USA > New Hampshire > Cheshire County > Walpole > A history of Walpole, New Hampshire, Volume I > Part 28
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It is related (AH 243) that "at one time Elijah Drury, who is said to have had a vo- racious appetite, went to Keene to market some farm produce. Among other things he had a quarter of lamb which he sold to Davis Carpenter for 2 sh. On his return, late in the day, having gone without dinner, he called for a meal at Carpenter's. The quarter of lamb had just been roasted and was, with other things, placed on the table before him. When he had completed his dinner, it was found that not only the quarter of lamb had wholly disappeared, but other toothsome etceteras in proportion, for all of which he had paid 25 cents."
Sylvester Carpenter, living in Charlestown in 1809, bought one-third of his father's farm. In 1826 he bought the other two-thirds at the auction of his father's estate and in 1839 the rights of the widow Lucy. He sold the property to Joseph Allen of Surry; 1850 to William Wellington whose family still own. There were still buildings in 1858, apparently gone by 1877.
There are extensive foundations on the south side of the Crehore Road in the point east of where the cemetery road enters-lilacs and day lilies rampant.
354. JOHN CREHORE-CELLARHOLE, AMASA CARPENTER: John Wheeler owned the land at the south end of the Scovill Road and had a house here as early as 1795, although he has no deed recorded until 1798; 1798 to Elijah Mason, to Amasa Carpenter. The house seems to have stood on the west side of the road, perhaps barns on the east, since this piece came to be called the Barn Lot. Up the road farther, in the same field, there is another cellarhole (east side). Perhaps Amasa remained at the first house and, after his death, his wife, daughter Althea and Mary Crain lived there; and perhaps his son Calvin lived in the house on the other side of the road. He was on Carpenter Hill as late as 1850. One set of buildings was gone before 1858. Sylvester Mitchell seems to have owned the property later, sold to Townes. It belonged successively to George Towne, Harry Jennison, 1904 to Cameron, now Crehore.
355. HOWARD AND DENMAN WILBUR-SCOVILL FARM: In 1784 Benjamin Bellows Jr. sold from his father's estate 50 acres here to Benjamin Red- ington, yeoman, for £100 "to fulfill contract", so probably Redington had already been here for some time; 1789 to Joel Chaffin (note that Wheeler was already a neighbor), housewright; 1794 to Joseph Mason who mar- ried Lucy Flint. He "buffeted the storms in that inhospitable place many
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cold and piercing winters, far removed from neighbors, and almost from civilization, and had a family of 14 children." (See AH 323).
It will be recalled that Joseph Mason bought the Flint farm and soon after had to care for his aged parents and his brothers and sisters. Per- haps here is the evidence why he did not himself marry until he was over thirty. He sold this Scovill farm to Walter Carpenter of Boston, son of Davis Carpenter; 1833 to William Howard Scovill who already owned land to the east and north.
Albert Thompson of Westmoreland bought the farm 1880 and sold to Alonzo Jennings the same year; to Sarah Gassett (Geo. H.); 1890 to Amy W. Jennings; 1896 to Curtis G. Britton of Keene, who also bought other land in the area; 1906 to Fred E. Howe of Keene; 1948 his daughter Barbara to Clifford A. Wilbur and sons Howard and Denman.
The land lies well here, fields both sides of the road, beautiful view of Mt. Monadnock. Fields which have been neglected are being reclaimed as cropland. Buildings on road are all gone. Barn was on east and house on west. Clifford Wilbur worked here for Howe 1906. The ell part of the house had been taken down then; they lived in the big part. Raised potatoes, cut hay.
In 1838 360 shooks of staves were cut off, to be sent down river by Luther Foster of Swanzey, putting them into the river at the old ferry place, at the village bridge and Zachariah Carpenter landing.
356. HOWARD AND DENMAN WILBUR: This house is on land that was originally part of the Flint Farm (see #350). The Wilburs erected new buildings on the north side of the highway.
