on terms unusually favorable to the grantees. Hopkinton, Henniker, and Warner were all granted in 1735.
TOWNSHIP NUMBER ONE.
1
In the Massachusetts House of Representatives, Thursday, January 15th, 1735, Edmund Quincy, Esq., from the committee of the two houses, on the petitions for townships, presented the following re- port :
1
" The Committee, appointed the 14th current to take into consideration the several Petitions for Town- ships, before the Court, and report what may be prop- er for the Court to do thereon, having met, and ma- turely considered the same, are humbly of the opin- ion that there be a careful view and survey of the lands between Merrimack and Connecticut Rivers,
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TOWNSHIP NUMBER ONE.
from the northwest corner of Rumford [Concord], on the Merrimack, to the great falls [Bellows Falls], on the Connecticut, of twelve miles at the least in breadth, or north and south, by a committee of eleven able and serviceable persons to be appointed by this Court, who shall, after a due knowledge of the nature and circumstances thereof, lay the same into as many Townships of the contents of six miles square, as the land in width as aforesaid will allow of ; no Township to be more than six miles east and west ; and also lay out the land on the east side of Connecti- cut River from said falls to the Township [Winches- ter], laid out to Josiah Willard and others, into as many Townships, of the contents of six miles square, as the same will allow of; and also the land on the west side of the River of Connecticut, from said falls to the equivalent land, into one or two townships, of the contents of six miles square, if the same will allow thereof. [Massachusetts, at this time, laid claim also to a part of Vermont.] Five of which Committee to be a Quorum for surveying and laying out the Town- ships on each, from Rumford to Connecticut River as aforesaid; and three of the committee aforesaid shall be a Quorum for surveying and laying out the Town- ships on each side of Connecticut river as aforesaid ; and that the said committee make report of their do- ings to this Court at their session in May next, or as soon . as conveniently they can, that so the persons
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HISTORY OF WARNER.
whose names are contained in the several Petitions hereafter mentioned, viz .; In the Petition of Hopkin- ton, in the Petition of Salisbury and Amesbury, in the Petition of Cambridge, in the Petition of Bradford and Wenham, in the Petition of Haverhill, in the Petition of Milton and Brookline, in the Petition of Samuel Chamberlain and Jonathan Jewell, in the Petition of Nathaniel Harris and others, in the Petition of Ste- phens, Goulder, and others, in the Petition of Morgan, Cobb, and others, Jonathan Wells and others, Lys- com, Johnson, and others, in the Petition of Isaac Lit- tle and others, in the Petition of Jonathan Powers and others, John Whitman, Esq., and others, Samuel Hay- ward and others, Josiah Fassett and others, John Flynt and others, Jonathan How and others, of Bridgewater, that have not heretofore been admitted grantees or settlers within the space of seven years last past, of or in, any former or other grant of a Township, or particular grant, on condition of settling ; and that shall appear and give security to the value of Forty Pounds to perform the conditions that shall be enjoined by this Court, may, by the major part of the Committee, be admitted Grantees into one of the said Townships ; the Committee to give public notice of the time and place of their meeting to admit the Gran- tees ; which committee shall be impowered to employ Surveyors and chainmen to assist them in surveying and laying out said Townships ; the Province to bear
19
TOWNSHIP NUMBER ONE.
the charge, and be repaid by the Grantees who may be admitted ; the whole charge they shall advance, which committee, we apprehend, ought to be directed and impowered to admit sixty settlers in each Town- ship, and take their bonds, payable to the committee and their successors in the said Trust, to the use of the Province, for the performance of the conditions of their Grant, viz .; That each grantee build a dwelling- house of eighteen feet square and seven feet stud at the least on their respective home lots, and fence in and break up for plowing, or clear and stock with English grass five acres of land, within three years next after their admittance, and cause their respective Lots to be in- habited ; and that the Grantees do, within the space of three years from the time of their being admitted, build and furnish a convenient Meeting House for the publick worship of God, and settle a Learned Ortho- dox Minister ; and in case any of the Grantees shall fail or neglect to perform what is enjoined above, the committee shall be obliged to put the Bonds in suit and take possession of the Lots and Rights that shall become forfeited, and proceed to grant them to other persons that will appear to fulfil the condition within one year next after their last mentioned grant. And if a sufficient number of petitioners that have had no grant within seven years as aforesaid, viz., sixty to each township, do not appear, others may be admitted, provided they have fulfilled the conditions
T
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HISTORY OF WARNER.
of their former grant. The committee to take care that there be sixty-three house lots laid out in as reg- ular, compact, and defensible a manner as the land will admit of; one of which Lots shall be for the first settled minister, one for the second settled minister, and one for the school; to each of which an equal pro- portion of land shall accrue in all future divisions."
The foregoing report was adopted by the house, the council concurred in the measure, and the gov- ernor approved of the same.
" Friday, January 16, 1735, In the House of repre- sentatives, ordered that Joseph Gerrish, Benjamin Prescott, Josiah Willard, and Job Almy, Esqrs., Mr. Moses Pearson, and Capt. Joseph Gould, with such as the honorable board [Council] shall join, be a commit- tee to all intents and purposes to effect the business projected by the report of the committee of both houses to consider the petitions for townships which passed [was approved] this day, viz., on the proposed line between Merrimack and Connecticut rivers, and on both sides of Connecticut river ; and that there be granted and allowed to be paid out of the public treasury, after the rate of fifteen shillings per diem (to each of the committee) for every day he is in the ser- vice in the woods, and subsistence, and ten shillings per diem for every day to each one of the said com- mittee while in the service in admitting settlers into
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