USA > New Hampshire > Merrimack County > New London > A history of the town of New London, Merrimack county, New Hampshire, 1779-1899 > Part 3
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18
HISTORY OF NEW LONDON.
southwest of the Norris corner of to-day ; both of these were accepted by the town. The need of a grist-mill and a saw-mill began to be felt, and three extra meetings were called during the year " to See if the town will Come into any method to build mills in sd town ; " but no method was devised, and Lieut. Levi Harvey, who first appears in the town records at these meet- ings, seems to have gone ahead and built the needed mills at the Hominy Pot himself, under individual guaranty.
A special meeting was called at the house of Jacob Hadley, Feb. 12, 1781, and the selectmen were commissioned to hire a man to serve in the Continental army for three years. They engaged Francis Como of Sutton, who entered the service April 23 of that year, serving in the First New Hampshire regiment, Colonel Cilley commanding, till the regiment was discharged in November, 1783. In return for his services he received the bounty of twenty pounds "promised by the acts and resolves of the General Court," the town paying him in addition £60 for the year 1781, the same sum for 1782, and £54, 12 s. for 1783. Como also served in the French war. He lived to be very old, and in his last years, when he had become nearly blind, was granted a pension for his Revolu- tionary service. He died in 1817.
March 13, 1781, must have been a bad day, for the meeting took a decidedly contrary turn, voting down nearly every measure proposed (except that swine must be shut up, and that each man must shut up swine on his own land), and finally adjourned for two weeks. Instead of raising money for high- ways it was voted that one hundred and fifty days' work be done on the roads, and at a meeting called September 4 the price for a day's work was set at a half dollar. At this latter meeting it was voted " to Raise Silver money to Pay for Beaf Purchased for this year." This was in accordance with an act of the general court requiring each town to furnish its quota of rum or beef for the use of the army.
The warrant for 1782 calls on all " freeholders and inholders" to meet at the house of Capt. John Morgan (on the Belden Mor- gan farm), and is signed by Lieut. Levi Harvey and Nathan Goodwin as selectmen. Twenty hard dollars were voted for town charges, twelve dollars for school, and seventy-five dollars for highways, work at three shillings per day. This year
19
FORM OF GOVERNMENT.
marks the first appropriation for preaching. A Baptist church had been formed in Sutton in April, 1782, and in October of the same year the Rev. Samuel Ambrose was ordained as pastor, he devoting, however, a portion of his labors to the little community at New London, which by this time numbered twenty families. Hence it was that the town in 1783 voted "to do Something towards the Support of mr Ambrose, Preacher," and Nathaniel Everett and Samuel Messer were made a committee to inquire into his wants, to supply accord- ing to the town's proportion, and to make an average of the same. Another innovation was the voting " to join Perrys- town & fishersfield and Petition the General Court that these towns may be Joined in Representation," but it was not until 1794 that New London was finally classed with Sutton.
In 1783 Lieutenant Harvey's house " near the mills " was the place of meeting, and Lieutenant Harvey was chosen moderator. Ebenezer Hunting continued to serve as town clerk, and it having been decided to choose the selectmen " by Process," Lieut. Samuel Brocklebank was chosen first, Lieut. Levi Harvey second, and Ebenezer Hunting third. Peter Sargent, who with his family had come from Hopkinton in 178I, was chosen constable. It was voted " to Concur with " the Council and House of Representatives for this State that " the Present Government be Continued in full force untill the " tenth day of June 1784 according to their Resolve Passed " 27th of February 1783."
This measure of concurrence referred to the temporary con- stitution adopted by the state January 5, 1776, to continue in effect during the war with England, and was the first written constitution adopted by any of the states now included in the Union. Under this constitution the state elected a council and also a house of representatives, and the council elected a pre- siding officer who was to all intents and purposes governor of the province. Such was the form of government at the time of the town's incorporation in 1779, the act of incorporation being passed by the house of representatives, then by the coun- cil, and was finally signed by Meshech Weare as president or governor. The war with England was settled by treaty prior to 1783, but, as previously noted, the council and house of rep- resentatives had voted to continue the government under the
20
HISTORY OF NEW LONDON.
temporary constitution until June 10, 1784, when substantially the present method of electing a governor, council, senate, and house of representatives by the people went into effect. Me- shech Weare acted as president during the eight years of the temporary constitution, and was again chosen president in 1784.