357. STANLEY W. CONLEY: In 1946 the Wilburs sold this 20 acre piece to Stanley W. Conley. It was originally a part of the Davis Carpenter farm which was bought by William Wellington. Scott Wellington owned; 1919 to Clinton W. Tenney; 1923 to Merton R. Tenney; 1925 to John H. Bennett, to Katharine Dunham Bennett; 1945 to the Wilburs. Conley erected the buildings at the southeast corner. In the north corner of this farm is Scott Wellington's burial plot.
358. STOCKER CELLARHOLE: In 1791 while he owned the Carpenter farm, Daniel Newcombe set off a house lot in the southeast corner to Ebenezer Stocker. This would have been on the west side of the road, just north of fence row which was Cushing's (Patnode's) north line. Stocker died about 1798 and his widow Abigail sold to Nathaniel Cross of Wheelock, Vt .; 1802 to John Cross; 1807 to William Tuttle; 1810 to
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Sylvester Carpenter. There had been a house but it must have gone before Carpenter bought, since he paid only $20. All that remains is extensive foundations, lilacs and day lilies.
In 1799 Nathaniel Cross advertised. "For sale small farm 11/2 acres, small dwelling house and barn, good shoemaker's shop, about 40 rods south of Carpenter's Tavern on Great Road."
359. WILLIAM PATNODE: Their home farm. In 1775 Benjamin Bellows Jr. sold to Barnabas Willey the Patnode Farm, 100 acres on the west side of the county road from Walpole to Keene. December 18, 1807, Joseph and Barnabas Willey made the following agreement:
"Joseph promises to support Barnabas and Mercy Willey for their natural lives, taking care of them when sick, and burying them, etc. Also promises to pay Huldah, his sister, $50 and Leah Willey, $50, and Lois Willey, $50, if they get married and call for such sums. If they remain single, Joseph promises to find them a home with him if they choose. If Barnabas and Mercy decide they want to live in a room by them- selves, Joseph is to find them a room, and if Barnabas wishes to work in his shop at his trade, Joseph is to find the shop for said purpose. Joseph assumes all of Barnabas' debts. Joseph is to have livestock and farming utensils, the books and the gun. Mercy is to have the furniture and a string of beads, brass kittle, side saddle, and her wear- ing apparel."
Joseph seems to have lost the place in 1818, and the property changed hands several times before Jonas Pollard bought the place in 1822; 1823 to Joseph Cushing of Baltimore, Md. David Cushing resided on the farm for many years. According to SH 562, David Cushing was a farmer and butcher, coming here from Hingham, Mass. His wife was Mary (Polly), daughter of John Adams of Ashburnham, Mass. They had nine children. Their oldest child David was a stage driver from Putney to Boston. For ten years he was a freight stage teamster, residing in Walpole, in New York, and in Surry. David's wife was Rhoda Crain, daughter of Ebenezer Crain. Ebenezer and Elisha Crain were teamsters, having two teams which they drove between Walpole and Boston in 1839. That year Elisha mortgaged the following property:
"Brown horse called Bill, Bay horse called Tom, Goodnow mare, Bay horse called Fort Horse, Loring bay horse, Bruce gray horse, Temple white horse, Huntoon gray horse, Kimball gray horse, Chestnut horse called Sprig, Sorrel horse called Gutts, Fleming gray horse, Black horse called Bluebeard, 11 harnesses, some used, two new; one eight horse wagon built by myself; one eight horse wagon called Kilburn waggon; four six horse sleds nearly new and one two horse sleigh, being the two teams with harness, waggons, etc., which myself and brother Ebenezer now drive between this and Boston."
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In 1852 Joseph Cushing sold the farm to William B. Mason, son of Joseph Jr .; 1863 to Joseph Allen of Surry. His wife was Cory Lyna, daughter of George Washington Allen, a Civil War veteran, who lived at the top of Tucker Hill in North Walpole. He was a fireman for the Cheshire Railroad 1882-5, in the days of the wood-burners. It looks as if her father financed the farm. She sold in 1868 to George H. Gassett; 1875 to Charles G. Crain of Surry; 1906 to Clinton W: Tenney of Surry; 1942 to Fred R. and Vernie M. Trombley; 1947 to Arthur C. Handy; 1949 to present owners.
