USA > New Hampshire > Cheshire County > Sullivan > A history of the town of Sullivan, New Hampshire, 1777-1917, Volume I > Part 10
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 (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71 | Part 72 | Part 73 | Part 74 | Part 75 | Part 76 | Part 77 | Part 78 | Part 79 | Part 80 | Part 81 | Part 82 | Part 83 | Part 84 | Part 85 | Part 86 | Part 87 | Part 88 | Part 89 | Part 90 | Part 91 | Part 92 | Part 93 | Part 94 | Part 95
Of birds having specially beautiful plumage may be found the gorgeous little humming bird, the Baltimore oriole, the scarlet taneger, beautiful goldfinches, the woodpecker with his golden-hued wings, the indigo bird, and the red-bird. Certain birds endure our severe winters. The yellow bird, the wood- pecker, the crow, an English sparrow strayed from the city, an
96
HISTORY OF SULLIVAN.
occasional robin, and the jay, and the little snow bird, and per- haps other varieties and species, have been seen in the coldest months. Of water-fowls we have quite a variety. Wild ducks, wild geese, grebes, stilts, loons, and blue herons are all dis- covered in town. Of birds of prey are seen various species of hawks and owls, and the bald eagle is an occasional visitor.
The reptiles in Sullivan are happily not numerous in species. There are a mud turtle and a land turtle, one or two species of lizards, and several kinds of snakes, such as the striped (or garter), brown, red-bellied, green, and water snakes, besides house adders. Black snakes have been seen, but rarely. Rat- tlesnakes have probably never been found in town. Of batra- chians we have the common frogs and toads, and the tree-toad is sometimes seen.
The fishes found here include perch, pouts, pickerel, eels, suckers, trouts and perhaps one or two other species of small fish. The brooks once teemed with trouts, but both the brooks and the ponds have been fished so much that it will take years of legal protection to restock them.
It would be impossible, if we knew them, to name the tens of thousands of species of insects found in town. Beyond flies, fleas, mosquitoes, lice, bees, bumblebees, wasps, hornets, ticks, June bugs, bedbugs, crickets, grasshoppers, darning-needles, ants of various kinds, and a few others known only by popular names, including many injurious to plants and crops, the very mention of names would be meaningless. What we call butterflies make a group of hundreds of species of hymenoptera, which interest us chiefly by their brilliantly colored wings, which look like flowers blown through the air. In Sullivan, the only useful native insect, from an economic point of view, is the honey-bee.
The great class of mollusks is represented in Sullivan only by a few land snails and possibly a species of fresh-water clam. The vermes are well represented, but the only species ordinarily known are the common angling-worm and the bloodsucker. Any attempt to give a complete description of the fauna of the town would be out of the question.
CHAPTER III. GENERAL HISTORY.
I. SETTLEMENT AND FIRST SETTLERS.
Sullivan was made up of the corners of four towns, as origi- nally constituted, viz., the north-east corner of Keene, the south- east corner of Gilsum, the south-west corner of Stoddard, and the north-west corner of Packersfield ( Nelson ).
The first settlements within the territory now included in Sullivan were made in the section which was taken from Gilsum. That town had been first incorporated by the name of Boyle, Dec. 28, 1752. This statement corrects, or rather com- pletes, the observation respecting this grant made on page 17 of Hayward's History of Gilsum. This date is from the grant itself. The territory of Boyle, as granted, extended to the north and south lines respectively of the present Gilsum, and on the east to a line which would be about a hundred rods east of the present eastern line of Sullivan. On the west, it also included the present Surry, except that portion of the latter town taken from Westmoreland. Precisely the same territory as Boyle was incorporated as Gilsum, July 13, 1763. Boyle had never been settled on account of the serious Indian troubles. The western end of Gilsum was included in the town of Surry, incorporated, Mar. 9, 1769. Sullivan took the south-east corner of the town, a very valuable piece of territory, of several thousand acres, at the incorporation, Sept. 27, 1787. The grants of Stoddard and Packersfield, May 10, 1752, had previously limited Gilsum, on the east, by cutting off all east of the Patent Line. Gilsum protested against this loss of land, but the decision to let the Patent Line remain as the eastern bound was rendered by an act of the legislature approved, June 21, 1797. Sullivan lost a few acres to Gilsum, north and west of the Ashuelot, July 7, 1874. The name Gilsum was derived from the first syllables of
98
HISTORY OF SULLIVAN.
the surnames of Samuel Gilbert of Hebron, Conn., and Rev. Clement Sumner of Keene.