Nathaniel Everett, for expense in removing Elder Ambrose from New Plymouth (now Plymouth) to Sutton, was voted the sum of one pound, five shillings, and six pence at this meeting, and then the question of Levi Harvey's mill privileges came up for consideration. It appears that when the town in 1780 decided that as a town nothing could be done towards building a grist-mill and saw-mill, certain public-spirited individuals took it upon themselves to give Lieutenant Harvey a bond to purchase the land on which the mills were to sit, at the outlet of Harvey (Clark) pond, which belonged to a non-resident proprietor, and also to defend him against claims for flowage from the millpond. Accordingly Harvey built the mills, but in 1783 those individuals desired to be loosed from their bond, and after some discussion the town voted to take their place, and instructed the selectmen to give Harvey a bond conditioned like the former one. As Harvey was himself one of the select- men, the other two, Samuel Brocklebank and Ebenezer Hunt- ing, gave him the desired security, and thus the matter rested for some years.
But there was an after-clap to this particular March meeting, as the following petition humbly acknowledges :
" Petition to " New London, May 2, 1783.
" Joshua Bailey, Esq. " To Joshua Bailey, Esqr., one of the Justices of the Peace " for the County of Hillsborough : the Petition of us the Sub- " scribers, Inhabitants of New London, humbly Sheweth that " according to the act of Incorporation Granted to this town, " Directing them to hold an annual meeting on the Second " tuesday of March, the freeholders and other Inhabitants of " this town transacted the business of sd meeting as usual on " the Eleventh of March Last, being in some measure Ignor- " ant (by Reason of Some Disadvantages) of the Laws and " acts of this State. we since the Dissolving of our annual " meeting understand that our transactions were not legal by " Reason of there not being a Sufficient number of Voters in
2I
OATH OF ALLEGIANCE.
" this town to Choose town officers, etc., who had taken Care " to Qualify themselves by Complying with an act of the Gen- " eral Court of this State Requiring them to take an oath that " is there Inserted in order to be Proper Voters, etc. this is " therefore to Request your Assistance that we might have a " meeting Called in this town for the Choosing of town Officers, " etc., as may be agreeable to the Laws of this State, Assur- " ing your Honour that we are willing to Comply with any Laws " or acts that are Constitutional."
This petition was signed by Lieut. Levi Harvey, Lieut. Wil- liam Hutchins, Lieut. Samuel Brocklebank, John Adams, James Brocklebank, Samuel Messer, Nathan Goodwin, Capt. John Morgan, John Morgan, Jr., Ephraim Gile, Jacob Hadley, Nathaniel Everett, and Ebenezer Hunting. In compliance with the above request, agreeable to the law of the state made in such cases, Joshua Bailey, Esq., who was one of the most influential citizens of Hopkinton in earlier times, issued a warrant, dated at Perrystown, May 5, 1783, notifying the in- habitants paying taxes in New London to meet at the house of Ebenezer Hunting on the 20th day of May current at one o'clock in the afternoon. The meeting was duly held, and the following named persons took the oath of allegiance before Es- quire Bailey : Nathaniel Everett, Ephraim Gile, Nathan Good- win, Capt. John Morgan, John Morgan, Jr., Peter Sargent, Israel Hunting, Jacob Hadley, Lieut. Samuel Brocklebank, Lieut. William Hutchins, Levi Everett, Eliphalet Gay, Ebene- zer Sargent. Esquire Bailey then opened the meeting, and Lieut. Levi Harvey was chosen moderator " by hand votes." The same town officers were elected as at the previous meeting, with the addition of Capt. John Morgan as tithing-man, and the town was once more on solid ground. A special meeting, held July I, confirmed the action of the town at the previous March meeting in regard to the acceptance of roads and the giving of a bond to Lieutenant Harvey. The warning for the annual meeting in 1784 closes the service of Ebenezer Hunting as town clerk, and under date of March 9, 1784, he duly certi- fies in clear, bold handwriting " the foregoing Records of the town of New London a true Record according to the best of my Knowledge."
22
HISTORY OF NEW LONDON.
Levi Harvey was the second town clerk, chosen March 9, 1784, and was also first selectman. This year the town cast its first vote for president of the state, Col. Josiah Bartlett of Kingston receiving twenty-four votes; for the two senators, Joshua Bailey of Hopkinton had twenty-three votes and Cap- tain Simons of Hillsborough had eighteen. Tuesday and Fri- day of every week were set apart for grinding days at the mill, " as usual." The meeting adjourned to March 22, when twenty-five dollars were voted Elder Ambrose for his services the year past.