This farm has remained through the years the same 104 acre tract ex- cept for a period while Britton or the Allens owned. It then included the piece north to the main road.
The buildings stand on the west side of the old county road at the point where the old 3rd New Hampshire Turnpike continues straight southerly, while the old county road veers somewhat more westerly.
The plot of the road survey 1824 indicates that David Cushing's house might have been where there is said to be a cellarhole opposite Patnode's barn, but it is doubtful whether that was Cushing land.
360. GALEN TIFFANY-JOSLIN CELLARHOLE: In 1775 Benjamin Bellows Jr. sold to Phinehas Wright 100 acres west from the county road south of Patnode's, 1771/2 rods along the Westmoreland line. At that time Benoni Farnam owned the place over the line in Westmoreland. In 1789 John White abutted on the Westmoreland line, and Phinehas Wright (Zelpah) had removed to Keene when he sold to Daniel Joslin land and buildings here; 1798 Daniel, gentleman, to Peter Joslin Jr. of Winchendon, Mass. The Samuel Joslin on the next place west, 1790-2, was also from Winchen- don. By road records, Peter Jr. was here at least as early as 1797. In 1807 Joslin sold to Silas Whitney (Hannah), Ashburnham, Mass., and removed to Surry. His grandson, George Joslin, later resided on Wentworth Road.
Whitney also acquired the rest of the Bellows land adjoining to the east; 1823 to Samuel Grant, Whitney returning to Ashburnham. He had probably lived at the Joslin farm, since the present road to Keene had just been laid when he sold to Grant. There seems to have been build- ings in 1846 when Benjamin Bellows Grant bought out the rights of the other heirs, but none are shown on the 1858 map, and in 1863 when Grant sold to Gilbert T. Stevens it was referred to as the Joslin lot. It now belongs to Galen Tiffany who had from his father, who had bought from Addie M. Clement, who had it from her father, Albert Chickering. He bought 1898 from the Stevens heirs.
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361. SEVEN BARNS-ELMER L. MACKENZIE: Benjamin Smith owned this land early, but it appears to be another unfulfilled contract. He must have settled for the Whitney farm. At any rate, in 1772 Benjamin Bel- lows sold this large tract, 460 acres, to Benjamin Bellows Jr.
In 1804 Phebe Bellows deeded her dower rights in "farm called the lower end of Town Farm lying on Westmoreland line and is same on which Nathaniel Smith now lives" to Caleb Bellows and Samuel and Phebe Grant; 1808 to Silas Whitney, who had already bought the Joslin place; 1823 Whitney sold it back to the Grants. About that time the new Keene road as now travelled was built.
According to the History of Surry, the buildings of "Seven Barns" originally stood on the 3rd N. H. Turnpike (which was about 50 rods east of the old county road). After the new road was built, they were moved to a position near the site of the Johnson potato storage. There is no indication that anyone lived at the original site after 1823.
After Major Samuel Grant came into possession of the property, AH says "he en- gaged in sheep husbandry, keeping as many as a thousand at a time on the farm, and employing considerable help to care for them. With his help he was honorable, but very exacting, carrying his points of nicety to the extreme, it is said; not allowing, for instance, his men to step upon his grass while curing. He was a model farmer for orderly arrangement, but the income of his farm was not commensurate with the nicety of its appearance." In 1840 he is said to have raised 3200 bushels of "long-john" potatoes. Bradley Britton and another man had the daily stint of digging and putting into the cellar 150 bushels. Other foremen here through the years were William Kingsbury in 1847, Charles Abbott and John B. Beckwith about 1854.
There were the seven barns from which the farm derived its name and a large substantial house for the foreman.
Sept. 15, 1866, Benjamin B. Grant, who had acquired the property from the other members of the family, sold the place in several parcels. At that time there were at least five barns on the place. In 1930 R. N. Johnson brought back together the tillage land and developed a vast potato field with storage building near the Keene Road. This building burned. Mackenzies of Keene bought 1956.