The first notice of any attempt to settle any part of the present town of Sullivan was a grant to a man named Aaron Denio of Deerfield, Mass. It never amounted to anything, but the records which refer to it are a historical curiosity and explain themselves. In the Massachusetts House Journal for Nov. 28, 1735, is this entry :
On the petition of Aaron Denio of Deerfield, who was Captivated when that Town was taken by the Indian Enemy Anno 1702, and carried to Canada, which was read and accepted, and in answer to the Petition, Voted, That two hundred acres of the Unappropriated Lands of the Province in the County of Hampshire, be and hereby is granted to the Petitioner his heirs and assigns, in consideration of the misfortunes and sufferings within mentioned, certified by Joseph Kellogg and Thomas Wells, Esqrs. ; that the Petitioner or his Assigns be obliged to bring forward a Settlement on the Lands within three years by building an House thereon of eighteen feet square and seven feet stud at the least, and plowing and bringing too and fit for mowing or planting six acres at least of the granted Premisses, and have a family dwelling on said Land in said House; and that he return a Plat thereof to this Court within twelve months for confirmation accordingly.
Sent up for Concurrence.
It must be explained that Massachusetts, for reasons which will appear more fully in the chapter of FAMILY HISTORIES pertaining to District No. 4, claimed all New Hampshire land west of the Merrimack, as far north as the parallel which would pass through the mouth of Lake Winnipisiogee. They included this within the limits of their Hampshire County.
From another entry in the same House Journal for Dec. 3, 1736, we take the following :
The Petition of Aaron Denio of Deerfield, Captivated by the Indian Enemy Anno 1702, as entred the 28th. of November last, Read, and in answer to the Petition, Voted, That two hundred acres of the unappropriated Lands of the Province in the County of Hampshire, be and hereby is given and granted to the Petitioner his Heirs and Assigns, in consideration of the Misfortunes & Sufferings within mentioned, Certified by Joseph Kellogg & Thomas Weils, Esqrs .; that the Petitioner or his Assigns be obliged to bring forward a Settle- ment on the Lands within three Years, by building an House thereon of eighteen feet square and seven feet stud at the least, and plowing and bringing to and fit for mowing or planting six acres at least of the granted Premisses, and have a Family dwelling on said Land in said House, and that he return a Plat thereof to this Court within twelve months for Confirmation accordingly.
Sent up for Concurrence.
99
SETTLEMENT AND FIRST SETTLERS.
This grant to Denio was made, June 21, 1738, according to the House Journal for that date ; also recorded, June 23, 1738, in the Massachusetts Court Records. The grant follows :
A Plat of Two Hundred Acres of Land laid out by Seth Field Survey" and Chain men on Oath, to fulfill a grant of this Court to Aaron Denio; Beginning at a Hemlock Tree five rods to the Westward of the North East corner of the Upper Ashuelet Township, marked S.F. E.F. JN. ; thence running North 20 0.00 East two hundred and forty rods to a Beach Tree mark'd @ SF. JN. then running East 20 0.00 South one hundred and thirty four rods to a Beach Tree mark'd as the last ; then South 20 °.00 West, two hundred and forty rods to a Poplar Tree mark'd - JN. then West 20 0.00 North, to the first Station.
In the House of Representves Read and Ordered that the Plat be accepted, and the lands therein delineated and described be and hereby are confirmed to the said Aaron Denio his Heirs and Assigns he or they complying with and fulfilling the conditions of the Grant effectually : Provided the Plat exceeds not the quantity of Two Hundred Acres of land, and does not interfere with any former Grant.