June 8 a special meeting was held to consider " a Request of " the Select men of Protectworth to Lay out a Road from Kear- " sarge Gore to Protectworth through New London, where or " near the Road now Runs, and Repair a Good passable Road " forth with or they will Send to the County of Hillsborough " who will Send a Committee that will Do it on our Cost ac- " cording to an act of the Court."
Under these circumstances discretion was plainly the better part of valor, and it was decided to open the road " according to Request." One hundred days' work were to be done that season, and that the town's obligation might be thoroughly liquidated it was voted " to Raise ten Gallons of rum on the town's Cost for the opening of the Road before mentioned." This highway was the main road as it used to run from the Sutton line to Crockett's corner, thence following much the same course as the present road over Colby hill and along the easterly shore of Little Sunapee to Springfield. At this meet- ing the committee on roads made a full report of their doings the previous year, and seven highways were accepted by the town.
Five surveyors of highways were elected in 1785,-Jedediah Jewett, Samuel Brocklebank, Nathaniel Everett, John Adams, Jr., and John Austin, Jr. Col. John Langdon of Portsmouth received twenty-five votes for president, the largest number that had yet been recorded. It was voted to put what land had been cleared on school lot No. 68 into grain, and to fell ten acres more. Another vote, of interest as indicating the value of land, was that " to give Levi Harvey nine shillings per acre for the land that is due him from the town for building mills." Two extra meetings were called in September and
23
THE FIRST CENSUS.
October of this year. At the first was passed the initial motion looking to the building of a meeting-house. It was voted to build a house thirty feet wide by thirty-two long, at the mouth of the Hutchins road, which was the highway running from the Four Corners to the old road over Messer hill. Twelve gallons of rum-the same to be divided to the surveyors-were to be purchased at the town's cost for use in cutting and repair- ing the northeast road (the turnpike in Wilmot). At the October meeting, it was decided " not to build a meeting- house."
But the faithful did not lose heart, and the warrant for the March meeting of 1786 contained an article "to see if the " town will vote to build a meeting-house and take proper " methods to bring forward the same and fix a place for a " burying-ground." Heretofore the inhabitants had met at pri- vate houses, but this year " the schoolhouse near the mills" was the place of assembly. Perhaps this fact engendered a more public spirit, at any rate the town then and there voted to build a meeting-house at a point not more than forty rods dis- tant from the mouth of the Hutchins road, with a burying- ground adjoining. Samuel Messer, Nathan Goodwin, and Samuel Brocklebank were chosen a committee to pitch on a location for the same, to sell the pews, and to go forward with the erection of the house as far as the money thus received would permit.
The committee were zealous in the duty thus assigned them, and early in May were ready to report. The location fixed upon was the southerly end of the present cemetery, and the original burying-ground was laid out to the north of the church. A goodly number of pews had been sold, and it had also been arranged that pay for the same might be made in corn at four shillings per bushel or in rye at five shillings. The March meeting had adjourned three times, and at the second of these sessions the selectmen were instructed to settle with Elder Am- brose, the balance due him for preaching to be paid out of the common stock. Levi Harvey was added to the church com- mittee in place of Samuel Messer, who declined to serve.
In June of this year the first census was taken, in accordance with an act of the legislature. The return made is as fol- lows :
24
HISTORY OF NEW LONDON.
" Males 21 years of age and upwards 46
" Males under 21 years of age 66
" Females 18 years of age and upwards . 46
" Females under 18 years of age 61
" Total . 219
" The above is a true account, as witness our hands.
" LEVI HARVEY, Selectmen
" JOHN ADAMS, for
" JOHN MORGAN, New London. " New London, June 5, 1786."
When Elder Ambrose first visited the town in 1782, there were twenty resident families in different parts of the town. One reason for the marked increase noted in the census four years later, is found in the fact that there was an influx of Revolutionary soldiers with their families soon after the close of the war, most of them coming from Attleboro, Dedham, and New Rowley (now Georgetown), Mass.,-men who exerted a strong influence for good in their adopted town. Among others were Solomon Adams, Capt. Thomas Currier, Edmund Davis, Josiah Davis, John Dole, Jesse Dow, Levi Everett, Penuel Everett, Eliphalet Gay, Zebedee Hayes, Ezekiel Knowlton, Thomas Pike, David Smith, and Eliphalet Woodward, but it was not until 1804 that Moses Trussell, the pioneer axeman in the wilds of " Heidleburg " and the one-armed hero of Bunker Hill, became a citizen of New London.