362. MASON CELLARHOLE ON TURNPIKE: In 1779 Benjamin Bellows Jr. deeded to Benjamin Smith, yeoman, 981/2 acres in the north corner of the tract east side of the 1774 county road (a part of what Smith seems to have owned previously). Probably Smith's buildings were on the county road near the southwest corner of his farm. We found a well there, but did not identify any foundations.
In 1794 Smith sold the farm to Moses Mason of Sherburn, Mass. By
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probate records (1807), we find that his wife was Olive and their chil- dren: Simon; Becka (Rebecca), married Amasa Carpenter; Seth; Esther, married Gaius Hall; Juda; Gregory; Henry. Mason, who probably re- moved to Westmoreland, sold farm 1801 to Elijah Mason, possibly a relative.
Elijah died sometime before March 1808 for there is a probate record of his estate at that time. His widow Hannah seems to have married Timothy Crehore. Children of Elijah and Hannah were Hannah, died before 1808; Elijah; John; Samuel; Me-en; Peter.
The farm was divided among them. The 3rd N. H. Turnpike had been built, cutting across this farm from north to south, turning out of the present road more easterly at Patnodes'. Probably the Masons erected new buildings on the turnpike. The house stood on the west side of the highway, the barns on the east. In the settlement of the estate the widow had 11 acres in the northwest corner of the farm and the part between the old county road and the turnpike "with dwelling house and small barn, corn house, hay house, other heirs to use easternmost barn". Peter and Elijah seem to have had the middle part of the farm, and Samuel the eastern part on what is now the main road. Elijah seems to have been living at his mother's place on the old turnpike in 1825. (Turnpike from his place to town line was to be fenced in 1825.)
363. FLOYD C. PETERSON: Samuel Mason had erected buildings, now Floyd Peterson's, after the new county road was laid is 1822. The old buildings at #362 were still there in 1834, gone by 1858. In 1825 Peter Mason bought Elijah's farm, in 1828 Samuel's right in his mother's share (she must have died), and in 1833 Samuel's farm.
In 1863 Peter sold the farm to Joseph Allen of Surry, who immediately sold to Salem and Haskell Towne. Haskell owned it for the rest of his life, and John Fred Whitney purchased it from his estate in 1911; 1960 to present owners. It is said that the ell of this house was originally one of the houses on the other county road or the turnpike. Many a jolly party was held here by the Townes; in 1894 they had a surprise party, with dancing, 80 people.
364. CELLARHOLE NEAR #359: In 1782 Benjamin Smith sold 21/2 acres in the northwest corner of his farm (from a point about opposite the Pat- nodes'-north 20 rods to Eliphalet Fox's land) to Solomon Boynton, cordwainer. He apparently built a house; July 1783 sold to Eliphalet Fox; September 1783 to Barnabas Willey. It now goes with the Crehore prop- erty. We were unable to find the cellarhole.
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365. JOHN DAVENPORT CREHORE II: In 1773 Eliphalet Fox, bricklayer, of Lunenburg, Mass., bought this farm from Benjamin Bellows; 1795 to Ebenezer Crehore who had come to Walpole as early as 1780.
Crehore first lived in the village, working as a "joyner". He had a wood lathe in his shop on the south bank of Mad Brook about 100 feet west of Main Street. There remains a trace of a stone abutment to mark the spot. Warren and Alvin Colburn "were the last owners of this old lathe, which they superseded by modern machinery in 1912 when they built the barn nearby, now owned by Mrs. William Lane, as a com- plete woodworking shop. On the old lathe Crehore turned the spindles for the pew ends for the old town meeting house on Prospect Hill. ... Identical banisters for the elegant balustrades of a number of houses in Walpole, the first being turned for the Spitzli house, indicate that Ebenezer made a template which he used for his own work as well as for banisters he must have sold to other builders. The banisters are of this model in the fine home of Mr. and Mrs. Edward Cutter on Prospect Hill."