In Council ; Read and Concur'd
Consented to
J Belcher
This tract would have been a rectangle, 240 by 134 rods, whose south-west corner would have clipped a few square rods from the north-east corner of Upper Ashuelot (under which name the territory now Keene was first granted). Keene was extended east from this first grant to the Patent Line, at its incorporation. A part was afterwards included in Sullivan and another piece was included in Roxbury. The original north- east corner was the same as the north-east corner of the Roswell Hubbard farm, which is at the north-west corner of the farm of M. A. Nims. The north-east corner of Upper Ashuelot would be on what was the north line of Keene, but how far west of the corner just named it is difficult to determine. We have found no survey that would establish that fact. It was perhaps not far from where the road over Nims Hill crosses the old line. In that case, this rectangular plot would be principally in what was Gilsum, covering the land owned by Joseph B. Seward, the old Simeon Ellis place, Mr. Jewett's land and possibly a part of the land of the late Mrs. Farrar. It is safe to assume that Mr. Denio never saw his "possessions," nor was any further notice ever taken of his grant.
The first settlements in the territory now called Sullivan were made in the part which was taken from Gilsum. The first
100
HISTORY OF SULLIVAN.
settler appears to have been Stephen Griswold, who drew the "right " No. 62 of Gilsum, which included the lower lots of the 8th range. His house stood a little north-east of the present Town Hall. It was afterwards sold to Joseph Ellis. He was one of the grantees of Gilsum, July 13, 1763, but probably did not settle here till about 1768. The second settler was Benja- min Olcott, who came from E. Haddam, Conn., and settled what we call the town farm, which he purchased, June 22, 1768, and the deed speaks of the lot as the one upon which said Olcott has already settled. Soon after, his wife gave birth to a still-born daughter, which was the first birth within the limits of the present town. William Comstock of Lyme, Conn., bought the farm where Alonzo Farrar lived, Jan. 5, 1769, but did not move until the following year, for his son William was born at Lyme, May 13, 1770. His son James was born on this Farrar farm, Apr. 10, 1773, and was the first living child (as well as the first boy) born on the soil of the present Sullivan. The Olcott farm passed from him to non-residents. James Rowe of Hebron, Conn., bought it, Apr. 11, 1774, and probably moved to it at once.
Joseph Ellis of Keene bought the Griswold place, Sept. 24, 1776. As there was a house upon it and Keene was so near, he probably moved at once. In the obituary of Mrs. Lydia Ellis, widow of the preceding, thirty years after this, she is said to have been the third woman who settled in the town. The state- ment can only be accepted with modifications. Both Mrs. Olcott and Mrs. Griswold are not reckoned (probably because they moved from the place). It is probable also that Mrs. Joshua Osgood was already living on the new farm of her hus- band, and it would seem that Mrs. Z. Nims may have been living on the farm where Mr. Brooks lives. The writer of the obituary probably used a tradition that may have been somewhat careless. The other two women implied were doubtless Mrs. James Rowe and Mrs. William Comstock, Sr. Mr. Ellis had four sons who lived in Sullivan. Three of them came into possession of their farms on Sept. 10, 1787, just twenty days before the incorporation of the town. Joseph, Jr., remained on the homestead, the house just north of the present
101
SETTLEMENT AND FIRST SETTLERS.
Town Hall. Benjamin (who had already purchased his place of his father, June 20, 1780) lived in the corner where Geo. L. Mason lives. Nathan built the house which became the L of Joseph Seward's house ; and Simeon lived opposite the site of the parsonage, later owned and occupied by Rev. Mr. Muzzey.