Now that the vexed question of the meeting-house was satis- factorily adjusted, the calling and settling of a minister was in order. Several of the families in town had been parishioners of the Baptist church in. Attleboro, of which the Rev. Job Seamans had been the beloved first pastor since his ordination in December, 1773, and at their request Elder Seamans visited them in their new home in the summer of 1787, preaching his first sermon on Lord's day, June 24. The impression made on the community was a most favorable one, and September 24, the town, acting in this matter in its corporate capacity, as was the custom of those times,
" Voted to give Elder Seamans a call to settle in this town as " a minister of the Gospel.
" Voted to give him forty pounds yearly as a salary-three
25
ELDER JOB SEAMANS.
" pounds in cash and thirty-seven pounds in labor and grain " and other produce that he may want-all to be paid at the " common price.
"Voted that a sum for settlement be raised by subscription.
" Voted that upon Elder Seamans being settled as a minister " for this town that he be entitled to all the ministerial priv- "ileges in town according to charter except one half of the " parsonage lands."
In consequence of this call Elder Seamans came a second time, in the winter of 1788, leaving his home in Attleboro, according to an entry in his diary, February 18, and reaching Deacon Matthew Harvey's house in Sutton five days later. February 24 being the Sabbath day, Elder Seamans preached at Capt. John Morgan's, and again on the following day at Lieut. Samuel Messer's. Wednesday, of that same week, was a red-letter day in the annals of the church, and on it was made the first entry in the church book.
" Records of the Baptised church in New London.
" Wednesday Feb. 27th 1788 .- This day the Baptist brethren " in this town and the towns of Sutton and Fishersfield attended " a conference meeting at Ensign Nathaniel Everett's upon the " expediency of coming into church State. Elder Job Sea- " mans from Attleboro in the State of Massachusetts being "present opened the meeting by prayer then read and " expounded the I chapter of Haggai. Then the brethren " entered upon conference on the subject before them, and " there appeared to be a good agreement amongst them " although their number was small. Upon which Jeremiah " Everett, Ebenezer Sargent & Benjamin Baker, and sisters " Elizabeth Whittier and Esther Sargent concluded to petition " the church in Sutton of which they were members for a dismis- " sion so that they might join in constituting a church in New '. London."
The elder remained in town some two months, visiting the people and preaching from house to house. They were desir- ous that he should accept the call at once, and at the March meeting it was voted that his salary should date from the 24th of February, to remove his family from Attleboro to New Lon- don at the cost of the town, and " that the selectmen do forward the moving of Mr. Seamans family." He decided to enter
26
HISTORY OF NEW LONDON.
this inviting field of labor, and his acceptance of the call is spread on the town records under date of March 28, 1788. In June he resigned his charge of the little flock in Attleboro, over which he had exercised a watchful care for nearly fifteen years, and on the 20th of that month set out with his family for New London. The one hundred and fifty miles that lay between the old and new home were covered in twelve days. At Warner the family was met by a delegation of New Lon- don's citizens who had come to help them over the last stage of their long journey. New London was reached July 1, and the family was accommodated in a house belonging to James Brocklebank, who had located on the A. C. Philbrick place. Elder Seamans's diary records the fact that Manning, who was the youngest of the seven children and then about a year old, was taken sick the same night, but he soon recovered in the bracing air of the New Hampshire hills.
In the mean time the building of the meeting-house had received attention at the hands of the committee, and on Sun- day, September 28, 1788, the people gathered for public wor- ship in the new house, which boasted four walls and a roof to keep out the weather, although finish was lacking within and without. The church was constituted formally Thursday, October 23, with the counsel and assistance of the Baptist churches in Canaan, Sutton, and Wendall (Sunapee). No one in that little gathering could foresee the far-reaching influence which, emanating from this humble source, was to spread abroad in ever-widening circles through more than a century of years; but the discomforts of loose flooring, rough plank benches, and gaping apertures in place of doors and windows, were forgotten in the solemn joy that filled all hearts.
By reason of a request from a committee of the church, a special meeting of the inhabitants was held in the meeting- house November 25, at which the town
" Voted to agree with the call that the church has given " Elder Seamans to settle as a minister of the Gospel in this " town, and that the selectmen be a committee to forward his " reinstallment the ensuing winter.