Charles Crehore inherited farm from father Ebenezer in 1819. His widow, Lucy Bowker Crehore, married Luther Proctor and they remained on the farm. In 1877 her oldest son John Davenport Crehore, an engi- neer in Cleveland, Ohio, bid in the property; in 1884, to his widow Lucy Williams Crehore who died 1930. She left it to her daughter Mary Cre- hore Bedell. She died 1936, leaving it to her husband Frederick for the benefit of Crehore descendants; 1937 to daughter Caroline Bedell Thomas; 1946 to John Davenport Crehore II. With his family he re- tired to the place in 1946. Thus the place has been owned by the Cre- hores since 1795.
Out of this property Fox had sold what is now the Carpenter Hill Cemetery.
According to Crehore family tradition, they allowed the town to build Schoolhouse #8 on their land "on condition that if the school was not used for a period of twenty years, the land should revert. ... " John Davenport Crehore taught in this school beginning November 20, 1848, but did not state in his diary that the school was new, although he called it 'our' or 'my' school. .. . " About 1900 the school had not been used for over twenty years, the pupils having been shifted to Christian Hollow School. In the winter of 1909, several quite young children walked to school from the Merriam and the Haskell Towne farms, both two miles from Christian Hollow. In 1901 the land was bid in and returned to the Crehore property.
366. SALEM TOWNE FARM-DOROTHY M. STRAETZ: Eliphalet Fox owned part of this farm in 1777, but James Lewis seems to be the one who brought it together as a farm from 1780 to 1787. He was a housewright and had a house here as early as 1787; 1802 to Caleb Bugbee of Wood- stock, Conn., 831/2 acres; 1814 to Nathaniel Davenport of Milton, Mass .; 1818 to Thomas Allen; 1823 to Henry S. Allen of Canton, Mass. The property came back to Davenport who sold 1833 to Leander and Albert
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Crain; 1834 to Robert Austin of Gilsum; 1846 to Haskell Austin; 1848 to Salem Towne; 1900 heirs to George C. Towne; 1902 his estate to Harry Jennison; 1904 to Margaret S. Cameron, a granddaughter of Henry T. Allen; 1909 to Clifford L. Sturtevant; 1909 to Josie S. Wilber; 1914 to James T. Melvin, land and buildings; 1951 to his daughter Dorothy M. Straetz and her husband Ralph A., of Oxford, Ohio.
The buildings stood well back on the north side of the road, with fields extending to the north.
367. RICHARD MERRIAM MILL: In 1788 Richard Merriam (second son of John Sr.) bought from Thomas Bellows what later came to be known as the Crehore pasture, next west of his father's place, north side of Merriam Road to Surry. Richard had a sawmill on the brook and must have had a house and barn. In 1797 sold to Allen Watkins, reserving the mill, which he sold to Watkins in 1798; 1801 to Elnathan Newton; 1805 to Allen Watkins; 1807 to Thomas Drew for $1200; 1811 to Samson Drury for $400, indicating that the buildings (mill and/or house) may have been destroyed; 1811 to Caleb Bugbee; 1813 to Ebenezer Crehore.
Richard Merriam removed to Hartland, Vermont.
368. MERRIAM FARM: In 1773 Benjamin Bellows sold to John Merriam, blacksmith, of Littleton, Mass., 50 acres along the Surry line and in 1776 an additional 12 acres south of the first. When Merriam came here, it is said to have been a wilderness except for a plot on the knoll east of the buildings erected in later years. He is said to have come in November, cleared six acres and sowed to winter wheat the same season. This tract was the nucleus of a 300 acre farm, still in the family.
"At the time of the Battle of Bennington a courier was dispatched to inform him that soldiers would pass his house on their way to the scene of conflict and he must prepare to furnish them with water, the next day. Accordingly every available vessel that would hold water was filled from his well and ready for use. The following day 3,000 soldiers drank and filled their canteens from his well, and passed on to Col. Josiah Goldsmith's tavern. . . . " AH 331.
No doubt this was the early road from the settlement at Keene cut in 1738 by the original proprietors of No. 3. Men under Joffe had marched this way in 1759 on their way to No. 4 to complete the east end of the Crown Point Road across Vermont.