The Dimicks were probably the next to arrive. They came from Guilford, Conn., but had previously lived many years in Ashford, Conn. John Dimick bought of a Gilsum proprietor the land which constituted the old Saunders, Dr. Cannon, and Leland farms in later years, besides two lots in Gilsum, Nov. 24, 1766. He probably lived first on land which is still in Gilsum. Before moving to what is now Sullivan, he gave a good farm to each of his children who had come with him from Connecticut. He gave to his son John the old farm on the hill west of the old cemetery, where Michael Saunders later lived, which then included all of the land where the Hubbards lived later. He gave to his son Timothy what was later the Leland farm. He bought and gave to his son Isaac what was later the Baker farm, where J. N. Nims lives. It is not supposed that Isaac ever lived upon it however. He gave his daughter, Mrs. Hannah Thatcher, who lived in his family, what was afterwards the old Foster farm, where H. C. Rawson lives. Mrs. Thatcher never lived upon it probably. He gave to his other daughter, Mrs. Sibyl Chapman, wife of John Chapman, Sr., a lot in Gilsum, also what was later the home farm of the Boyntons. According to Hayward, the elder John Dimick lived with his son Timothy. He also gave Timothy a lot in Gilsum, where they probably lived until about the time that Timothy sold it, Apr. 27, 1780. If the obituary of Mrs. Ellis, to which we alluded, told the truth, the Dimicks did not come to what is now Sullivan earlier than 1776. Possibly they came in the autumn of 1777, when the Chapmans came to what was later the C. W. Rawson farm, which they had just purchased. John, Sr., and Timothy came to the Leland farm, and John, Jr., to the farm west of the old cem- etery. Just before the incorporation of Sullivan, Mr. Chapman had given to John Chapman, Jr., a lot west of his own, just south of the North Part schoolhouse ; also to his son Benjamin what was later the Boynton place. He himself lived on the C. W. Rawson farm. His son William, just after the incorporation of
5
102
HISTORY OF SULLIVAN.
the town, bought what was later the old Farrar place and also received a gift of other land from his father.
Thomas Morse of Keene, a native of Dublin, purchased, Apr. 5, 1777, the land which later made the Seth Nims and F. B. Nims farms. Jonathan Baker of Topsfield, Mass., pur- chased, Apr. 7, 1777, the place where J. N. Nims now lives. Jonathan Heaton, a son of Seth Heaton, Sr., of Keene, pur- chased, Feb. 22, 1777, what we call the old Proctor place. Timothy Dewey, whose father, Dea. Ebenezer, had come to Gilsum from Hebron, Conn., purchased, Jan. 14, 1778, the farm where M. J. Barrett lives. At the grave of his little son Tim- othy, is the first headstone erected in the old cemetery at Sulli- van, though the child's death was not the first in what is now that town. The first death within those limits was that of Wm. Comstock, Sr., who died Oct. 7, 1773, and his body was the first buried in the old cemetery. He was forty years of age. Jesse Wheeler purchased, Sept. 7, 1780, some land below the Dimicks, on the west side of Hubbard Hill, and settled there. He came from Keene. The Coreys, Samuel, Joshua, and William, came from Tewksbury, Mass., from a portion of that town which was taken from Billerica, Mass. Samuel bought what is still known as the Corey farm, in Gilsum and Sullivan, Sept. 8, 1781. The first house was in what is now Sullivan. They brought with them their sister Deborah and all lived together at first. About 1 786, William bought the east end of the farm on which Wm. H. Bates lives, and built a house that stood in the corner of the road once leading past the site of Mr. Bates's house and that leading past the Corey place. Joshua lived at first with Samuel and later bought the place where Alexander B. Brown lived. His house was opposite the present house of Mr. Wheeler, on the south side of the road. He did not buy this place, however, until several years after Sullivan was incorporated.
James Locke of Townsend, Mass., purchased, July 26, 1783, the south-west corner of what was then Stoddard, but soon settled on what was then the Gilsum side of the line, in the " Gore ", explained in the chapter of FAMILY HISTORIES which relates to District No. 2. He purchased the south end of the Gore, Apr. 7, 1780, three years before leaving Townsend. His house was where C. P. Locke afterwards lived. Bezaleel
103
SETTLEMENT AND FIRST SETTLERS.