" Voted for singers Ebenezer Hunting, Lieut. Samuel Mes- " ser, Nathaniel Fales, Asa Burpee, Moses Hills, Jonathan "Adams, Capt. Samuel Brocklebank." Another vote gave
27
END OF THE FIRST DECADE.
the singers liberty to sing the last time on Sunday without reading. This doubtless refers to the old custom of " deacon- ing " the hymns,-that is, the deacons, who generally occupied the " deacons' seat " near the pulpit, were charged with the proper execution of the singing, one reading the hymn two lines at a time and the other leading off the singers. Tradition names Nathaniel Fales as the master-spirit in the singing pew for many years. The office of town treasurer was created at this meeting, and Ebenezer Hunting being chosen to the posi- tion was empowered to call on the constable for the present year for the minister and town tax, and to receive and pay out according to the direction of the selectmen.
January 8, 1789, the church elected Ebenezer Hunting as deacon, and Nathan Goodwin " as a standing scribe in the church." January 21 witnessed the " reinstallment," as the records term it, of Elder Seamans as pastor. The Rev. Amos Wood of Weare preached the sermon, Rev. Thomas Baldwin of Canaan gave the charge to the candidate, and Rev. Samuel Ambrose of Sutton the fellowship of the churches. A large gathering of people from the neighboring towns tested the capacity of the new meeting-house, but not of the hospitality of the New London housewives, who were as famous for that liberal art in their day as are the matrons of the present genera- tion. The first communion of pastor and church was observed on the following Sunday, January 25, 1789.
Such are a few events in the town's history during the first decade of its corporate existence. The little hamlet of pioneers had become a thriving community of nearly three hundred souls, and comfortable frame dwellings were fast taking the place of the rude cabins of primitive times. Some of the oldest houses now standing date back to this period, that on the John D. Pingree farm having probably the priority as to age. This house was built by Ezekiel Knowlton, and has withstood the storms of more than a century. The Henry Quimby house on the back road was built by Joseph Colby about 1790, and was the birthplace of ex-Gov. Anthony Colby in 1792. A school- house and meeting-house had been built. David Smith (known as " Doctor " from his skill as a veterinary surgeon and farrier) had a blacksmith shop in the Low Plain district, Jesse Dow had another near the present Cummings cottage, and there were
28
HISTORY OF NEW LONDON.
mills at the Hominy Pot and some smaller industries, but there was no general store until near the close of the century.
The second state census was taken in 1790, and the return made by New London shows a total of three hundred and eleven inhabitants-a gain of nearly one hundred in four years. Eliphalet Gay appears to have built his saw-mill at the outlet of Lake Pleasant about this time, for at the following March meeting the town voted him exemption from taxation for the same. A set of measures-half-bushel, peck, and half-peck -was purchased, " to be kept as a standard," and Levi Har- vey was constituted sealer of weights and measures. As an inducement to be diligent in his calling it was voted to allow. the constable six pence per pound for collecting minister's tax, " provided he settles up before another is chosen in his room." In December of that year Capt. John Morgan and Levi Harvey were chosen a committee to " support the town's petition to the General Court to get the wild land of the non-residents taxed for highways."
Capt. John Morgan, Lieut. Benjamin Woodbury, and Joseph Colby were the selectmen for 1791, also serving as assessors and committee on roads. This last office was no sinecure, for the town made liberal appropriations for highways yearly, and the numerous roads built during these early years called for careful planning and supervision. Thomas Pike, Zebedee Hayes, Thomas Burpee, Jr., Eliphalet Gay, Solomon Adams, and Robert Knowlton were chosen highway surveyors. Nathaniel Fales, Asa Burpee, and Jonathan Adams were the town's choice for singers, " to take the lead and invite any that they shall see cause." It was voted to fence the burying- ground near Anthony Sargent's with stone wall, and the build- ing of the same was let out to Ephraim Gile at three shillings and three pence per rod. Another measure was "to try to build the pulpit by subscription." At a meeting called a little later in the season it was decided to hang the doors to the meeting-house and to lay the floors in the porches, above and below, denoting the still unfinished condition of the meeting- house. There were three public vendues of non-residents' lands for the non-payment of taxes in the winter of 1790-1, and about eleven hundred acres thus changed owners.
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