369. MERRIAM SMALL HOUSE: John Merriam is supposed to have built his house higher up on the hill north of the later buildings, although he seems to have had a blacksmith shop by the road. In 1781 he deeded the farm to his son, John Jr., who probably ran the farm, building another barn near the original, and a house for himself to the southeast, on the
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other side of the road. In 1786 and in 1791 he deeded back to his father the main part of the farm (37 acres), reserving for himself his house, land east and a lot to the north of the home farm, having purchased it from Josiah Bellows. Apparently he did not make out too well financially, since he mortgaged the property to Thomas Drew and lost it.
Drew sold to Ezekial Graves (Nancy), who owned 1807-14. Ezekial had died then, and Abner Graves sold the property to Daniel Merriam, re- serving one half for Nancy for life.
In 1797 John Merriam Sr. had deeded the home farm to his son Daniel who moved his father's house to a new location west of the most recent site, and resided there many years. He spent his last years in the little house which he had bought from Graves, probably retiring and letting Daniel Jr. run the farm. Daniel Jr. built a new house in 1837. This was a large set of buildings with house and barn connected. The house was white, had a porch with white pillars, with lilacs and roses growing roundabout. There must have been a most pleasing view to the south across the meadow beyond the road, especially with the maples in full color in the fall.
Daniel Jr. sold the place in 1862 to his son Ellery R. of Boston, re- serving the small place; 1876 to his brother Elmore E. As late as 1923 he was occupying the place in the summer. Now the last remains of the house have fallen into the cellar and the lilacs, roses and maples have taken over, while a neighbor's cows graze in the fields and around the cellarhole. In 1940 Irving R. Merriam of Dorchester, Mass., bought "with all buildings thereon."
DERRY HILL
In 1781 Col. William Heywood of Charlestown surveyed the main part of the Atkinson Tract on Derry Hill, laying it out in twenty-two lots of approximately 100 acres each. The north-south dividing lines were paral- lel with the east line of the town, north by the needle. The east-west lines were parallel with the south line of the town (N. 78°W) and began at the south line of the Atkinson Tract which was two miles from the south line of the town. There were four rows of lots, extending 660 rods along the east line. Heywood did not survey the north part of the tract. The total distance of the Atkinson Tract along the east line of the town (according to the Atkinson-Bellows deed 1766) was 960 rods. The north line of the tract was "W 12º N 170 rods to corner of Lot No. one in the Easternmost Range of Lots," although the Bellows plan shows this line W 12° S.
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Heywood estimated the total area of the 22 lots to be 2,303 acres, Bel- lows and Atkinson estimated 2,764 acres (including the additional four 100 acre lots in the north part). Heywood rated each lot as to qual- ity, and finally stated "The 4 North Lots (of the 22) are in my opinion the best situated for a farm." For his work, which took 21/2 days, he rendered a bill for 4 £, 15 Sh., July 16, 1781. The first lot was sold the following October. Theodore Atkinson, George Atkinson, and John Sparhawk had died. John's widow, Abigail, and Daniel Humphreys, guardian of William King Atkinson, and finally William himself, sold the lots.
There are some discrepancies in the drawing of the Atkinson Derry Hill Tract. The northwest corner should be at the corner of Lot 1 in the east range. The jog in the west line should be at the end of the boundary line coming down from the northwest corner of Drury and Parker (1781). We have drawn the lines as best we could from the survey, then fitted them to the lot lines and roads shown in the aerial photograph.
The earlier records refer to this area as Atkinson Hill, but it soon came to be known as Derry Hill since most of the settlers were from London- derry, New Hampshire. This little colony was Scotch Irish, their ances- tors having immigrated from the north of Ireland. These were families of frugal and industrious habits and sparing economy. By their patient industry in a few years the forests were cleared and what is now im- poverished land produced an abundance for man and beast. The fami- lies flourished-Moores, Barnetts, Dickeys, Cochrans, Ramsays, Marshes and Drurys. The children grew up and most of them departed to make their mark elsewhere. Some of the last of those who stayed failed to marry. There is not now a single set of buildings and only some of the Dickey land is still farmed. For some years these farms were pastured, but the practice ceased because of thefts.
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