Mack came from Hebron, Conn., and purchased what we call the Gibbs place, Mar. 29, 1784. About the same time, Charles Rice, formerly of Keene, then of Surry, settled upon the farm where Mr. Moore lives, which he had purchased, several years before, Apr. 21, 1773. His house was to the south-west of the present house. On May 17, 1785, Josiah Willard of Keene purchased of Thomas Morse the old place on Morse Hill, and his son, Lockhart Willard, was living there at the incorporation of our town and was made the first treasurer and one of the selectmen. Ebenezer Burditt, from Lancaster, Mass., settled upon what was later the Winchester farm and purchased it, July 22, 1787. About the same time a certain Joseph P. Peters, called in documents " Dr. " Peters, settled in town. Some land a little west of where Samuel S. White lives was called his in 1788, and he once owned the south-west corner of the Four Corners, where Mr. Chapin now lives. He probably lived on this corner.
These are all who had settled upon the part of Sullivan taken from Gilsum at the time of the incorporation of the town. Among the Gilsum signers of the petition for incorporation was a person named James Pratt. He was perhaps a young man from Lancaster, Mass., who was stopping with the Burditts. By far the great majority of the first settlers were in this part of the town.
The part of Sullivan taken from Keene was the next section of the town which was settled. Jeremiah Stiles received a parcel of land which included several divisions or "pitches," as they were called, which were laid out by the proprietors of Keene to the original house-lots, at sundry times. These are more particularly described in the chapter of FAMILY HIS- TORIES which includes District No. 4. Mr. Stiles surveyed his land in this locality on Feb. 1, 1769. He built a dwelling- house thereon, probably in that year. It is likely that he lived a time in it. Joshua Osgood bought it, May 1, 1772, and it remained 104 years in the family. Asahel Nims, Sr., of Keene bought land in this locality, May 14, 1771, but he was killed in the battle of Bunker Hill and the property reverted to his father, who sold it to his son, Zadok Nims, Dec. 18, 1778. The latter may possibly have lived on the place before he purchased
.
104
HISTORY OF SULLIVAN.
it. It is probable that he lived at Keene village for a short time after his marriage. Eliakim Nims, a brother of both Asahel and Zadok, purchased the place upon the brow of Nims Hill, where the Seward brothers lived later, Nov. 16, 1773. He and Asahel, his brother, both unmarried, were living here and keep- ing house by themselves, when they joined the patriots to fight for independence. Eliakim did not marry until 1778. Cor- nelius Howlet, a son of the famous Capt. Davis Howlet, who lived on what was afterwards the John Lawrence place on Beech Hill, in Keene, purchased the place where Nahum Nims later lived, Nov. 17, 1783, but did not settle it until 1788. Benjamin Kemp, Sr., purchased the spot where John Dunn afterwards lived, Apr. 15, 1783, but he did not settle upon it until 1788. Shortly before the incorporation of Sullivan, Roswell Hubbard had settled upon the spot where his son Ellsworth lived many years, and Erastus, brother of Roswell, had probably bought the place where Allan M. Nims lives. He was unmarried and boarded with Roswell.
These were all of the settlers upon that corner of Keene which became a part of Sullivan, who had settled prior to the incorporation of the latter town. Massachusetts, for reasons to which we have alluded, had granted Upper Ashuelot, Apr. 30, 1733. The same grant, enlarged by adding the territory, on the east, between it and the Patent Line, was chartered as Keene by the legislature of New Hampshire, Apr. 11, 1753. This town of Keene lost the corner that was included in Sullivan, Sept. 27, 1787; also the eastern side which was included in Roxbury, Dec. 9, 1812. On the following day, Dec. 10, 1812, a small piece taken from Swanzey was annexed to Keene. Keene's city charter was granted, July 1, 1865, but did not go into effect until July 3, 1873. Keene was named for Sir Benja- min Keene, minister from England to Spain, and a friend of Governor Benning Wentworth of New Hampshire.
An account of this corner of Keene which was included in Sullivan would not be complete if we were to omit the funny little episode of Mark Ferry. He had come as an early settler to Upper Ashuelot. Being of a peculiar disposition, he did not love his neighbors, and dug him a cave on the banks of the Ashuelot, in which he dwelt in a filthy way. In a great freshet,
105
SETTLEMENT AND FIRST SETTLERS.
the high water drove him from his cave. Some of the settlers, going in a boat to rescue cattle, heard calls for help. On look- ing around, they discovered Mark in a tree, with a calf in his lap over which he had drawn an old shirt. Either thinking him safe for the time being, or bearing a grudge against him, they answered that they must first save the neat stock. Soon after, however, the man and the calf were rescued. In the spring of 1746, when the Indians were trying to exterminate the settle- ment of Upper Ashuelot, Mark took refuge in a meadow in the north-east part of the township, which Hale ( Annals of Keene) says was within the present limits of Sullivan. Col. Pomeroy of Northampton, Mass., had come with a company of militia from that town to the aid of Upper Ashuelot, and, after the Indians had dispersed, they went in search of Mark Ferry, who was missing. They finally discovered his place of refuge. Hale says : "They found his horse confined under the shelter of the root of a fallen tree, and looking further, espied him perched high upon the limb of a large tree, mending his clothes. His personal appearance indicated that he had not received the benefit of shaving, nor ablution, for months. They compelled him to descend, brought him to the fort, led him to the officers' quarters, and, with mock formality, introduced him to all the officers, and gentlemen of the party". This last act in the drama may lead to the query of how many "gentlemen " were in the party. Col. Pomeroy's " boys" very likely regarded their trip as something of a "picnic " and may have left a part of their gentility in Northampton. The day on which Ferry was dis- covered and taken back to the settlement was Apr. 28, 1746. It was the first event known to have occurred within the limits of our present town. This is our first " date " in history. This circumstance gave to the brook near which Ferry was found the name of Ferry Brook, which it has since borne. Of course Ferry owned no land here and is not known to have ever returned to the locality.
Stoddard was one of the towns originally belonging to the lands of the Masonian Proprietors, whose territory was called the Masonian Patent, the western boundary line of which is called the Patent Line. That line now bounds the northern part (originally bounded the whole) of Stoddard upon the west.
.
106
HISTORY OF SULLIVAN.
The same line, originally the western bound of Stoddard and Packersfield, extends, in a direction from north-east to south- west, through the whole town of Sullivan. The territory, later called Stoddard, was first granted by the Masonian Pro- prietors, May 10, 1752, and called Monadnock, No. 7 or Lim- erick (often spelled Limbrick). It was regranted by them, Nov. 4, 1767. It was incorporated as a town by the legislature of New Hampshire, Nov. 4, 1774, and named Stoddard, after Col. Samson Stoddard of Chelmsford, Mass., to whom many shares of the township were granted, and who had done much to promote the grant. He was the grantee of nearly every lot of the portion of the town that became a part of Sullivan, when the latter town was chartered, Sept. 27, 1787. Marlow and Gilsum disputed the right of Stoddard to the western part of the latter town, but an act of the legislature, approved, June 21, 1797, settled the controversy by allowing Stoddard to keep all land east of the Patent Line. The Tarbox farm was taken from this town and annexed to Nelson, June 25, 1835.
The Stoddard corner which became a part of Sullivan was first settled by the Seward brothers, Josiah and Samuel, who were natives of Pepperell, Mass. Samuel purchased his place, where the late F. A. Wilson lived, Aug. 31, 1780, of the Stod- dard heirs, and Josiah purchased his, where Mr. Fifield lives, Apr. 7, 1781, of the widow of Col. Stoddard. The brothers began their settlement in 1781. Mrs. Ephraim Adams (a cousin of Mrs. Josiah Seward) who lived on what is now the " Society farm" in Stoddard, several miles from their settle- ment, did their cooking, before their wives arrived. Nathao Bolster had purchased a lot, where Mrs. Preckle lives, as early as Dec. 4, 1781 ; but he did not settle it until about 1783. In the same year, we find Jonathan Burnham upon the place which has been so long in the Justus Dunn family. He probably pur- chased it a little later. He lived upon it several years. Grin- dall Keith, a brother-in-law of Mr. Bolster, and an uncle of the late Bezaleel Keith, and a native of Uxbridge, Mass., settled, about 1784, what we call the Pompey Woodward place and lived there until 1793. His house was a few rods south of where the Woodward cellar is seen. Barachias Holt, a relative of Ephraim Adams Holt, bought, Sept. 6, 1784, the lot next north of the
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.